Coming into a new country involves many new and different experiences that can be overwhelming. Juntos Podemos – “together we can” in English – is a group meant to help Spanish-speaking students integrate into the Madison community through friendships with current Madison students. The group has about 40 students which include new Spanish-speaking students and welcoming Madison student mentors.
The group meets during Warhawk Time and does activities such as get to know you slideshows and games that encourage fellowship. When creating a presentation, each person completes a slide with their family, hobbies and more information about themselves. Spanish-speaking students make a get to know you slide in English and the English-speaking students do the same, but in Spanish. Once groups are done making slideshows, they present in the opposite language. Through this process people get to know each other and practice public speaking in a different language.
“I remember what it was like to be new to this country and the fear and anxiety of stepping onto the campus of a new school, where everyone spoke a different language and understood the student culture—and I was new and still learning English. That was difficult,“ said an adult volunteer, who requested to remain anonymous. “But I also remember the difference it made to have an American, English-speaking student go out of his way to befriend me, and through friendship help me fit in and understand this new environment.”
Juntos Podemos is meant to facilitate connections between students, exactly like this American student did for this new Spanish-speaking student. One friend could be the difference between feeling comfortable and feeling left out. When in a completely new environment it is difficult to get involved in activities such as sports, theater and afterschool clubs. In addition to this, there are different requirements, like getting a physical to join a sports team, that new students are unaware of.
“Two things primarily inspired me to begin this mentoring group,” a volunteer said. “The first is that my faith in Christ compels me to work towards finding ways to help make whole relationships that I observe to be broken, and I have observed the difficulty that new ESOL students have integrating into our Madison HS community. The second thing that inspires me is that I was once a new student into the Fairfax County school system, with my family immigrating here from Chile, and I know first hand how challenging it can be to arrive at school, still learning English and attempting to fit in and integrate into the community.”
There is a need for community for new Spanish-speaking students integrating into Madison. Juntos Podemos helps form that community. While Juntos Podemos provides a base of support, it would be even more beneficial to these students if all Madison students made an effort to get to know these Spanish-speaking students as well. The mentors that these students connect with through Juntos Pedemos may not be in the same classes as the new students or pass them in the hall. It would make much more of a difference if every time someone saw a new student they reached out, offered to be their partner in a group project, or asked them about themself. This could make a big impact on these students’ Madison experience and positively affect the community. It also gives Madison students the opportunity to get to know students with a totally different background and culture and give them the chance to hear the story of someone different from them.