Coming to America -- through Cold Spring

Students recreate Ellis Island

Wednesday, May 3, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Brian Lewis⁄The Gazette Cold Spring Elementary School fourth-graders Huey Hsueh, Myangjee Noh and Katie Zhou take a citizen oath after being allowed to enter the United States in a re-enactment of Ellis Island at the Potomac school on Friday.

‘‘I wanted a better life and more money,” he said. ‘‘I almost got deported because I had a weakness and a mental illness.”

Henoss Taddesse, 10, of Potomac, knows exactly how he felt. That’s because Taddesse, a fourth-grader at Cold Spring Elementary School’s Center for the Highly Gifted, played the part of Fahrbarker on Friday in a re-enactment of Ellis Island of 1900.

‘‘I learned what immigrants had to go through,” he said. ‘‘It was hard. It’s very, very scary when they ask you questions because one wrong answer and they could send you back to your home country.”

For the activity, every child in the class was assigned an identity, complete with country of origin, job experience, ailments and affiliations. They were required to dress in costumes appropriate of the time, country and economic status and act the part of their characters.

‘‘I have to have a cane because of my arthritis,” said Sarah Katz, 10, of Potomac, who played the role of Alexandra Remienska, a 55-year-old peasant from Greece with arthritis and mental illness.

She was unsure about whether she would be admitted to the country.

‘‘I didn’t do very well in health,” she said. ‘‘I think it would be cool if I did make it through because it would be such a relief, but it looks like I might not.”

Teacher Marjorie Cohen organized the activity to help students understand the immigrant experience through a hands-on lesson. It is part of the migration unit of the fourth-grade curriculum, she said.

‘‘The kids weren’t able to get the concept of what it was like to be an immigrant,” she said. But the reenactment made it clear, according to students.

‘‘I learned what it’s really like to be an immigrant and how it really feels,” Katz said. ‘‘You’re nervous because you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Cohen first organized the activity with her class last year, but this year she expanded it. The activity was held in the school’s all-purpose room and approximately 20 parents helped out by playing the parts of immigration officials — some friendly and some not.

Lisa Raker, a parent volunteer was serving as an official on the board of appeals where immigrants could argue their cases for being allowed to enter the country.

‘‘It’s amazing,” she said. ‘‘The kids are learning truly what it feels like. They’re seeing what their ancestors had to go through. We actually deported some children.”

Avikar Periwal, 9, of Potomac, was assuming the identity of Conrad Von Bruen, 57, a wealthy businessman from Germany. He said he thought immigrants in 1900 might have had a harder time coming to the United States than they do today.

‘‘It was probably a lot more frightening then because you didn’t know if you were going to get in,” he said.

‘‘You kind of feel anxious and nervous and scared. I have a good identity, but I still might not make it in.”

Hope Kean, 10, of Potomac, who was acting as Pirkko Ericson, an 18-year-old from Sweden who was allowed entry to the country, said she learned a lot from the experience.

‘‘It gives you another point of view about history. In your mind, you’re comparing yourself to what they did every day,” she said. ‘‘I was thinking about if they were leaving their countries and their family, how hard it must have been.”