Youth Program Spotlight
USCIS Children’s Art Project Day: IRC Youth our Most Earnest Ambassadors
By Marcus Primavera
Immediately upon picking up the selected IRC youth for the United States Customs and Immigration Services Children’s Art Day Project, I knew it would be a positive and even special day. In many ways the project served as an unofficial youth program reunion for a good portion the children who were in last session’s Tuesday group. I’ve tried to stay in contact with all the children from the past session; however these hellos are typically followed by quick goodbyes, as I’m doing pick-ups for summer session or hurriedly passing them in the hallways of the office. So getting to spend an afternoon with the kids again, getting to see how they’ve grown both physically and emotionally, how amazing their English has become, how happy they seem, was certainly something special.
They too could feel the positive sentiments of reunion, happy to see the friends they had made over the twelve weeks of learning and lessons and field trips. The project itself couldn’t have captured the spirit of their experiences better—“We Are America” was the theme and the children picked up on it almost immediately. And so as their pictures were painted, they were able to talk with their youth program friends again, tell funny stories to each other, and most heartening, at least to this youth coordinator, they began teaching each other words and phrases from their respective countries of origin. There existed such a friendly desire to not only do the teaching, but also to learn the phrases, so that there was almost a solid hour of Arabic sayings and Swahili expressions, even a bit of French peppered about as the children laughed and finished their pictures, happy to have spent time together, but sad to say goodbye once again—the project and the unexpected reunion were both great successes!
USCIS Children's Art Projects will be exhibited at USCIS offices across the nation.
