Announcement
Students show their Academic Excellence awards.
Photo: IRC
By Graham Gordon
On July 25, 2022, the IRC Charlottesville office held its first in-person Student Recognition Ceremony in two years. The event, which is typically organized on an annual basis, had not happened since 2019 due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Naturally, the community was quite ready to engage with one another and interact face-to-face again.
The celebration was organized by the IRC Charlottesville’s Youth Program team, which supports children resettled in the Albemarle County and Charlottesville City school systems. These services include enrolling children in school with access to English as a Second Language services, fostering community engagement through extracurricular activities, and providing college readiness services for students who wish to pursue higher education.
The event recognized the academic, extracurricular, and personal achievements of twenty students who have been resettled in Charlottesville. Friends and family were invited to celebrate with them, bringing attendance to more than fifty people and making for an exciting, lively event. It was held at Booker T. Washington Park in Charlottesville and included food, games, and access to a playground. Despite the rain that evening, children of all ages were able to have fun with one another, clambering all over the park and speaking in their mother tongues. Parents and family friends from various cultural backgrounds chatted with one another.
Not only is the event a great way to facilitate the Charlottesville refugee community’s engagement with each other, but it reinforces the fact that these children are doing great things, despite many barriers to their success. Acclimating to another culture is one of the largest hurdles international children must overcome. It’s always difficult, especially when they don’t speak English and aren’t used to the U.S. education system. The outstanding accomplishments of these students can often be overlooked, even if they are monumental achievements. As Lorelei Pfeffer, the co-organizer of the event, put it, “A lot of students don’t realize how hard they’ve been working… It’s nice to be able to recognize [everything they’ve done] and give them the motivation to keep going.”