"The World in a Room"

I am now throwing my cap in the air, and for a split second, everything comes back. The room was loud, and what was supposed to sound like English was a mix of noises I had never heard before. The teacher gave orders, and the students followed. It was an orchestrated combination of actions that I couldn’t be part of. Curious eyes glanced at me occasionally, but I could only respond with shy smiles because of my clueless interpretation of my surroundings. Although this could have been a cause of frustration, being greatly separated from the context allowed me to dive deeper into my 800-page book of the Chronicles of Narnia in Italian. It was December 2017, and my family had just moved to Albany, New York, from a small town in northern Italy. None of my siblings knew English, so it was hard for us to advance academically before mastering the new language. Going to school was my passage to the world of Narnia. Since I wasn’t able to complete the regular 6th-grade assignments, my teachers would let me read in Italian. How often are people excluded from the real world because of their inability to understand a language? As the book came to its conclusion, I started to pick up some words here and there and realized that I was part of a program that the school offered called English as a New Language (ENL). The next thing I knew, I wasn't in Narnia anymore; I was in a classroom full of kids from all over the world. We all had one thing in common: we couldn't understand others or each other.

Being part of ENL supported my journey of learning English as an 11-year-old and opened my eyes to the possibilities that languages and the understanding of new cultures enrich the human person. During the period spent in this program, I was continually asked to share information about my home country, allowing me, in a way, to ensure my identity and to help me understand who I really was. I was then introduced to not only American culture but also Indian, Chinese, Spanish, and many more.

Although integrating into American culture was hard, nothing could ever replace the feeling of family between the members of the ENL program. Thanks to Mrs. Yetto, an amazing teacher who saw us grow and was with us through every step of the way, we were able to share the confusion, anger, and excitement of this journey. At the end of the day, we all understood that we were in the same boat. Therefore, it was essential for us to stay together in order to learn from each other. From explaining the holiday of Thanksgiving with Charlie Brown movies to working extra hours to help us understand a grammar structure, she was there for us. She gave us unlimited attention and inspired an endless curiosity to understand the world.

Through high school, I decided to become a leader of the International Students Club and help students who participated in the exchange program from different countries understand how their new school worked. The desire that encouraged me to do this was to see my younger self in the students I helped. I wanted to recreate the feeling of home that Mrs. Yetto had created for me. I did not want these students to feel banished to Narnia but to embrace their culture while learning another one. Seeing their faces reminded me of the excitement of seeing snow for the first time and wondering how something so beautiful, like snow, could cause such pungent pain. They reminded me of the confusion of seeing students rise religiously and look at the American flag that is proudly displayed in every classroom, repeating words that, at the moment, I could not decipher. They reminded me of the new smells in the air of the changes of seasons and the new tastes of unpronounceable foods.

My father once came home from work and started talking about his day. He explained to us that he had a conference that was followed by a catering event. At the end of the event, the organizer thanked the catering workers for their job. The workers only spoke Spanish and did not realize that the applause was meant. They did not look up as a room full of people thanked them. They will never know that those people appreciated their work. I was struck by this story. It made me realize how important it is to recognize and acknowledge people. Mrs. Yetto acknowledged me and opened my eyes to endless opportunities. She took the time to learn about my culture so that I would feel at home far from home. She embraced every cultural difference and made them seem like the most precious aspect of human life. My goal soon became to master the empathy that she had towards the ENL students and become more aware of others through a deeper understanding of their culture and situation.

I decided to achieve this goal through my education of studying foreign languages like Spanish, French, German, and Chinese and cultural courses such as human geography or world history. The summer of my junior year, I moved to Rockville, Maryland, and finished my high school career in the second-most diverse school in the state. I soon realized how my knowledge allowed me to become more aware of others and notice people, from the bathroom cleaner to the new student. As I catch my cap, I am filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude for that small room on the second floor for opening my eyes and allowing me to see more. For making me aware of how big the world we live in is.