Now in its fifth year StoriesLive® is a unique curriculum based high school story slam project that sponsors the only regional high school story slam in the US. Most support comes from massmouth,inc., a 501(c)3 promoting the timeless art of storytelling. Additional support from MassHumanities, Three Apples Storytelling Festival, and local cultural council grants we have taught over 6,000 high school students to tell coherent and often deeply powerful, personal narratives. StoriesLive® engages 10th, 11th and 12th grade students and ELL students with the art of storytelling. Students watch a live performance, create their own personal narratives on a theme, learn presentation skills and then perform their stories in a contest or "slam". Oral personal narratives are immediately useful for college essays and job interviews. Students learn an indispensable life skill - the ability to tell a good story. For students of literature, direct experience of story in its most organic form can be revelatory and can serve as a powerful pre-writing strategy. We start with a 50 minute concert/workshop. Resident artists teach 3 classroom lessons from massmouth’s curriculum. The 4th lesson culminates in classroom “slams” where students perform their stories created around a theme (chosen from 7 themes). Classroom winners advance to a school-wide slam. Winners from schools then advance to the regional scholarship story slam held this year at Boston Public Library, Rabb Hall April 27,2014.