This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Diversity Day of Enrichment - Orange Avenue School

Friday, January 13, 2012 is Orange Avenue School’s Diversity Day of Enrichment for its eighth grade students. In an effort to celebrate our community, the program’s goal is provide opportunities to focus upon diversity awareness and tolerance.

All students will have an opportunity to rotate through the Living Voices presentation.  Here, students will share the journey of The New American, from the turmoil of the old country of Ireland, to the promise of America.  The immigrant journey includes the steamship passage of 1910, the path through Ellis Island, and the sweatshops of the lower east side of Manhattan.  They will learn what American liberty and opportunity means to people around the world.  This presentation generously is being funded by the Orange Avenue School PTA.  More information can be found at: www.livingvoices.org/newam.

Students have had the opportunity to choose from the presentations (descriptions below) and will attend four 30 minute presentations or one 60 minute presentation and two 30 minute presentations.  A majority of the sessions will be led by residents of Cranford.

Life in Ireland:  Local business owners of Kilkenny House, Ms. Peggy Murray and Mr. Barry O’Donovan, will be the presenters.  Ms. Murray was born in New York and moved to Ireland when she was seven years old, but returned to the United States every summer.  She was able to experience and embrace both cultures and take the best pieces of each.  They were truly different – subways, cultural diversity, and the Twin Towers against the backdrop of a small parish village of 1500 people where everyone knew each other which was good and bad!  After college, Ms. Murray worked in The Netherlands and although it geographically is closer to Ireland, she realized that the Irish/American culture had more similarities.  Her father came to New York when he was 21 and although he moved the family back to his roots, he eventually realized that once you get a taste of America it’s almost impossible to leave. 

Mr. O’Donovan grew up in Kilkenny, Ireland.  His father had seen parts of the world in the army so he was familiar with tales of foreign places.  His oldest brother is a diplomat and during his appointment in NY, Barry came to visit him and fell in love with NY or perhaps the idea of all it offered an 18 year old.  The following year he returned to stay and pledged his allegiance in 1994.  His first job offer was to be a bus boy in a restaurant close to where he was staying and he got all flustered at the thought, but how could he say no, especially since he had no license or any idea how to drive a bus? A lot has changed since that introduction to the food service industry!

Professor Johann Jochnowitz, of the Kean University Fine Arts Department, will present and discuss his series of drawings about the Holocaust.  Professor Jochnowitz has traveled the state sharing his drawings with students.  As the child of a family of survivors, his powerful and graphic images will challenge our students to think about how and why such an event could have happened while they consider the role of art making in remembering and learning from the past.  The images contain detailed visual representations of how he envisioned what he learned of the Holocaust from family conversations.  He will share how he used art as a coping mechanism. 

The Transition from Egypt to the United States:  Ahmed Mohammed will be the presenter.  Mr. Mohammed was born in the culturally rich country of Egypt.  He came to the United States when he was young and acclimated quickly to his new country.  He will speak about his heritage and share his experience leaving the country where he was born and coming to the United States.  He also will share what living in America has meant to his family.

Can You Tell a Person’s Ethnicity by How He or She Looks?  Mrs. Denise DiFulco will be the presenter.  So often we use visual clues to make judgments about people, or sometimes we make assumptions based on what we think we know about someone’s ethnicity or religion.  Denise DiFulco grew up as an Italian American in Brooklyn, New York, but there’s a lot more to her heritage than meets the eye.

The Cuban Culture:  Mirta Morado Tonda will be the presenter.  Cuba…..A beautiful island just 90 miles away from our shores.  One woman’s journey as a child in Cuba and her transition to life as an American.  Mrs. Tonda will discuss how the experience has changed her and her family.

Life in Ever-changing Europe:  Bohdan Lukachewsky will be the presenter.  This presentation will cover what life in Europe was like before, during, and after World War II.  Bohdan is Ukrainian and lived in Poland, Russia, and Germany…without changing residence.  The speaker will share what it was like to learn English as a fifth language and how it felt to arrive in New York City at the young age of 16 (only a couple years older than the students).  The speaker received a free education at City College of New York and will share what life has been like since coming to this country.

Find out what's happening in Cranfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Staying in America:  Mr. Alan Pollack will be the presenter for this session.  As an Immigration attorney representing a variety of immigrants seeking to remain in the United States lawfully, Mr. Pollack will bring a unique perspective and information to this program.  His session will address what keeps immigrants in America and the challenges they face in becoming a citizen here. 

The German Culture:  Guten Tag! Wie geht’s? Mrs. Köllmann will be presenting about Germany.  Some topics she will cover are as follows:  The location of Germany, the Euro, the German Culture and Language, the German education system, moving to New Jersey, the comparison of the two Worlds, and the contributions of Germany evident here in the US.

SIKH Religion:  Did you know that 99% of people wearing turbans in the United States are Sikhs?  Savraj Singh, a Sikh born and raised here in New Jersey, will present about his Sikh faith, and what it was like for him growing up in the United States.  He’ll lead a discussion about some common misconceptions and some of the origins and beliefs of the Sikh heritage and culture, as well as answer questions.  Savraj is from Pennington, NJ. He attended public schools until eighth grade, when he attended The Lawrenceville School and completed his studies when he attended Princeton University.  After school, he worked at Microsoft for four years in Seattle, and now runs wattvision.com; which is based in Princeton, NJ.

“We are excited to welcome this impressive panel of speakers to Orange Avenue School. The vast knowledge and first-hand experiences they will be sharing will provide a rich and rewarding experience for our students.” says Mrs. Michelle Vella, Principal of Orange Avenue School.

Orange Avenue, a suburban 3-8 school, is committed to nurturing students while involving students, parents, and teachers in an educational environment that emphasizes cooperation, discovery and enjoyment of learning.

The school community strives to develop responsible citizens who possess positive self-esteem, respect for others and an interest in lifelong learning.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?