Week 9-Jamie Nickell Rethinking Immigration



Ashton and Jenny at our Mentee Party! They are so cute!



My Mother's Day card Jenny made me! :)

Since I have been working at AMIS, I have really changed my perspective of what immigration really is and I have seen first-hand how much it affects the child here at this school. I come from a family of narrow-minded people who shut out any opportunity to listen and gain knowledge and perspective on new things. My family would be the people who would say things like, "Immigrants are taking our jobs!" I grew up listening to things like this and I decided that I was going to change that way of thinking and learn to know what immigration is before judging someone for being an immigrant. Like Dr. Vaughn put it in chapter 5, "Given the growth of culturally plural societies where many cultural groups reside together and share social and political frameworks, achieving greater ease in intercultural interactions is increasingly important." (Vaughn 94) We have to be willing to learn about many types of people and their cultural beliefs and way of living just like we expect them to learn and "practice" ours.

Jenny has truly been inspirational to me because I have learned so much about not only her but myself as well. I have developed a sense of compassion and desire for child of immigration because I have seen how much of a difference you can make in their lives by even just showing up and talking with them. As a future educator, I hope to work more with immigrant children and children of immigration more closely to help make a difference in their lives and teach them to succeed and find that deep goal that they have and are able to achieve.