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One of the most treasured assets that a person has is their memories. For 30 years, Alvin Community College English instructor Gilbert Benton has tried to help others write down those memories into a life story.

“It’s to get people share their stories with their kids, their grandkids and great-grandkids,” Benton said. “I think it’s important for this generation to pass it down to the next and the next.”

The Life Story Course consists of a small group of students who learn how to chronicle the moments of their lives in order to craft it into an overall life story. Benton said the course first started in the 1990s. Throughout his time teaching the course, students have gone from writing it by hand to newer generations that are typing it on laptops and even phones. But one thing has remained the same in that time, Benton said.

“When they’re doing their life story, it’s all the same,” he said. “They’re trying to say what they felt or what their memories were at that time. Whether they type it or handwrite it, the process is the same.”

Much of the process starts with a handful of questions to stir memories like asking what their favorite movie was as a kid or who’s the most famous person they’ve met. This allows the students to think about a memory and build from there. Many of his students’ children have later thanked him for helping their parents preserve their memories.

“If it weren’t for that class, there’s so much about them that they wouldn’t know,” Benton said.

Students often talk about a specific moment in their lives during the course and Benton immediately responds by telling them to start there.

“You need to write that,” he tells them. “It’s your story, you do it how you want to do it. It’s a process.”

There are many students who often feel apprehensive about sharing their life with other people but the class is designed to make the process comfortable and engaging, Benton said.

“It’s hard for people to talk about themselves,” he said. “It’s a place that’s a safe place. It’s a good social setting. You can feel comfortable.”

Throughout the decades teaching the course, Benton said he has come across so many interesting stories and he hopes that will continue as new generations of students begin to start their life stories.

“It’s the best class I’ve ever had because it has the best stories I’ve ever heard,” he said.

To hear more about the course, check out Benton’s interview on the ACC Podcast, available wherever podcasts are found.

For more information, call 281-756-3787 or visit www.alvincollege.edu/cewd/community.