Across the United States, millions of foreign-born dreamers arrive in search of new beginnings. However, in spite of these dreams, they also face many challenges. Every school year, new students and staff who immigrated from all over the world arrive at Troy High School, each bringing new stories and experiences of unique cultural backgrounds. These are their stories.
Enrique Mo Feng, a senior at Troy High School, immigrated with his family from Venezuela in August of 2018 when he was ten years old. Mo Feng and his family came to the United States through family relations, seeking a better environment and to “provide a better education and much more space to grow” than in Venezuela, said Mo Feng. Although he did have familial ties within the United States, his journey towards adapting was not easy: “[The] language barrier was definitely one of the biggest challenges I have ever faced and more than that, culture adaptation, like how much you’re adapting and willing to put yourself out to the public. Especially being in this type of open environment, it was contradicting compared to my past conservative environment,” he explained. However, his journey was not just filled with challenges. He also described many joyful moments whilst meeting new people from all kinds of backgrounds carrying all types of stories with differing perspectives.
Junior Sandi Senjar came to the United States in 2016 at 7 years old from Lebanon. Senjar and her family were originally from Syria, relocating to Lebanon for two years following Syria’s brutal civil war. “It was dangerous, my school blew up so there were no more education systems, so my parents brought us here,” she said. She further described how she and her family waited excruciatingly long hours at the border of Lebanon to receive their papers and renew passports. She also emphasized her family’s choice to move to Michigan, sponsored by extended family with letters of support for a green card. However, similar to Mo Feng’s story, she also dealt with challenges such as a language barrier and having a disconnection with friends in her home country.
Despite the many immigrant students at Troy High School, there are many staff who are immigrants as well. Meiyu Chang, a Chinese teacher at Troy High, originally from Taiwan, came to the United States in 1991 at 22 years old. Chang, who at the time, graduated from college and later pursued her masters at Indiana University. After receiving her masters, she later stayed in the United States to complete her PhD, one of the highest academic degrees. Although she was pursuing higher education in the U.S., her biggest challenge was leaving her family: “It was really hard to come to a new environment especially when I don’t know anybody, so I was really homesick.”
Angie Griesmann, a Spanish teacher at Troy High School, came to the U.S. in July of 1987 from Puerto Rico at the age of 17. At the time, she graduated from high school. Griesmann came to the U.S. because her father started a job in Wyandotte, a city just south of Detroit. Even though Puerto Rico is a territory of the U.S., she still encountered many difficulties: “The most challenging moments were my own frustrations with trying to be better, quicker and also all the financial difficulties we encountered in the beginning. Those were the challenges but the joys were many more and continue to be many more.” Furthermore to Griesmann’s statements, she encountered many challenges, but often remembered more of the good, which included people being excited to learn about her background and giving her the benefit of the doubt despite her lack of English skills or her cultural understanding: “I will forever be a second language learner and a second culture learner.”
As years go by, Troy High School is, and will continue to be, built on students and staff that come from unique backgrounds that come with their own individual stories. Many immigrant students and staff share similar experiences, including challenges, whether it is learning a whole new language or adapting to the United States culture. Nonetheless, each immigrant that walks the halls of Troy High School carries a different story; a story that represents their past, present and future.