Green Card Youth Voices: Students Share their Immigration Stories
For some students the start of school wasn’t just the start of a new school year; it was also the start of a whole new life in the United States, following refugee camps and the aftermath of wars and natural disasters. In a special collaboration, over a dozen of the students serviced by RBERN West at Erie 1 BOCES were able to share their stories on a national stage.
Green Card Youth Voices: Immigration Stories from Upstate New York High Schools is a collection of 29 student authors who immigrated to the U.S. from 15 different countries and Puerto Rico. The student voices collected in this anthology build empathy and connection across communities, demonstrating the importance of building a country in which all voices are heard, amplified and celebrated.
The project started in September 2019 in collaboration with two high schools in Buffalo, Lafayette Newcomer Academy* and Lafayette International Community High School, and two schools in Rochester, Brighton Twelve Corners Middle School and Rochester Central School’s Bilingual Language and Literacy Academy*. (*Note these schools permanently closed in summer 2020, before the book’s release.)
In December 2020, a book launch and book reading were held virtually with over 100 parents, teachers, project volunteers and former participants in attendance.
“We are so proud of these students, their video interviews, and this book. It was a wonderful collaboration between RBERN West and our partners at Mid-West RBERN in Rochester and the non-profit organization Green Card Voices with the support of Buffalo’s Division of Multilingual Education,” said Michael Duffy, Resource Specialist at RBERN West.
Included in these inspirational stories are Puerto Ricans who fled Hurricane Maria, Yemenis who escaped starvation, Rohingya refugees forced to leave Myanmar and more. Students also shared their dreams to enter the medical, teaching or advocacy fields in order to one day give back to the countries and people they left behind.
The young authors’ resilience, strength, and hope for the future can be felt through each narrative, which was further underscored by their perseverance to complete this project despite the challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, remote learning and more.
The book includes links to first-person video, a study guide and a glossary. It is available for purchase in paperback and e-book format on the Green Card Youth Voices website: https://www.greencardvoices.org/dec-9th-book-launch/.
Green Card Voices is a Minneapolis-based, nationally growing nonprofit that connects immigrants and their communities through multimedia storytelling. This book is the sixth in a series of youth books published by Green Card Voices, whose stories have reached over 1.5 million people.
For some students the start of school wasn’t just the start of a new school year; it was also the start of a whole new life in the United States, following refugee camps and the aftermath of wars and natural disasters. In a special collaboration, over a dozen of the students serviced by RBERN West at Erie 1 BOCES were able to share their stories on a national stage.
Green Card Youth Voices: Immigration Stories from Upstate New York High Schools is a collection of 29 student authors who immigrated to the U.S. from 15 different countries and Puerto Rico. The student voices collected in this anthology build empathy and connection across communities, demonstrating the importance of building a country in which all voices are heard, amplified and celebrated.
The project started in September 2019 in collaboration with two high schools in Buffalo, Lafayette Newcomer Academy* and Lafayette International Community High School, and two schools in Rochester, Brighton Twelve Corners Middle School and Rochester Central School’s Bilingual Language and Literacy Academy*. (*Note these schools permanently closed in summer 2020, before the book’s release.)
In December 2020, a book launch and book reading were held virtually with over 100 parents, teachers, project volunteers and former participants in attendance.
“We are so proud of these students, their video interviews, and this book. It was a wonderful collaboration between RBERN West and our partners at Mid-West RBERN in Rochester and the non-profit organization Green Card Voices with the support of Buffalo’s Division of Multilingual Education,” said Michael Duffy, Resource Specialist at RBERN West.
Included in these inspirational stories are Puerto Ricans who fled Hurricane Maria, Yemenis who escaped starvation, Rohingya refugees forced to leave Myanmar and more. Students also shared their dreams to enter the medical, teaching or advocacy fields in order to one day give back to the countries and people they left behind.
The young authors’ resilience, strength, and hope for the future can be felt through each narrative, which was further underscored by their perseverance to complete this project despite the challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, remote learning and more.
The book includes links to first-person video, a study guide and a glossary. It is available for purchase in paperback and e-book format on the Green Card Youth Voices website: https://www.greencardvoices.org/dec-9th-book-launch/.
Green Card Voices is a Minneapolis-based, nationally growing nonprofit that connects immigrants and their communities through multimedia storytelling. This book is the sixth in a series of youth books published by Green Card Voices, whose stories have reached over 1.5 million people.