Chelsea Intermediate School students experience Ellis Island

Fourth grade students at Chelsea Intermediate School recently participated in an Ellis Island re-enactment. To prepare, the students completed a “New Beginnings” unit of study and read the novels “The Orphan of Ellis Island” and “If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island.” The activity was intended to help students experience what the immigrants at Ellis Island actually went through during their journey to America. The Ellis Island experience was the culmination of their studies.

Organized by the fourth grade teaching team, the entire gymnasium was set up as Ellis Island. Some 295 fourth graders were encouraged to dress as immigrants from the late 1800’s/early 1900’s and some carried suitcases or bags. The fourth graders role-played immigrants who came to America through Ellis Island from other countries.

School administrators and parent volunteers acted as immigration officers, legal inspectors and other government officials. The student “immigrants” traveled through various checkpoints including Ship, Medical Inspectors, Legal Inspectors, Currency Exchange, Red Cross/YMCA Service Groups, Passport and Stamps and finally the Citizen Test. As they visited the different stations, they went through inspections and had to pass a variety of intelligence tests and physical exams in order to gain citizenship. After they completed the process, they got their passports stamped for entry into our country or were detained or deported if they failed any of the exams given by the immigration officials.

Teacher Bill Hermanson stated, “After getting their passports stamped, the students had a sound understanding of what people went through in the late 1800’s/early1900’s. It was a great experience and the students will remember it forever.”