Student Immigrants Share Their Stories
While many students at Lakewood High School began their lives in another country, not many of them share their stories with their fellow students. On Wednesday, students in some World History, Human Rights & Conflict and English Language Learner classes heard the very different immigrant stories of two young adults who were part of a documentary featured at film festivals across the country.
Brandon and Sandra were two of five teen-agers who were the subject of filmmaker Jean-Michele Dissard’s “I Learn America: One High School, One Year, Five New Americans” documentary. The film followed five immigrants for a year at their high school in New York City as they struggle to adapt to a new home, learn a new language and manage the trials and tribulations of adolescence. They joined Dissard for a lively discussion of the film and their lives with the LHS students. The event was sponsored by the organization Facing History and Ourselves as part of its Community Conversations series.
Brandon and Sandra, both college students now, came to America under very different circumstances but shared similar thoughts about expectations of what living in America would be like and having to start their lives all over again. Brandon, whose mother moved to the U.S. from Guatemala and left him behind at 1-year-old, crossed over to the U.S. by himself as an 11-year-old who had been living on his own. Sandra’s parents had been working in the U.S. while she and her brother were back in Poland and eventually her parents moved the entire family to the United States.
Dissard, an immigrant himself from France at the age of 16, wanted to share the stories of the teen immigrants with schools across the country that also have their own share of immigrant students to help everyone realize that “we all come from somewhere else”….whether it’s yourself or parents, or from another school, or city. “The stories in the film are your stories, too,” he said.
With his first-hand experience as an immigrant, Dissard felt compelled to share with the students his perspective that “being an immigrant is actually an advantage…it gives you a window into another world.” He also wanted the LHS students to realize that it is a “privilege to have students from another country in your classroom because you can learn so much from each other.”
The students asked many questions of Brandon and Stephanie and also had a chance to share their life stories or their families’ stories with each other in small groups.
On Thursday evening, Dec. 4, students from the high school and Harding Middle School traveled to the Capitol Theater in the Gordon Square District of Cleveland to view the film and then have a discussion with Brandon, Sandra and the filmmaker.
In a school system as diverse as Lakewood City Schools, “I Learn America” and its participants have a story to tell that surely hits home with most everyone.