In spring of 2010, three high school teachers and their students paired with a college teacher and her advanced writing class to collaborate on oral history research and writing. While many people think of oral history as "just stories," the authors introduce it to students as a rigorous method for documenting historical events, cultural practices, and the rituals of everyday life. When students interview real people in their communities, they develop a more personal engagement with local history and a greater investment in purposeful research and writing. In this article, the authors discuss how they sent students out to interview historically important members of their local community. The students researched before interviews, arranged the interviews, transcribed their conversations, and triangulated their data with other information to make genuine contributions to a rich oral history. Through this project, they learned that oral history can serve as a bridge between community members whether the collaboration is a semester-long partnership or a simpler sharing of ideas and expertise. (Contains 4 notes and 2 figures.)