A group of UCS staff members spent part of their professional day this week working to break down distances to help their students be more successful.
Davis Junior High School, Burr and Schwarzkoff elementary staff members spent the morning talking to students who have relocated to Michigan and a group that is dreaming of the opportunity.
Thanks to technology, teachers were able to talk to educators and students 6,000 miles away at a refugee camp in northern Iraq.
Students in the Mar (Saint) Elia Catholic Chaldean Church and Center in Erbil (Arbil) left their homes for more than a year after an invasion by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Father Daniel Alkoury, who spoke through the video link, said his students have hopes and dreams that are familiar to UCS educators.
“They want to be doctors, engineers...and Britney Spears,” he said.
Teachers at the camp spoke through the link to describe the learning conditions, which has a heavy emphasis on music and donated lesson plans.
In addition to the video conference, teachers met with UCS students who shared their stories of relocating from other countries.
The goal of the professional development activity, according to organizers, was to give staff a greater understanding of their students to help them be successful in school.
“We want to give our teachers an appreciation of where the students may be coming from” said Valerie Zakaria, a Schwarzkoff English Language teacher who organized the video link.
Alkoury’s advice to UCS teachers was simple: “Our students want a future. They want to have friends and know that there are those who care about them.”
