This series focuses on refugee students and their journeys, their new lives and hopes for a future in West Michigan, and the many ways schools and community organizations are working to meet their needs.
The recent influx of refugee students from Afghanistan has put teachers on the front lines of helping students adjust academically and recover from trauma...
Kent ISD’s interpreter program, now in its second year, is helping ESL students find purpose in their new country using gifts they honed in their native countries...
Amer Bektaš is the son of Bosnian refugees, a sports enthusiast and radio voice, and is months away from being the first generation in his family to graduate college...
On a journey from the Congo to Grand Rapids, faith, and the people placed in his path, have helped a Kelloggsville senior deal with some tough circumstances...
In a school district that is home to many not born in the U.S., seventh graders dive deep into learning about and welcoming newcomers from all over the world...
Wyoming high school students Mounahinde (Terry) Almame and Rohim Mohammed visited Lisa Monroe and Jodi VanDam’s fifth-grade class to talk about their experiences as refugees...
Students at Cherry Creek Elementary and Lowell Middle School are giving thought to what it means to have to leave home and make a new one, thousands of miles away...
Three sisters, refugees from Rwanda, devote their Monday evenings to volunteering at the Learning Café, an education center in Grand Rapids that serves refugee children...
Students from a handful of area high schools are making an impact at two West Michigan organizations tasked with helping refugee students and their families succeed...
Sandra Uwiringiyimana’s story of fleeing conflict and leaving her country behind resonated with students who read and discussed her book, “How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child.”
Dressed in red, resemblant of flaming hot sauce, Bowen Elementary fifth-grader Yoe Shi Yar played David Tran, a Vietnamese immigrant who founded Huy Fong...
Second-graders Leonel Santiago and Carlos Saldana hit an exciting benchmark this fall: They started reading their first chapter books.
Besides helping them learn the important...