Attending the program last week about immigration was very interesting research for our project. There were 3 people on the panel who discussed their experiences; a Muslim student who is the daughter of immigrants, and 2 professors who were both immigrants themselves, one Muslim and one not.

Some common patterns I found among their stories were that they all came to America for school or to make money to help their families back home. They all felt seemingly optimistic about America when they first moved here, but now have some reservations under the Trump administration.

One point brought up during the panel was what each of their individual views of the “American” identity are. The Muslim student, Mariam, felt that there is no such thing as an “American”, but rather people who live in America but actually come from all different countries. One professor, Salah Malik, pointed out that although many people picture white people when they think of the American identity, the people who truly built our country are Black Americans .

Another interesting point that was brought up was how everyone around the world knows English, which makes less work for us to have to learn other languages because no matter where we go, there is someone speaking English.I never really thought about this before, it is something I really take for granted, and I have a lot of respect for immigrants who come here and have to learn English to fit into our culture.

This program was very interesting and I think we should definitely contact the panelists!

-Kayla (11)