{"id":1318449,"date":"2020-02-27T07:08:01","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T14:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/immigrant-stories-glenwood-middle-school-students-share-their-immigrant-voices\/"},"modified":"2020-02-27T07:08:01","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T14:08:01","slug":"immigrant-stories-glenwood-middle-school-students-share-their-immigrant-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/immigrant-stories-glenwood-middle-school-students-share-their-immigrant-voices\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigrant Stories: Glenwood Middle School students share their immigrant voices"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.1333333333333\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-994086-694\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/02\/ImmigrantStories-gpi-022720-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/02\/ImmigrantStories-gpi-022720-2-1024x683.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent | Students interact in teacher Lucia Cambell's Bilingual Voices English Language Development class at Glenwood Springs Middle School on Wednesday morning.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Students interact in teacher Lucia Cambell&#8217;s Bilingual Voices English Language Development class at Glenwood Springs Middle School on Wednesday morning.<\/strong><br \/>Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/02\/ImmigrantStories-gpi-022720-2-1024x683.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Students interact in teacher Lucia Cambell's Bilingual Voices English Language Development class at Glenwood Springs Middle School on Wednesday morning.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/02\/ImmigrantStories-gpi-022720-2-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/02\/ImmigrantStories-gpi-022720-2-1-644x1024.jpg\" data-sub-html=\" | \" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/02\/ImmigrantStories-gpi-022720-2-1-644x1024.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/immigrant-stories-glenwood-middle-school-students-share-their-immigrant-voices\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/immigrant-stories-glenwood-middle-school-students-share-their-immigrant-voices\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText EdNote\">Immigrant Stories author Walter Gallacher recently compiled written stories from students in Glenwood Springs Middle School\u2019s Bilingual Voices English Language Development class, asking them to share their family stories, from their own perspective. Here are some of the stories.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\"><strong>Arturo:<\/strong> When I was a year old, my parents left me with my grandparents and came to the U.S. to create a better future for us. Over the next four years, they called us every day to make sure we were all right and then one day we weren\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Gang members had started recruiting my oldest brother. My brother didn\u2019t want to join them, so he left for the United States to live with my parents. Four years later, the gang members came for my other brother so he fled to the U.S to join my parents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Two years later, a drunk driver hit my cousin and I while we were riding our bikes. I broke my knee, my ankle, my toes and my ribs. They operated on my leg four times and I was in the hospital for five months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A year passed and then my grandfather died. It was very sad for me because he was the one who raised me. It was Christmas time, the saddest Christmas ever. The person I loved the most was gone forever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That\u2019s when my parents asked me to come to the United States. I hadn\u2019t seen them since I was a baby. I left Guatemala and spent four days traveling through Mexico. When I got to the border, I was very anxious and scared.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">I spent two days in a place called \u201cthe icebox\u201d and three months at a children\u2019s home in San Antonio, Texas while my parents proved to immigration that I was their child.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">When I first saw my parents, I was overcome with emotion. I finally felt free! Today, I am living with them and my brothers, enjoying my favorite pastime, skateboarding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\"><strong>Oscar:<\/strong> I finally get to be with my mother after 10 years. Now, I am in Glenwood Springs, and I feel a lot better because I have a good school. I love the snow and the climate here. It\u2019s not as hot here as in Honduras. My goal for the future is to become an engineer who designs cars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\"><strong>Ali:<\/strong> I felt nervous and excited \u2014 nervous because I had not seen my mom in so long, and excited because I finally got to see her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\"><strong>Abraham:<\/strong> I was born in Glenwood Springs and lived with my parents and my sister and brother. My dad didn\u2019t have papers and finally my mom had this idea to go to Mexico City to get them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">We left for Mexico City and stayed with my uncle. We waited two years for my dad\u2019s papers. One day my grandma called from Colorado to tell us my mom\u2019s brother had been shot. My mom left for the U.S. and we stayed with my dad. A year later, my uncle died. We went to his funeral but my dad and my little brother had to stay in Mexico because they didn\u2019t have papers. We are a mixed family.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">When we returned to Mexico, we found out my dad\u2019s papers were ready. But then there was an earthquake. Everything got ruined and we had to wait.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Finally, my dad got his papers and the day came for us to leave. I started going to school again and it was hard because I had forgotten my English. It has been a process to learn English again. I am glad to live in Glenwood Springs again with my whole family.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\"><strong>Diego:<\/strong> My family and I like the United States because there are more opportunities for us here. My parents were able to find a job. I go to a better school. I made new friends, and I am learning English.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\"><strong>Jordi:<\/strong> Out of nowhere, they shot my uncle and other people at the restaurant. Then some men started looking at my dad strangely. We lived fearfully every day. It was getting so bad, my brothers and I were no longer going to school for fear that the gangs would do something to us.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">When I started attending this beautiful school, GSMS, I felt nervous because I didn\u2019t know anyone. But now I am learning English, and I like it here.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\"><strong>Maria:<\/strong> I was born in Glenwood Springs and when I was six years old, my parents decided to take us back to Mexico because my grandmother was dying. My father had left two years before to take care of her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Two weeks after we arrived my grandma died and then three months later grandpa died. My whole family was so sad because they protected us from everything.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">January 17, 2016 was just a regular day. My dad took us all out to eat and then we went to my aunt\u2019s house to visit. My dad left us there and went to do some work at the ranch and on the way back he was shot and killed. Just like that, my dad was taken from me forever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">About a year later, rumors started spreading that the same people who killed my dad wanted to kill everyone in my family. That\u2019s why we moved back to Glenwood Springs, two years ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Although we have a better life here in the United States, I still miss my dad and my relatives in Mexico.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">I have big goals for the future. I want to help poor people. I hope to become a doctor one day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\"><strong>Michelle:<\/strong> I had been so excited about coming to the United States \u2014 it had not crossed my mind that saying goodbye to my mom, my little sister, my grandparents and my best friends would be so hard. I was so sad and scared.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\"><strong>Jefferson:<\/strong> I am glad we moved. I am happier here. Our schools here are safer and offer better learning. I am thankful my parents brought us here.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\"><strong>Joel:<\/strong> I was born in Oregon and, three months later, my family moved to Michoac\u00e1n, Mexico, where my father\u2019s parents lived. When I was 5 years old, my father returned to the United States for work. I stayed in Mexico with my sister and my mother at my grandparents\u2019 house.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Two years later, my parents separated and we had to move to Chihuahua where my mother\u2019s parents lived. Six more years passed without seeing my dad and then one day last summer, I was talking to him on the phone and he asked me to come live with him in the U.S. He had asked me many times before, but this time I said, \u00a8Yes\u201d!<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Soon after arriving in Glenwood Springs, I started school. I was very nervous because I didn\u2019t know anyone, and I didn\u2019t speak the language. Slowly I got used to it, and I like it here. I have new friends, and I am learning English. My goal is to go to college.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\"><strong>Eileen:<\/strong> The gangs kept asking for money and threatening us. They stole our car tires, broke the car windows \u2026 My dad told me he didn\u2019t want the gangs to take me and my brother. It was so hard to say goodbye to my mom and my little sister, but I am so happy I don\u2019t have to worry about all that violence anymore. I have a better life here. After high school, I want to become a veterinarian or a doctor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\"><strong>Tamara:<\/strong> I was so nervous to start a new school. I soon found out that my teacher spoke Spanish. \u00a8Phew. That\u2019s good,\u00a8 I thought. Now I am happy here learning new things.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\"><strong>Dennise:<\/strong> Glenwood Springs Middle School is a much better school than the one in my country. I feel I have better teachers here. They teach me well. They care about teaching and learning, but also about us as people. I want to be a marine biologist one day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\"><strong>Anahi:<\/strong> Even though I didn\u2019t want to move here at first, I now like it here. What I like most is to see the seasons change, especially in autumn time. I love seeing how trees look so colorful, so beautiful. I like my school, and after high school I want to be a doctor or a veterinarian.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\"><strong>Melisa:<\/strong> Now, I feel happy and safe here. I am in school learning English. My goals for the future are to learn English well, and go to college to be an English teacher.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\"><span><strong>Edgar:<\/strong> Coming to the United States is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I am safe. I am learning English. I have good teachers, and I have made new friends in school.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\"><strong>Eva:<\/strong> Six months ago, my family and I moved to the United States to be safe. We were always afraid of danger and crime, but one day the fear became our worst nightmare. It was Christmas Eve and the day began beautifully. We cooked our favorite Christmas foods and everyone was happy and celebrating. After dark we set off fireworks. Suddenly, we heard some shots.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The next morning, they found my cousin dead with bullets all over his body. A few months later, a drunk man shot and killed his dad, my uncle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">There was violence all around us all the time. And the worst part of it was that the authorities did nothing about it. The murderers walked freely in the streets. My parents decided we had to move somewhere to be safe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In a matter of days, we got ready to go and started our trip here. It was a long journey. One month later, the longest month of my life, we arrived at U.S. immigration. They separated my father and my brother from the rest of the family. I was scared and tired of feeling hopeless.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Finally, we arrived here. I no longer have to be afraid like I was in my country. It has not been easy, but I am happy and grateful to be here. I hope to become a doctor one day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><em>Walter Gallacher\u2019s Immigrant Stories series appears monthly in the Glenwood Springs Post Independent, with companion audio stories shared on community radio station KDNK, and at <a href=\"http:\/\/immigrantcolorado.blogspot.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http:\/\/immigrantcolorado.blogspot.com\/<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/immigrant-stories-glenwood-middle-school-students-share-their-immigrant-voices\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Students interact in teacher Lucia Cambell&#8217;s Bilingual Voices English Language Development class at Glenwood Springs Middle School on Wednesday morning.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent Show CaptionsHide Captions Immigrant Stories author Walter Gallacher recently compiled written stories from students in Glenwood Springs Middle School\u2019s Bilingual Voices English Language Development class, asking them to share their family [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1318449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-05 13:46:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1318449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318449\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1318449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1318449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1318449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}