Personal Narrative : New World Together

Growing up with a father in the military, you move around a lot more than you would like to. I was born just east of St. Louis in a city called Shiloh in Illinois. When I was two years old my dad got the assignment to move to Hawaii. We spent seven great years in Hawaii, we had one of the greatest churches I have ever been to name New Hope. New Hope was a lot like Olivet's atmosphere, the people were always friendly and there always something to keep someone busy. I used to dance at church, I did hip-hop and interpretive dance, but you could never tell that from the way I look now.

It was the first day back at school for a new year. Many of us still longed to be on holiday, carefree and careless. It showed on our faces as we grumpily and wearily made our way along the corridors to our House Room. This year our form (11) had a new student. When we walked in we all just looked at him, scrutinizing, mentally noting anything unusual. There was something about him though, but I couldn't quite see it. Nobody interacted with him at first - the teachers were all around him, then he was set free, for us students to talk with him, I didn't talk to him myself, rather I just listened to the questions of others, which, he answered them faintly. They ask him questions to get him talking, to get him relaxed, but he simply answered

This past year, I have been apart of Naperville Central’s brand new Special Spaces club. When my friend approached me and asked me to join, I agreed even though I had no clue what I was involving myself in. In retrospective, I can honestly say that becoming a part of Special Spaces has been one of the most meaningful, fun, and fulfilling experiences I have had in high school.

What Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci coined "The New World" was now overrun by man-eating zombies. It all started in Chile and Argentina; news of a highly infectious pathogen had begun spreading at breakneck speeds. By the time epidemiologists had discovered the cause of this pathogen it had already spread to the Western half of the United States and was making its way east.

The object given to me was the heart of a boy who I was fond of for quite some time. We spent the summer nights frolicking through green pastures of open land ready to take on the world like an explorer ready to find a new adventure; now what I look back on to be no more than a barren field filled with patches of weeds poking their heads above ground, hoping to catch even the smallest array of sunlight. I spent most of my summer nights with this boy, let us call him James.

The sound of the rain landing hard onto the frozen soil was always a nice one. It accompanied me just staring straight into nothingness. It felt great, as if I was just focused on one thing, the “1000 mile stare”. I was on the verge of falling asleep, but at the same time there was no way I was going to. The stare was great, much too addicting. However, there was one thing I hated though. It was the fear that I could get stuck in it. That nothing else would happen in this god forsaken world If I just gazed into 1 thing...for a long period of time. Maybe that wouldn’t be a bad thing? People would stop dying and the world would finally be at peace. I finally leave the 1000 mile stare for a second, just to look in another direction and focus

If I was a European thinking about moving to the New World, I would base my decision based off the images and descriptions that were available. One of the images that would deter me from migrating away was a piece of artwork done by Jacques Le Moyne. His picture entails a group of natives who are trying to fight off a fearsome looking alligator. Theodore De Bry describes them plunging a pole into it’s mouth and turning it around so they can stab their stomach. He goes on to say that the natives have to watch out for them day and night because of how frequent they appear. Since I don’t really know how to defend myself against such creatures, I would be afraid to live somewhere where danger is constant. I also would not want to deal with vampire

Since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, over 4.6 million Syrians have fled their country in fear for their lives; called the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Most of these people do not have the proper identification so they have to leave illegally. Due to this extremely large number of refugees, Canada decided to accept 25, 000 into the country. Priority was given to families, women at risk, members of sexual minorities, and single men if they identify as a member of a LGBT community. All 25, 000 of these refugees are predicted to arrive by the end of February 2016. To get the Syrians to Canada, they are flown from the country they are living in, to Montreal of Toronto. There they are processed and then transported to communities across the country to begin their new lives as Canadians.

Walking home from school one day, I looked at the ruins that lay around me: houses, offices, roads, all destroyed because of the war. I wondered why it started. The war had been going strong for three years, and didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon. Brushing away my thoughts, I noticed an old lighthouse beside the ocean. Jogging towards it, I wondered why I had never seen it before. It looked ransacked, with both doors kicked in and the windows at the top shattered. I began to get a bad feeling about going closer, but shrugged it off and started to look inside.

Surprisingly, a student entered our room; it was the same guy I had seen earlier. He walked in with an air of confidence as he spiked up his dark brown hair, then sat beside me. This really shocked me. Gosh, is this real? I could not pay attention to what my teacher was discussing for the rest of the period because of him. Five minutes before the period ended, I excitedly said with a lower voice, "Hi, I'm Lauren." He stared at me and he removed one of his earphones and said "Oh hey, my name is... Jonathan Lemuel." He hesitated. "But my friends called me Lem" he added and smiled. It was the first time I had confidence talking to a guy I liked. "What's your next class?" I asked, he answered quietly "Math" and he started packing his things. We did not have enough time to talk because we only had few minutes to go to our next classes, unfortunately, not in the same class. Since then, I couldn’t stop thinking about our conversation, although it was a "Hi and Bye" situation.

Every day of my life in the USA, I have been adding x building blocks to my future career. I have decided to change the reality of my high school and become the “helper” for my fellow peers and the international students struggling especially with Algebra. It has been my goal to provide the welcoming presence that I did not receive. From these interactions, I have bolstered my aspiration to become the “helper” in the global

is accepting too many refugees. As of 2016, approximately 86,000 Syrian immigrants resided in the United States, accounting for 0.2 percent of the nation's 42.4 million immigrants. Though the population remains a small one, it opened the door to Syrians seeking safety from war and persecution, as well as education and employment opportunities and family reunification. Between 2012 and 2016, the population grew approximately, owing largely to the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011. In her article, “Syrian Refugees in the United States” (2016), Jie Zong shares, “In 2016, three states did not receive refugees, ten states received less than 100, and the remaining states received less than 5,000 refugees.” Refugees coming from Syria are dispersed well across the U.S. and not overpopulating certain areas. In “Distribution by State and Key Cities,” by Jeanne Batalova she details that the placement of refugees is justified by many factors. “Upon entering the United States, refugees are resettled to states and localities based on a variety of factors, including their family ties in the United States, health, age, family composition, and language, as well as the cost of living and the availability of jobs, housing, education, and health services in potential placement sites” (Batalova). The U.S. government is on careful watch as to who and where they let

This article reveals the stories from five refugees who fled their home countries in hope of a better life. These refugees range from the ages of 26-36 and had to give up their lives back in their home country because of how dangerous it currently is. Sandy Khabbazeh is from Aleppo City, in a house that is on the line between ISIS and the Syrian government. Khabbazeh experienced being shot by a sniper three times, but was lucky to have been missed. She went to America as a student to build her future, but struggles financially as education is expensive. Khabbazeh is working at a job and hopes that in 2016, she would be able to reunite with her family in America. Mustafa Asefi is an Afghan residing in Vancouver. From Kabul, he was sent threats form the Taliban, but was lucky enough to receive an American Visa as a worker for an international company.

Despite the efforts of parents to keep traditions alive, children are changing, fighting over food, clothing and anything of any value. Many children feel like they are prisoners in their host countries. Many are not allowed to leave their homes due to safety concerns and chores that need to be completed. Twenty-nine percent of Syrian refugees leave their home less than once a week.

From here on, Syria’s civil war as of 2017 has created the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. Half the country’s pre-war population which is more than 11 million people have been killed or forced to flee their homes. Families are struggling to survive inside Syria, or make a new home in neighboring countries. Others are risking their lives on the way to Europe, hoping to find acceptance and opportunity. Harsh winters and hot summers make life as a refugee even more difficult. At times, the effects of the conflict can seem overwhelming, however these refugees have no other option but to keep going. It is believed that most of these refugees are now living in Jordan and fleeing across the border into Turkey where they make their way up to Greece.