Picture a room full of eighth graders, silent, save for the furious clicking of keyboards, as they worked diligently to finish 1,000-word essays based on their interviews with someone close to them who had immigrated to America. These essays never fail to impress the English teacher Emily O’Reilly, the mastermind behind the annual project.
Almost all of the students interviewed family members with stories as yet untold, learning new things about their relatives’ culture and hardships.
The idea for the essays came from an already existing poetry project. Ms. O’Reilly, who has been teaching for 31 years, said she always loved the poems students wrote about immigration, since they helped them learn more about the immigration experience. “I wish there was a project like this when I was in school. I would have enjoyed school much more,” she said. The project has become famous among students for the eye-opening essays that are produced.
By Rafaela DeMartis, Grade 8