The students in Mayra Taylor’s Spanish 200 class worked during the past few weeks to bring awareness to the issue of unaccompanied children crossing the US border. Students did research and class presentations on the subject, participated in the Act of Love campaign, and teamed up with Rev. John Guttermann who screened the film Which Way Home to a large audience. The movie which made a great impact on students was followed by a discussion lead by Rev. Guttermann, volunteer from The Advocates for Human Rights. “When I did my presentation in class about the children crossing the border, I thought it was a sad situation but I didn’t understand the whole picture. After seeing the movie I understand better and want to help in any way possible”, said Maddie Jentink, a student in the class.
It was important for students to realize that awareness alone is not enough to help the cause of children and adults crossing the border without proper documentation. Anna Meier expressed it this way: “Each action, no matter how small can make a difference on the policies. For example, the cards we are sending the to representatives, visiting people in detention in Minnesota, and more. There is much we can do and we should do it because everyone deserves to be treated as real humans.”
The class will continue learning about immigrants and their struggles during the semester, thus preparing themselves for future work with the immigrant community while in college.
Andi Twiss, summarized the class experience very well when she wrote: ” For the majority of students at Gustavus it is not possible to imagine this situation. I think the movie was a very important experience to open our eyes and our hearts.”
Spanish 200