Spanish instructor Bayard Nielsen has been awarded the first place Microsoft/KCI Innovation Award for 2016 for his digital storytelling project, “Las Historias de Esperanza.” The digital magazine, which can be viewed here, is the culminating project of Spanish 3 Honors students who focus on learning Spanish language and culture.

“As part of Notre Dame San Jose's Education for Justice and Leadership framework, Spanish 3 honors students interviewed day workers from the Day Worker Center of Mountain View,” explains Bayard. “Through this cultural exchange, Notre Dame students became stewards of the stories and perspectives of the day workers. Compiled in this publication are the interviews of nine people from the center, written as narratives. In order to make the texts more accessible to children, they were also converted into graphic novels. Each narrative includes a link to the recording of the interview and other multimedia.”

The Microsoft/KCI Innovation Award honors three exemplary, innovative teacher-student collaborative projects that fully integrate technology and benefit the Silicon Valley educational community. The first place award is $6,000.

This week Maria Marroquin, executive director of the DayWorker Center in Mountain View, visited campus to speak with students about the struggles and challenges immigrants face when looking for work. In April, students will travel to Mountain View and spend the day with the day workers, interviewing them and gathering information for this year’s project.