Message from the Founder

Kalpana Shipler

I founded Story2Bridges in 2024 as a high schooler at Jackson-Reed High School in Washington, DC in partnership with Ms. Laura Kleinmann, Librarian at Oyster-Adams Bilingual School.

Kalpana means imagination in Sanskrit.  I’m named after a young woman in Nepal whom my parents knew when they lived there and who positively impacted the lives of people in her village.  I also grew up in an environment of stories, imagination, and role-play with many storytellers (writers and photographers) in my family.  Bedtime stories and reading with my Dad were highlights of my early years.  

I started Story2Bridges because I went to a dual language (Spanish-English) elementary and middle school.  The school has 50% English-dominant students and 50% Spanish-dominant students.  Many immigrants, refugees, and migrants from Spanish-speaking countries and around the world attend the school. I wanted to help more kids who need extra support in learning to read in both English and Spanish and to find a connection and sense of belonging with each other through storytelling. I wanted to give back to my local community, which has given me so much.  I wanted to utilize my Spanish language skills to help others adjust to life in the U.S.  Lastly, I wanted to share my love of stories with other kids and hope they can develop a love for stories like I do.

Since Story2Bridges, I have aimed to expand the mission to more children and communities in the Washington, DC metro area.