Photo courtesy of paper-airplanes.org.
While preparing for the 2018-2019 academic year at Connecticut College, new first-year students, current students, and faculty alike dove into the world of Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West for their summer reading assignment: a fiction novel that focuses on the lives of two refugees and their journey across the world through magical doors. After reading the novel and having school-wide discussions regarding the text with faculty, staff, and the author, students across campus were driven to investigate how this story relates to their local community. Is there a way that students at Connecticut College can learn more about refugees on a global level, and help those at a local level?
The Student Refugee Alliance (SRA) is the answer to this call to action. Working in tandem with the Walter Commons for Global Study and Engagement and the College’s Refugee Relief and Education Committee (RREC), the SRA is a new organization and club on campus that officially began in February of this year. The club meets bi-weekly on Mondays, giving students a space to promote education on refugee related topics and issues through documentaries, discussions, and Ted Talks, while also being a brainstorming space for how Connecticut College students can engage with refugees in New London and abroad. Also, the SRA hosts monumental events such as their discussion on Sunday, April 28th at 1pm with a Syrian refugee who has been positively impacted by the non-profit organization Paper Airplanes.
The SRA was founded by CISLA scholar Ann Monk ‘19, and student representatives on the RREC, including Gareth Barr ‘19 and Elizabeth Hensley ‘20. These students acted in response to heavy demand from other students wanting to engage with the topic of refugees in a community on campus. The RREC was started by President Katherine Bergeron a few years ago in order to coordinate and support refugee related efforts across campus. Comprised of mostly faculty and staff, with three student representatives, the committee hosts academic events, watches documentaries, and holds group discussions on how to educate the college community on the refugee crisis. Although the RREC has always invited student engagement and included students on the committee, the need for a more grass roots approach to engage the student body was soon brought to light, and with encouragement from the RREC, the SRA was formed.
The current SRA executive board consists of Monk as president, Hensley as vice-president, Barr as the chair of communications, Fiona Hull as the treasurer, and Melissa Ryan as the staff advisor.
As the assistant director of the Walter Commons for Global Study and Engagement, Melissa Ryan highlights the value of the collaborative nature of her work in the Walter Commons. Supporting “the efforts of different departments, divisions, and organizations [at the college] to bring global issues to the forefront and to highlight the connection between global and local issues” is what makes makes the work of the Walter Commons so engaging and relevant. She views the SRA as an important addition to the campus community and believes it to be one of the most exciting outcomes of the RREC’s efforts in the last academic year. Working through the RREC and the Walter Commons, Ryan looks forward to supporting SRA students “find their voice” in the conversation around refugee related issues at Connecticut College.
Fiona Hull ‘21, CISLA scholar and proud member of the SRA, appreciates the values the club brings to the Connecticut College community. “With this day and age,” starts Hull, “there is so much misinformation about immigration and refugee crisis that we tend to conflate the different events into one narrative, which can be very harmful since we are dealing with a plethora of different people, cultures, and heritages. I think the club really works on breaking that down and creating a more educated group of people moving forward.” She highlights that the refugee crisis affects everyone in the world because of the domino effect it establishes. Therefore, Hull believes that we should learn how refugees can build our communities and how we can support them.
Looking forward, Monk is very excited about several opportunities for the SRA for the end of this academic year and going into next fall. As previously mentioned, on April 28th the SRA will be conducting a Skype call with a Syrian refugee and their experience with the organization Paper Airplanes. Paper Airplanes is a non-profit organization that connects refugees with English tutors. Connecticut College and the Walter Commons have been collaborating with Paper Airplanes for the past two years, through info sessions and work with the organization by students in the LA 101 course: ESL Teaching Methodology. By hosting an event in collaboration with Paper Airplanes, the SRA is hoping to continue to foster this outreach along with support from the RREC, who can help facilitate tutoring experience in the future.
Additionally, Monk is hoping to coordinate an event with Start Fresh, a New London based organization that welcomes refugee families into the community, which includes having refugee mothers come to Connecticut College to teach a cooking class in Hood dining hall, and then inviting their families to eat and spend time together with the students. Also, Monk would love to have a monthly or bi-weekly activity at the Public Library of New London where refugee children interact with Connecticut College students through tutoring, games, and other activities, so that they can spend time with people who are more in their age range.
“The Student Refugee Alliance is very eager to help more students become involved in the New London community” says Monk. “There are so many incredible, real-life experiences in our area to supplement and enrich classroom learning. We are especially excited to have first years join the club to get more involved here at Conn and in the wider community. Joining a club, especially one focused on social service, is a great way to make connections and broaden horizons!”
If you have any questions about the Student Refugee Alliance, please contact Ann Monk at amonk@conncoll.edu •
