Week 2: Immigrant Children - Maureen Rooney

Myself Post:

It is interesting to hear about the stories of people who have lived in and have traveled to far distant places. I think this is because, even though I have traveled for week-long family vacations, I have never left the United States. Moreover, I have never left Cincinnati for an extended period time and to go even further, I have never lived anywhere else besides the house that I was born in. Growing up, I played in the front and back yard with neighborhood friends and went to the local swim club on hot summer days. I attended preschool and then a private, catholic grade school where the teachers were friendly and spoke my language. My friends and I would call each other to play after school and we also would e-mail each other if our parents let us “play” on the computer that night. I was on many, almost all, of my school sports’ teams: track, basketball, volleyball and softball and went to practice after school. As I think about it, I realize that I was given many privileges as a young child.  However, even though I have not traveled far from my family roots, I still have experienced many changes in my life and believe that I have been able to grow from those changes. Some of the changes include loosing and gaining friends and family members, entering into a new school, taking on a new position in a club and other everyday experiences. I believe that every person will encounter difficult situations and even though it can be hard to adjust at the time, the situations can change and educate us for the better.

  Other Post:

Vivianna, my mentee, has experienced change in her nine years of living. She is a first generation immigrant, not an immigrant child. Vivianna was born in Mexico and her family moved to the United States three years ago. Unlike me, she has experienced what it is like to move to a new country which I believe is a courageous act from herself and her family. Vivianna and I have similar childhoods in which we both like to play sports, games and talk to friends. She and I both have a large family and have to deal with being picked on from our older siblings. However, Vivianna does not have a front and back yard. Her family of six lives in an apartment, which I assume is a little smaller than the house I was able to play in. Also, Vivianna had to learn English as a second language. I did not have any problems communicating with my grade and high school teachers because everyone spoke the same language. However, this is not the same situation for Vivianna. She has learned to interpret and communicate to teachers in her second language which I believe would be very difficult. Vivianna and I are similar in many ways but she has clearly had to experience many more dramatic changes in her life than I have.