Honore
I can start from middle school, where the teachers were telling us to dream big, even one day, they came into class to give a whole father talk to us like how it is important to dream big. That was in Africa, Rwanda.
After I head to the states, the teachers help me to learn the language, the culture. When I got to college, I met a great counselor. When I was behind, he got me back on track. He helped me find those connections I don’t think I could’ve on my own.
But going to a public school in Hartford, There were some resources we didn't have at the school that private school students had. The government is skewed so that people only have a voice in certain zip codes. So it make me feel that we still have a long way to go cause the government should be treating each student the same.
I'll say there is more hope for education in the future because we’ve progressed so far from the past. When kids see a person like them [immigrants, ethnicity, race, background] pursue education, they will look up to them and feel motivated to go to school as well.
Speaker Notes
Honore had a distinctive trait of being an immigrant. Which I related to heavily as I also immigrated to the states around the same time he did (jr.high). As such, I wanted to base his story chronologically from his middle school experiences in Rwanda, to a few challenges in high school after he came, then finally where he is in uconn and received support from individuals to help him adapt to higher education. For his unfair experience, I really wanted him to voice out his anger, to blame somebody, since I also remember that injustice feeling of everybody else around you having privileges you didn’t have. It’s especially daunting for immigrants because they never have enough leverage or communication skills to voice out those thoughts. For his positive interactions. He mentioned his counselor Carl Dean, who is also the caps director. I think having a mentor and someone to guide you when you are lost plays such an important role in your life. You will remember them forever, and they don’t even have to do that much. I had a similar figure 4 years ago when I needed guidance, and I will forever be grateful to him for reaffirming my self confidence. Lastly, I was surprised by his attitude on the future of education. It never dawned on me my influences toward my future offsprings, and how they will feel in the future. After he mentioned how his kids will feel belonged here. I will aim to do the same to make sure my future kids feel belonged too. His attitude of looking forward to his future kids and commiting for them striked deep with me and made me include him as an interviewie. However, he was very descriptive and used a lot of adjectives. I dumbed it down a little and focused on the main theme.