Monthly Archives: April 2017

Julie Young Visits

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South Korean Immigrant By Jade LREI~LREI Today Julie Young came in on April 20th 2017 for a talk to the fourth grade in Dan’s class. She is the mom of two kids. One in Deborah and one in Dan’s. The kids are Jade and Jasiri and they are twins. The fourth grade was studying immigration and Julie came in to talk about her immigration story. Julie is an immigrant from South Korea and an adoptee. She found her birth parents shortly after leaving college. She has been to Korea four times. She got adopted into an Italian-American family and her Korean mom is very Christian. Her American mom wanted to adopt a child and she worked for an adoption agency. The first time Julie went back to South Korea, she went with her American mom, and her husband. She had two translators because she didn’t know how to speak Korean and they were both super nice. One was a boy who was very funny and nice, and a girl translator who was nice. “I am currently learning Korean along with Jasiri and Jade.” Her Korean name is JiHyun Yoon. Julie’s story was very interesting for many fourth graders and she got a really loud applause at the end. Then Joel asked if we could take a picture in Deborah and Joel’s fourth grade class with Jasiri, Jade, and their mom. Deborah’s class went back to their classroom to go on with their day and Dan’s class did the same except they were already in their room so they stayed put and listened to Tara’s next instructions for the day.  

ADOPTEE FROM KOREA

By Ezra Mundy NEW YORK- “I was adopted by an American family,” says 4th graders Jade and Jasiris mom, Julie, when she came in and talked to the 4th grade. What did she talk about? You’ll find out. Julie Young is a adoptee from South Korea. She came and talked about her immigration story. Her American family thought she was abandoned by her parents because they were too young to take care of her. She had gone to an agency when she was three, while she was being adopted. She went back when she was in college and the  lady that her American family talked to when she was three remembered her. “I was very lucky to find my family,” she said. “Most people don’t ever find their families.” They grow up believing whatever their American families believe happened. Julie was very surprised to find out she had a whole family. She found out she was the oldest of four kids. “I have a very strong relationship with my family,” she said. Her family is also pretty big. Julie was treated differently in America than she was in Korea. A 4th grader asked if she was bullied in school. “I was,” she said, “bullied because of my race.” She also said that she grew up wanting to be very white, and that it took her a while before she got used to who she really was and that she was going to stay that way. She also said that she made friends very quickly at school. It was very cool hearing about this ADOPTEE FROM KOREA!

 Julie Young

 By Alden Homet NY-NY-  Even though Julie went through hard times, it was worth it. Right after the Korean war she was adopted when she was three. Her parents thought it would be better for her to go to a safer home. An adoption agency help their family along the way. Three year old Julie did not know what was going on. When she was at her new home Roxbury Connecticut, she would cry for her family. Especially her older sister, that she would call Uni, the Korean word for older sister. When she was visiting Korea for the first time she went back to the adoption agency. One of the workers recognized her and told her where her family was. She was to overwhelmed and happy so she did not contacted her family until she was in college. She was lucky to find her Korean family. Most kids who get adopted do not find their families. She went through hard times, but in the end she has an amazing life and two wonderful kids.

An Immigrant’s Story

by Kieran New York At age 3, Julia was adopted from South Korea. Years later, she met her birth parents. Most people would not call this a typical immigrant story. Growing up Julie knew she was adopted. She didn’t look like her Italian-American and Irish-American parents. Julie and her American mother believed Julie’s birth mother was young and had abandoned Julie. When Julie was three an agent from the Korean orphanage took Julie on a plane to America. In America Julie was the second oldest of six children. She lived in upstate New York. She liked typical food like burgers and pizza and fries. In high school, Julie was class president of 550 students. As an adult, Julie has gone back to Korea with her twins, Jade and Jasiri. Julie is part of a Korean adoptee group. She likes Korean food. She  video chats with her Korean family. Although she is not like other immigrants in her story, Julie blends two cultures like most immigrants.  ]]>

Lawyer Deborah Archer Visits

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April 6, 2017 Dear Deborah Archer, Hi my name is Suko and I’m 10 years old. Thank you for visiting our classroom and answering my questions about the police officers in jail and having pepper spray and a thing to slap other inmates with. I personally don’t think that is fair because the police officer could hurt them and say that they have hurt themselves to get out of the jail and the police officers that are not imprisoned can put them in the sweatbox. Before you ask, my dad is a social worker so I know this stuff pretty well. I was so sad when you talked about the klu klux klan and how they broke your window and ruined the paint by spray painting it. The klu klux klan is so bad I just can’t imagine how terrible it was to have them threaten you when you were in the middle Louisiana at a supermarket. That is so scary. I hope you never get in touch with them again. You probably know that my Dad is a social worker and he has shut down 2 or 3  jails in the last year I think and he has visited so many. He has to see so many people and kids in jail all beat up. The majority are black so I wanted to know if you have ever visited a jail. If so did you think about how much they suffer and have to deal with not being with their kids or family. I just feel so sad I don’t like to think about it. Love, Suko   April 6, 2017 Dear Deborah Archer, Thank you so much for coming to our classroom today. You taught me everything from a different perspective. It was like watching a movie. I got all the facts. I expected that since you were a lawyer I thought that you would talk more about the current president and his dilemmas. Or I thought that you would have talked about the law. After your visit though, I learned that a Civil Rights lawyer talks about Civil Rights, so in different words my favorite part was how you turned your talk about Civil Rights into an extensive conversation about your childhood. I loved how your voice sounded when you talked about the experiences happening when you were a kid. It was a lot like reading the books we had read in class. I felt like everything you talked about, for an  example, the discrimination that happened hundreds of years ago, was very intriguing. It felt like that to me because our school is very mixed with every culture and it seems preposterous to think that white and black people didn’t always get along. It also seems quite scary. Not didn’t ALWAYS get along, but didn’t get along fifty years ago. Out of all the spine-chilling, dastardly, nefarious, phantasmagorical stories that occurred in the time of your visit, the most bloodcurdling one was the story about the KKK. When you told me about the time when you were in Louisiana running an errand and the KKK gave you a note that put me on my toes too when you told the story. I think of the KKK as old news from the 60’s but you made me think of them as if they were right behind me. Thank you again for coming to our classroom and teaching us and giving us understandable exhilarating answers to our questions. I don’t have any more questions. Sincerely, Avery   April 6, 2017 Dear Deborah Archer, Thank you so much for coming in and talking about your job. I really loved how you told us about cases you did and problems some people were dealing with. Like a kid  could not go to school for six months because  he had autism. It was also interesting to me when you talked about your opinion on some of the problems with cops and people like the KKK. Thank you for answering our questions in such a great way. Hearing you talk about people being treated unfairly made me sad but when you talked more it gave me hope that things would change and people won’t be treated unfairly. Thank you so much and I hope you can give other people hope. From, Nate   April 6, 2017 Dear Deborah Archer, Thank you for coming in and telling us about your job as a civil rights lawyer. I like the way you answered my question. I asked if  any of the cases you have worked on impacted your life somehow, and you replied by saying that all of the cases that you worked on made an impact on your life. When you completed a case you felt like you achieved something, something good. I liked when you said that because you put some thought into the answer. There is a certain problem with police officers. I think they’re using violent actions against people who are colored and innocent. Whenever they think that someone looks suspicious, or might be doing something wrong,  they worry for their own safety, and then they react violently (by shooting them), before they think about what they are about to do. I think they react like this because some of the officers may be biased or prejudiced against the race. Before the officers shoot, they should first check to see what the person is doing.  If the person is not doing anything wrong, then the officers should leave. If the person is committing a crime, then the officers should do their job. Basically, what I’m trying to say is, officers should not be prejudiced and biased against people of color in a violent manner. Once again, thank you for coming in and telling us about your job. From, Gia   April, 6 2017 Hi Deborah Archer My name is Zen and I’m one of the fourth graders. Thank you for explaining more to us about Civil Rights and for coming in and sharing with us your story. Your story was brave and bold because you would risk your life just for other people. It’s really nice that you would do that. My favorite part was when that child just couldn’t go to school because his abilities are not good which I think is horrible. I remember when I was in kindergarten and I had to stay at my table because I didn’t know how to explain my math but my teachers didn’t give up on me they kept trying to tell me how to and they never gave up and finally I got it covered. So I think that’s just messed up. I think it was very bold again because when the Klu Klux Klan said they were here and how you didn’t want to miss your client and you weren’t afraid. If someone said that to me I would be like, “Oh shoot are they here now?!?!?!?” And I would run away. But this is from a kid’s perspective so it’s different. It’s so amazing how you are so determined to push the government to make America live up to its promise. Sincerely Zen,]]>

Chelsea Clinton Visits

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Dear Chelsea, I was the little kid from the 4th grade who asked you a question. “How often do you see confederate flag and how does it make you feel?” I was surprised when you told us that you see the confederate flag a lot, I thought you were going to say you didn’t see it often.   I don’t want to say the “hate” word, so I’ll say this…I really really really really really really really really really dislike Trump.

Thank you for coming to visit our school.  You made a big impact on our lives, especially mine.  You really showed that anyone can do anything.  It was very nice seeing you!
GO HILLARY!!! And Chelsea!!! Sincerely, Sam April 5th, 2017   Dear Chelsea Clinton, Thank you for coming to Middle School Meeting! My name is Margot Story, and though I am only a Fourth Grader, our librarian advocated for the Fourth Grade to come see you. We have studied the election, issues, and are still discussing problems that our community has after the election. I find you very inspiring, and you are one of my all time role models. You have done so much work that it just blows my mind. I thought that your stories about Celia, your friend Hailee, and those schools were just amazing. I was recently on vacation and we were doing a lot of recycling projects, we used old plastic bottles and egg cartons to make art, similar to what those high-schoolers were doing out in El Paso. There are a lot of issues still out and about, as you probably know and understand. One is global warming/climate change. I really think that because our president does not believe that this is a real problem that is happening, it needs to be addressed quicker than any other issue, and there is a pretty long list of important ones. Another issue is transgender rights. I know that a couple weeks ago our president rolled back one of President Obama’s laws protecting transgender people and their rights. I’m sure you’ve heard about the case of Gavin Grimm, and I am worried that because of the new law that people I know and love will not be protected anymore because of their identity. I’m not completely sure if this issue has been brought up quite recently, but it still is one of those issues that continuously needs to be addressed and discussed. One last issue that I have is one that you brought up, but is not very “important” in the political world. This is animal’s rights. Many animals are being slaughtered and are endangered and no one is really bringing up this issue. Well, at least not that I know of. This also brings up the topic of Celia again. She was so brave, and she put herself out there to fight for the animals. I probably could never do that. I think that maybe one way that I can address one of these issues is by writing a letter to President Trump, like you did with President Reagan back in 1985. I want to write to him and inform him that climate change is a real issue and he needs to believe that it is happening because it is. Please save our planet! Thank you again for coming to our school and talking to us about your new book, “It’s Your World.” It was such a pleasure to hear you speak. Sincerely, Margot Story   Dear Chelsea Clinton, Thank you for coming and talking to us. Our world has a lot of problems right now, but I have chosen just three that are most important to me. The first problem is climate change because scientist say we have three years to fix it until we might not be able to stop it. The second problem is immigration because of Trumps, travel ban. My third problem is racism because of all the shootings and targeting people of color or targeting white people. Something that really touched us all was when you said, “I don’t think homophobia, racism, sexism, islamophobia, nativism, are opinions. I don’t think bigotry is an opinion. There’s lots of talk sometimes about compromise, but I don’t think you compromise when someone thinks your humanity or my humanity is less. Whether it’s a flag or an insult or a policy we have to be uncompromised.” I think you are really cool and how you started off. I hope you never stop/give up. I can help stop climate change by using paper when only needed and taking shorter showers.   Sincerely Crosby     April 5, 2017   Dear Chelsea Clinton, Thank you for visiting us and telling us your life story. I have a few things that I would like to learn a little more about because I’m interested. Women’s rights, climate change, and the immigration ban are the top three things I want to know more about. I especially would like to know more about the immigration ban. One thing that I can do to help the environment is to use less electricity. My mom is a female director and she is trying to prove that she can do it too. I will try my best to prove that I can do it too. Thanks again for visiting us! Sincerely, Romy Croquet]]>