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Soccer is a very fun sport, but is also very expensive if you want to play in competitive leagues. There is an organization that helps give immigrant children of New Haven what they love to do, soccer. Elm City internationals is a group of people who decided that immigrant children should have this opportunity. The team plays at a premier level, but the cost of this is little to nothing.
Not only is this a soccer team, but it is also a tutoring/mentoring program for kids that do great on the soccer field, but need a little extra help in their schoolwork.
According to Lauren Mendick, the creator of the organization, soccer is the lure that draws them in. Soccer is an international sport, so they all know how to play it, but the main thing they are doing is academic enrichment.
Lauren founded this program through immigrant kids. Before doing this, she taught 1st and 2nd grade students at an after school program for immigrant children. She had a group of 4 7th grade boys who behaved badly, resulting in, they had to help out during this block of time. This was punishment for them. After getting to know the 7th grade boys, Lauren started a soccer team for middle school students. This included the 4 boys that she had previously known.
These boys are now thriving. They are juniors and seniors in college, and this program has helped them grow and has shaped them into the young men they are today.
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