so in 1999 at 23 years old I decided to
leave home it would be my first real
attempt at life away from my mom and
away from surroundings that were
familiar and comfortable I was leaving
everything behind all the things that
I’d always taken for granted my house my
bed my cat my friends and conversations
with my mom every evening plus I wasn’t
just leaving my home I was leaving my
country I had joined the Peace Corps and
I would live the next two years as a
newcomer in Armenia a nation halfway
around the world and I did this alone so
back then before the firewall of airport
security my family joined me at the
gates and to this day I don’t know if I
would have made it onto that airplane if
my family hadn’t been waiting there with
me because in that moment with them
encouraging me and giving me the support
I needed I didn’t realize how afraid I
was to leave afraid of everything that
might change while I was gone and mostly
fearful of who might not be there when I
returned it was on the plane that I
finally realized my decision I was
leaving everything behind risking never
seeing the people I love the most again
and everything in my whole world was
packed into two pieces of luggage I
burst into tears but I didn’t get up
I didn’t trace back out into the
terminal my grandmother’s words
anchoring me to my seat I’m so proud of
you
so I buckled myself in and prepared for
the experience and the journey ahead
even 20 years ago I still remember
landing in Yerevan and watching out the
airplane windows as we coasted into the
city and even from 5000 feet above
ground I could tell this place was going
to be very different from my city back
in the States
and it was in those first few days of
being a newcomer in this place I did not
recognize that I understood that nothing
no amount of preparation or knowledge
could prepare me for this experience
I remember the difficulty of learning
Armenian with all of its cousin hoods
and and trying new foods that didn’t
agree with my system and I remember
getting my very first haircut and using
gestures to communicate what I wanted
but most of all I remember the patience
of the Armenian hairdresser as I made a
total fool of myself I didn’t know how
to cook there or do laundry by hand I
had to collect water once a week the
toilets were different very different
and grocery shopping happened in an
outdoor market where foods were only
available in season there were so many
firsts and so few experiences which
matched my expectations life in Armenia
came with so many new challenges and I
was wholly out of my element plus I was
going through the tremendous emotional
ups and downs of culture shock as I
tried to adjust to my new home I know I
couldn’t have made it through that
adjustment or navigated that transition
without the Grace and the Welcome of the
Armenian people it challenged my
perceptions of comforts and happiness
and for the first time I realized that
the two are not necessarily connected in
my experience as a newcomer came with
valuable lessons about adjusting to new
ways of being and doing and challenged
my assumptions about culture and
difference so fast forward to today I
teach brand new immigrants and refugees
newcomers right here in Spokane at
Ferris high school
[Applause]
a public school context that most
students take for granted because they
are familiar with it but is new and
challenging for my students so the
difference between my students now and
my experiences as a newcomer in the
Peace Corps is that I chose to go to
Armenia I knew I would only be there for
a couple of years that I would only be
the other for a very short time and I
knew that I would eventually get to come
home this is not the case for my
students they didn’t choose to come here
they had to and they likely will never
get to go home so for the past seven
years I’ve taught in the newcomer center
and I’ve had the honor of helping these
future citizens navigate their
transitions to studying and living in
the United States of America now as much
as those of us who were born here
believe that the United States is the
land of milk and honey it is not that
for most of us and especially not for
brand-new immigrants and refugees when
my students come here with the
perception that they are going to have
prosperity their experiences often don’t
match their expectations especially
because those who have received the milk
and honey in the United States have
little to no experience with people who
have not so these families fleeing a
shion’s in which they have experienced
unspeakable traumas I’ve had students
who’ve witnessed the death of their
family members who’ve experienced
violence themselves who’ve had to fight
for food and water who fled their
homelands because of the threat of
violence and persecution so coming to
the United States represents hope for
them and the belief that they can
achieve the American dream yet when they
arrived that dream is a lot more
difficult to achieve than they have been
led to believe one of the pleasures of
teaching brand new immigrants and
refugees is that I get to visit their
homes I get to meet their families and
see where they live and how they live
now sometimes this can be heartbreaking
when I see a family of ten split between
two apartments in an aweful apartment
complex or I go to a one-bedroom
apartment that has almost no furniture
and a mattress on the floor this can be
very difficult to witness especially
when I know we can do better by our
brand-new community members always
though every visit I witness love the
unconditional love every parent feels
for their children the common thread
between our worlds my students parents
are committed to their children
committed to ensuring they have
everything every opportunity offered
them in their new home they are driven
to make something of their lives there
these lives that they fought so hard to
protect it’s truly inspiring now in the
first day of school that’s when I truly
get a glimpse of what it means for my
students to be newcomers they come into
my classroom unsure of the expectations
and wondering how similar this goal will
be from their experiences before I
remember one student in particular
Saida
a young woman from a refugee camp in
Kenya her journey to the United States
was a difficult one and it put her
behind her peers in her level of
education so as a freshman she was only
at an elementary level and on that first
day Saida was very quiet her sense is
seemingly overwhelmed by the crowded
hallways in the bells that Marcus
started the school day and the
announcements over the loudspeaker
intended to welcome her in her
classmates and I watched her face as she
tried to make sense of everything she
was hearing and seeing with the little
English that she understood I was so
anxious for her as I watched her eyes
dart from classmate to classmate
fighting back tears searching for a
connection with another student seeking
the same thing to feel comfortable in a
very uncomfortable situation I only
wanted to make her feel better
welcome confident that she belonged so
to that end every year we start by
getting to know our school we tour the
hallways locate the bathroom figure out
the bells schedules and that your sight
etat us a very important lesson about
the cafeteria when she was reduced to
tears because she’d accidentally eaten
pork a hidden slice of pepperoni beneath
the cheese in her pizza it took the
entire rest of the day to console her
and after that she kept getting in
trouble for taking too many of the
allowed pieces of fruit for trying to
make a salad out of the sandwich
garnishes simply because she was so
hungry and she didn’t know which foods
contained pork she didn’t understand the
cafeteria workers or how things operated
in the lunch line this was a very
valuable lesson
not what’s Ida had to learn but what she
had to teach us we have to help our
newcomers navigate everyday systems like
the cafeteria systems that we take for
granted because we’re used to them
seemingly simple things can be
overwhelming obstacles for our newest
community members Friday of the first
week of school is always telling
students are totally exhausted from
hearing and trying to speak English all
week long and by the end of the day I
almost can’t get them to keep their
heads up or their eyes open inside us no
different she was slender already but by
the end of that first week it looked
like she’d lost 10 pounds and sixth
period I often caught her napping but
she’d made friends she’d learned how to
navigate the cafeteria and she knew how
to ride the city bus not just to school
but all over town and when she left that
Friday she couldn’t wait to come back
the following Monday you see in the
refugee camp where siteís spent nearly
six years of her life returning to
school day today or even week to week
was not a guarantee but here in the
United States it is an Ida was so
excited and thankful for that
opportunity my students they come to
school every day these newcomers eager
to learn and so thankful for every
moment and every opportunity afforded
them in their new home and from my
experiences when brand-new immigrant and
refugee families come into our nation
the biggest factor in ensuring that they
have an easy transition and are set on a
path to becoming productive members of
our communities
is the Welcome they receive when they
first arrive I still remember my host
family that I lived with when I first
went to Armenia and the Welcome that
they gave me
they took my hand and they guided me in
learning to live in my new home I want
you to think about a time when you were
a newcomer even for a moment how did you
feel what did you need now visualize the
people or person who helped you in that
moment what did they do how did they
ease your fear we must welcome the
newcomer with patience compassion and
support and we can do this by
intentional intentionally seeking
experiences that challenge our
perceptions broaden our perspectives and
give us just a hint of what it means to
be a newcomer a stranger the other and
have to adjust to a new situation this
can be as simple as visiting the
neighborhood across town or as huge as
joining the Peace Corps but what it
comes down to is this we must welcome
the stranger for we are all strangers at
times we must welcome the stranger for
we are all strangers at times so when
you look on the newcomer
remember they are overwhelmed with new
experiences they are seeking to navigate
their new home to adapt to it and to
maintain a piece of who they were before
they come they have overcome tremendous
obstacles to come to our nation and
every day here brings new challenges for
them we must rise above fear fear of the
new and fear of what we don’t understand
because we don’t have experience with it
just like the newcomer does every day
more than that
we must transcend fear of the newcomer
in order to create stronger safer and
more connected communities so go out
today seek and experience you have never
had before get out of your comfort zone
go and meet your neighbors this is the
work the newcomer does every day because
they have to but it is our work to be
empathetic be compassionate be
courageous and fearless and above all be
welcoming because it is the right thing
to do thank you [Applause]
leave home it would be my first real
attempt at life away from my mom and
away from surroundings that were
familiar and comfortable I was leaving
everything behind all the things that
I’d always taken for granted my house my
bed my cat my friends and conversations
with my mom every evening plus I wasn’t
just leaving my home I was leaving my
country I had joined the Peace Corps and
I would live the next two years as a
newcomer in Armenia a nation halfway
around the world and I did this alone so
back then before the firewall of airport
security my family joined me at the
gates and to this day I don’t know if I
would have made it onto that airplane if
my family hadn’t been waiting there with
me because in that moment with them
encouraging me and giving me the support
I needed I didn’t realize how afraid I
was to leave afraid of everything that
might change while I was gone and mostly
fearful of who might not be there when I
returned it was on the plane that I
finally realized my decision I was
leaving everything behind risking never
seeing the people I love the most again
and everything in my whole world was
packed into two pieces of luggage I
burst into tears but I didn’t get up
I didn’t trace back out into the
terminal my grandmother’s words
anchoring me to my seat I’m so proud of
you
so I buckled myself in and prepared for
the experience and the journey ahead
even 20 years ago I still remember
landing in Yerevan and watching out the
airplane windows as we coasted into the
city and even from 5000 feet above
ground I could tell this place was going
to be very different from my city back
in the States
and it was in those first few days of
being a newcomer in this place I did not
recognize that I understood that nothing
no amount of preparation or knowledge
could prepare me for this experience
I remember the difficulty of learning
Armenian with all of its cousin hoods
and and trying new foods that didn’t
agree with my system and I remember
getting my very first haircut and using
gestures to communicate what I wanted
but most of all I remember the patience
of the Armenian hairdresser as I made a
total fool of myself I didn’t know how
to cook there or do laundry by hand I
had to collect water once a week the
toilets were different very different
and grocery shopping happened in an
outdoor market where foods were only
available in season there were so many
firsts and so few experiences which
matched my expectations life in Armenia
came with so many new challenges and I
was wholly out of my element plus I was
going through the tremendous emotional
ups and downs of culture shock as I
tried to adjust to my new home I know I
couldn’t have made it through that
adjustment or navigated that transition
without the Grace and the Welcome of the
Armenian people it challenged my
perceptions of comforts and happiness
and for the first time I realized that
the two are not necessarily connected in
my experience as a newcomer came with
valuable lessons about adjusting to new
ways of being and doing and challenged
my assumptions about culture and
difference so fast forward to today I
teach brand new immigrants and refugees
newcomers right here in Spokane at
Ferris high school
[Applause]
a public school context that most
students take for granted because they
are familiar with it but is new and
challenging for my students so the
difference between my students now and
my experiences as a newcomer in the
Peace Corps is that I chose to go to
Armenia I knew I would only be there for
a couple of years that I would only be
the other for a very short time and I
knew that I would eventually get to come
home this is not the case for my
students they didn’t choose to come here
they had to and they likely will never
get to go home so for the past seven
years I’ve taught in the newcomer center
and I’ve had the honor of helping these
future citizens navigate their
transitions to studying and living in
the United States of America now as much
as those of us who were born here
believe that the United States is the
land of milk and honey it is not that
for most of us and especially not for
brand-new immigrants and refugees when
my students come here with the
perception that they are going to have
prosperity their experiences often don’t
match their expectations especially
because those who have received the milk
and honey in the United States have
little to no experience with people who
have not so these families fleeing a
shion’s in which they have experienced
unspeakable traumas I’ve had students
who’ve witnessed the death of their
family members who’ve experienced
violence themselves who’ve had to fight
for food and water who fled their
homelands because of the threat of
violence and persecution so coming to
the United States represents hope for
them and the belief that they can
achieve the American dream yet when they
arrived that dream is a lot more
difficult to achieve than they have been
led to believe one of the pleasures of
teaching brand new immigrants and
refugees is that I get to visit their
homes I get to meet their families and
see where they live and how they live
now sometimes this can be heartbreaking
when I see a family of ten split between
two apartments in an aweful apartment
complex or I go to a one-bedroom
apartment that has almost no furniture
and a mattress on the floor this can be
very difficult to witness especially
when I know we can do better by our
brand-new community members always
though every visit I witness love the
unconditional love every parent feels
for their children the common thread
between our worlds my students parents
are committed to their children
committed to ensuring they have
everything every opportunity offered
them in their new home they are driven
to make something of their lives there
these lives that they fought so hard to
protect it’s truly inspiring now in the
first day of school that’s when I truly
get a glimpse of what it means for my
students to be newcomers they come into
my classroom unsure of the expectations
and wondering how similar this goal will
be from their experiences before I
remember one student in particular
Saida
a young woman from a refugee camp in
Kenya her journey to the United States
was a difficult one and it put her
behind her peers in her level of
education so as a freshman she was only
at an elementary level and on that first
day Saida was very quiet her sense is
seemingly overwhelmed by the crowded
hallways in the bells that Marcus
started the school day and the
announcements over the loudspeaker
intended to welcome her in her
classmates and I watched her face as she
tried to make sense of everything she
was hearing and seeing with the little
English that she understood I was so
anxious for her as I watched her eyes
dart from classmate to classmate
fighting back tears searching for a
connection with another student seeking
the same thing to feel comfortable in a
very uncomfortable situation I only
wanted to make her feel better
welcome confident that she belonged so
to that end every year we start by
getting to know our school we tour the
hallways locate the bathroom figure out
the bells schedules and that your sight
etat us a very important lesson about
the cafeteria when she was reduced to
tears because she’d accidentally eaten
pork a hidden slice of pepperoni beneath
the cheese in her pizza it took the
entire rest of the day to console her
and after that she kept getting in
trouble for taking too many of the
allowed pieces of fruit for trying to
make a salad out of the sandwich
garnishes simply because she was so
hungry and she didn’t know which foods
contained pork she didn’t understand the
cafeteria workers or how things operated
in the lunch line this was a very
valuable lesson
not what’s Ida had to learn but what she
had to teach us we have to help our
newcomers navigate everyday systems like
the cafeteria systems that we take for
granted because we’re used to them
seemingly simple things can be
overwhelming obstacles for our newest
community members Friday of the first
week of school is always telling
students are totally exhausted from
hearing and trying to speak English all
week long and by the end of the day I
almost can’t get them to keep their
heads up or their eyes open inside us no
different she was slender already but by
the end of that first week it looked
like she’d lost 10 pounds and sixth
period I often caught her napping but
she’d made friends she’d learned how to
navigate the cafeteria and she knew how
to ride the city bus not just to school
but all over town and when she left that
Friday she couldn’t wait to come back
the following Monday you see in the
refugee camp where siteís spent nearly
six years of her life returning to
school day today or even week to week
was not a guarantee but here in the
United States it is an Ida was so
excited and thankful for that
opportunity my students they come to
school every day these newcomers eager
to learn and so thankful for every
moment and every opportunity afforded
them in their new home and from my
experiences when brand-new immigrant and
refugee families come into our nation
the biggest factor in ensuring that they
have an easy transition and are set on a
path to becoming productive members of
our communities
is the Welcome they receive when they
first arrive I still remember my host
family that I lived with when I first
went to Armenia and the Welcome that
they gave me
they took my hand and they guided me in
learning to live in my new home I want
you to think about a time when you were
a newcomer even for a moment how did you
feel what did you need now visualize the
people or person who helped you in that
moment what did they do how did they
ease your fear we must welcome the
newcomer with patience compassion and
support and we can do this by
intentional intentionally seeking
experiences that challenge our
perceptions broaden our perspectives and
give us just a hint of what it means to
be a newcomer a stranger the other and
have to adjust to a new situation this
can be as simple as visiting the
neighborhood across town or as huge as
joining the Peace Corps but what it
comes down to is this we must welcome
the stranger for we are all strangers at
times we must welcome the stranger for
we are all strangers at times so when
you look on the newcomer
remember they are overwhelmed with new
experiences they are seeking to navigate
their new home to adapt to it and to
maintain a piece of who they were before
they come they have overcome tremendous
obstacles to come to our nation and
every day here brings new challenges for
them we must rise above fear fear of the
new and fear of what we don’t understand
because we don’t have experience with it
just like the newcomer does every day
more than that
we must transcend fear of the newcomer
in order to create stronger safer and
more connected communities so go out
today seek and experience you have never
had before get out of your comfort zone
go and meet your neighbors this is the
work the newcomer does every day because
they have to but it is our work to be
empathetic be compassionate be
courageous and fearless and above all be
welcoming because it is the right thing
to do thank you [Applause]
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