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 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 come to our school. 

I want to help more kids who need extra help learning to read in English and Spanish and find a real connection with storytelling. I want to give back to my school which gave so much to me.  I want to use my Spanish language skills to help others adjust.  Lastly, I want to share my love of stories with other kids and hope they can love stories like I do.