President Biden declared June to be Immigrant Heritage Month in the U.S. The number of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum at the border with Mexico border reached a record high last year. Many of those youngsters in Baldwin County along the Alabama Gulf coast. Most could not imagine traveling to another city for fun after their harrowing time at the border. But, some newly arrived migrants at Robertsdale High School did just that. They joined local Alabama teens on a field trip to New York City.
It’s first period at Robertsdale High School. About six weeks before school lets out. Teachers Patsy Brantley and Brunilda Campos lead a call and repeat about the weather. Native Spanish speaking students taking English as a Second Language, or ESL for short, sit at tables with American high schoolers enrolled in Spanish II. A few students in the room are already bilingual but it’s clear from the whispers others, like Louis, feel awkward learning a new language.
For some of the students here, the practice is a lead-up to a New York City field trip in May. Students qualify with passing grades and good attendance. It’s the first lesson of the trip.
“I have more kids tuning into lessons. I have more kids coming to school, coming on time, staying out of trouble, than anything else I’ve ever done in my career in tying their attendance, behavior and grades to getting this massive reward,” said Patsy Brantley. She teaches who teaches English as a Second Language (ESL.)
She says some of the teens on the field trip have lived in the area all their lives and others have been in the U.S. less than a year. Some are documented. Others are not. Brantley says motivation for the trip is as much about teaching the students community as it is about visiting the Big Apple. Lesson number two.
“So the group looks more like what you see when you step outside the school building,” Brantley said. “And so the students can learn from each other’s cultures not because one is better or the other is worse or bad in any way, but just different and learning to be more accepting of people through life experience.”
Walking the school’s crowded halls between classes with Brantley, it’s easy to see and hear the diverse student body. Traditionally a rural, farming community, Robertsdale’s population has changed greatly. To put it in perspective, the school’s most famous alumnus is Apple CEO Tim Cook. He graduated in 1978 and a glance at his senior yearbook shows at the time, Robertsdale High was roughly 91 percent white and 9 percent Black. Today, approximately 15 percent of Robertsdale’s student body identifies as Hispanic. Almost 200 recently enrolled teens are learning to speak English in ESL.
“I don’t know the name of one street. It’s very important in New York,” admitted Edgar Suarez. He’s a ninth-grader, is one of those teens headed to NYC. We don’t know his whole story except he’s from Cuba, his parents are currently working in two separate U.S. cities, and when he arrived in Robertsdale last August he spoke no English. His big, dark framed glasses give him a studious look which fits him. Through his broken English and my limited Spanish, we figure out what he wants to see most in the city.
It’s from one side to one side is connecting two sides. Like a bridge, So maybe go over the Brooklyn Bridge. Yes, it’s that,” Suarez exchanged with APR Gulf coast correspondent Cori Yonge.
The Brooklyn Bridge – the students associate it with Spider Man. And most could never imagine seeing the bridge in person.
“For these kids, I think it would be the same if I offered to take them to the moon,” said Patsy Brantley.
She says traveling to New York and walking across the bridge or seeing the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, and the Empire State Building, is the third lesson. Teaching the teens the world is so much larger than Robertsdale, Alabama.
Raising money for the trip might seem almost as daunting as going to the moon. Census data shows Robertsdale’s per capita income is a little more than 27,000 a year. So twice a week, the students sell donuts in the bus line before school. Which brings us to the fourth lesson- Teamwork. Sophomore Anthony Gonzalez says fundraising encourages inclusivity.
“It’s not just one person working on their trip. It’s everyone helping each other,” Gonzales observed.
In the months prior to the trip, the students also study the sights they will visit, including Ellis Island. The teens who most recently crossed at the US- Mexico border can’t help but compare their experience to that of a century ago.
“They would say things like ‘that’s similar to what happened to me when I came,” recalled Brantley. “And Miss, see they took my picture.’ One of them even had a travel document that he had been given by ICE when he was at the border before a relative came and picked him up.”
Lesson number five – Change can take years.
“The process was not as different as I wished. As I wished it would be. A lot of similarities there,” Brantley.
It’s still dark outside when the students load a school bus headed to the airport. Parents mill around on the sidewalk. For some teens, this is the first time they’ve been away from home or flown on a plane. And many are apprehensive. Lesson number six – overcoming your fears. Here are Jose, Carolina, and Edgar in that order.
“Learning to not be afraid to ride a plane,” said Jose.
“I don’t want to get lost in a place where I don’t know where I’m going to be at or anything like that. Yeah, that’s my main concern,” confided Carolina.
“Sometimes the airplane scares me,” offered Edgar
The teens’ fears were unfounded. After the trip, back in the classroom, the students seem more confident. Brantley shares a group photo with me. Some of the students give a thumbs up -while in the background, The Statue of Liberty lifts her lamp beside the golden door.
