PERRYSBURG – Coming to live in America is often not an easy proposition.
This fact was on display Thursday at Fort Meigs Elementary as 10 students in the fifth grade Excel
program from that school and Frank Elementary presented an Immigration Oral History Open House.
The event was an opportunity for students to present oral histories they had collected from immigrants
living in the community.
Kris Martz, who teaches Excel – a gifted and talented program – said that the project was inspired by a
novel, "Esperanza Rising" by Pam Munoz Ryan, which was read in class. The story concerns a
young girl who is forced to immigrate to the United States from Mexico during the Great Depression
because of a number of hardships in her life. She said the book got her thinking about today’s
immigrants and why they continue to come to America.
The students then brainstormed names of people they could contact for interviews, and wrote them letters.
Each of the 10 people contacted agreed to participate, and they came into the schools for the
interviews. The students then turned their interviews into oral history essays.
"It really exceeded my expectations," Martz said, noting that she was overwhelmed by the
responses from those who participated. The interview subjects hailed from a variety of locales, from
Canada and the United Kingdom to China, Liberia, El Salvador, the Netherlands, and Afghanistan.
"And they really seemed eager to share their stories with the kids."
Using Google Earth, the students learned that some of their interview subjects had traveled nearly 7,000
miles from their homelands to come to the United States; the mean distance traveled, she said, was about
4,000 miles.
The stories the students presented ran the gamut of immigrant experiences, from following a spouse to the
country in search of an education, to seeking better employment, to fleeing war-torn or oppressive
conditions in their native lands.

"We usually don’t get to do this stuff in class," said Brianna Pratt, who interviewed Lubna
Ahmed, who came to this country from Bangladesh at the age of 19. "It’s really fun and I learned a
lot."
"It was really fun and interesting to learn about people from different cultures," she added
later.
"I think the experiential learning is a really good idea," as opposed to more didactic teaching
methods, said her father, Brian Pratt. "It’s going to stick and have a bigger impact on their
learning."
Speaking during his presentation about the experience of his father, David, who immigrated from England
at the age of 27, Eric Eaglesham said "the journey is different for everyone."
"I got to learn things about my dad that I didn’t" know before, he said.
"Immigration isn’t the easiest at all," Eric said of what he learned from the project. One
might think you could just pack up your things and go, he said. "It’s really not that easy."

"I think it’s a great opportunity for our kids to expand their knowledge of different
cultures," said Ft. Meigs Principal Scott Best after the event, as well as developing their
communication skills and collaboration with their peers.
He noted that there are a number of different individuals from other countries who have worked with the
schools and contributed to the overall level of education they have.
For her part, Martz believes she will continue the project in succeeding years, saying the students
learned something in the process "and it’s really worthwhile."