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A Tale of Immigrants Lost in School

Local students perform play in Spanish about challenges faced by immigrant youths

Part of the Standing Up for Youths Series

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Students from the Levante Leadership Institute perform their play Wednesday. The play was in Spanish and was translated in real time via headsets. Photo by Archana Gowda.

Middle and high school students from Levante Leadership Institute
performed their short play "Temor/Fear" in the Mary Lou Williams
Center for Black Culture Wednesday afternoon. 
Performed entirely in Spanish, the play follows the challenges faced by
a young boy named Francisco in school because of his parents' immigration
status.

Before an audience of faculty, staff and students, the young actors
showed the importance of teachers being culturally aware of their students'
circumstances. Translation headsets were provided for non-Spanish speakers, and
the performance was followed by lunch and a discussion.

Levante Leadership Institute is a youth program that uses theater
and the arts to help migrant youth build self-esteem and develop leadership
skills. It is part of the nonprofit Student Action with Farmworkers. The event
was co-sponsored by Duke's Spanish service-learning program, Mi Gente, and
Program in Latino/a Studies in the Global South at Duke.  

Below: The Levante students pose following the performance.  Photo by Archana Gowda.

Levent students