Cooperstown Teacher To Appear on PBS Program

By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
COOPERSTOWN

Rebecca Burk-Sciallo, a decades long veteran teacher of Cooperstown Central School, is set to share a personal story on “Stories from the Stage,” a PBS program that “invites ordinary people from all walks of life, each with a unique life experience, on stage to share their extraordinary first-person experiences exploring everything from identity and representation to love and family,” according to the program’s website.

Burk-Sciallo, an English teacher at the Junior-Senior High School, submitted a pitch, followed by a longer draft story and a recording of her performing it. She said she learned about the program from a friend’s Facebook post.

“I’m incredibly honored” to be chosen, Burk-Sciallo said. “You know, as an English teacher, stories have played an important part of my life, but also my career. So to be able to write something, and to be recognized, to then be able to perform, it is really exciting.”

She said she was “definitely nervous, but this is something that I’m doing for myself, and it’s been healing during the journey.”

While Burk-Sciallo told AllOtsego she would save the details for her live performance in front of a Boston live studio audience on Wednesday, April 15, she said the story “deals with my family and a particular part of my life where I had to make a really difficult decision” that led to “my nephew, who was 12 years old at the time, coming to live with my husband and with me.”

“I think that the topic is about truth,” Burk-Sciallo said when asked about the message she hopes to send. It’s also “a reminder that where we come from and our struggles and our traumas from our growing up can shape us in really beautiful ways as well, and that though they shape us, they don’t necessarily have to define our path forward.”

A collaboration of WORLD and WGBH-TV Boston, “Stories from the Stage” is in its ninth season.

While there is currently no set date for Burk-Sciallo’s episode to air on PBS, it will be shown in 100 countries and be a part of the “Stories from the Stage” online collection, according to a district press release. It will also be available as a part of a podcast and on YouTube.