MIKE ETHRIDGE: Founder of Stories for Life

Mike Ethridge is the founder of Stories for Life and currently serves as that organization's president. Mike has been active in the storytelling community for the last 18 years and has been a featured teller at several storytelling festivals, including the Atlanta Storytelling Festival, the Osage Orange Festival, the Olde Christmas Storytelling Festival, and the Sandy Springs Ghostly Gathering. Mike was featured in the South Carolina ETV documentary, Inside Storytelling. He has also performed for numerous schools and other venues across Georgia and South Carolina.

Several years ago Mike, founded Stories for Life---a non-profit group dedicated to teaching children the art of storytelling. Confident that teaching children how to be good storytellers can enhance language arts skills, Stories for Life authored a storytelling based language arts curriculum---Owning Their Words. That curriculum has been used in several schools in South Carolina.

Mike is a partner in the law firm of Carlock, Copeland, Semler & Stair. As a civil trial lawyer, he has litigated cases in state and federal courts throughout Georgia and South Carolina, serving as lead counsel in numerous jury trials in both states. Mike is very active in the local non-profit community and has founded several non-profits dedicated to children's issues.

Mike is on the board of directors for Communities in Schools of Charleston. He is also a member of the Charleston Rotary Club, where he directs a reading program for children in an inner city school. Mike is a member of Providence Baptist Church, serving on the missions committee.

Mike is a 1988 graduate of the University of Georgia Law School and also holds a Masters of Divinity degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.