Darcy takes 3rd

Each year our school participates in a National Immigration Writing Contest.  It is for all fifth graders and an immigration lawyer comes into class and talks to the students about what immigration is and what it is the lawyers do in representing immigrants.  The students are sometimes given a topic such as, What it is like to live in a land of immigrants.

Darcy wrote her paper in March when she was a fifth grader.  She chose to write an essay and worked diligently with her teacher and then her mother to finalize her paper.  She turned it in and promptly forgot about it.  Last month she received a letter from the Central Florida Chapter of American Immigration Lawyers lettering her know she had placed third in the writing contest and was invited to read her paper at a luncheon. 

Darcy and the other winners (her classmate won 2nd place and a young man from the Orlando area took 1st) went to the luncheon on Friday and read their poems and essays.  Each winner received a nice check and a plaque. We are very proud of her!

Here is her essay:

By Darcy Boos

The United States is a melting pot of many different cultures due to immigration.  Many foreign people immigrate to our country for one thing: personal freedom.  They bring with them a piece of their world, and we in turn embrace the new customs, foods, and languages.

            Customs are certain ways of doing things that are common to people and places.  As people immigrated to the United States they brought their own beliefs, their own holidays, and their own ways of life.  We in turn began to incorporate these customs into our own lives.  Where Americans once only shook hands when greeting one another, we now hug and kiss the European way.  Many of our holidays came from other countries.  Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day came from Ireland, and Valentine’s Day originated in Rome.  Now these holidays are a part of our own traditions as are the different foods introduced to our country. 

            Spaghetti, poori, and paella are types of food we now eat in the United States.  Spaghetti is a very common dish here, but it originated in Italy and was brought to the United States by the Italian immigrants.  Poori came from India and paella is a dish from Spain.  Having these new recipes have added spice and variety to our dinner table and given us many different types of restaurants.  Besides the new foods immigrants have also given us many new languages.

            Muchos idiomas diferentes estan usados en nuestro mundo hoy.  Many different languages are used in our country.  While the United States does not have an official language most of the people speak English.  But they also speak Spanish, German, French, Chinese and even Norwegian.  Having other people in our country speaking different types of languages helps the rest of us learn.  Without immigrants bringing these languages with them I might not be learning Spanish and Chinese in my school today.

            Every year people enter our country from near and far looking for a new way of life.  They bring with them their country’s traditions, foods, languages, and customs.  All of these different ways of life are intermingled with one another to form a rich melting pot which today makes up the United States of America.