|  | Hmong refugees arrive in Saint Paul, prepare for school
8/5/2004 4:55 PM | | These students attended school in the Wat Tham Krabok refugee camp in Thailand earlier this year. Teachers and staff in the Saint Paul Public Schools expects many Hmong refugee students to enroll in schools during the 2004-05 school year. |
Earlier this summer, 11-year-old Chai Xiong and his 15-year-old brother, Toua, walked through the doors of the Student Placement Center and signed up for school.
They were the first children from the Wat Tham Krabok refugee camp in Thailand to arrive in Saint Paul.
Since then, many more families from the camp have found their way to the Student Placement Center where, like every other student in the district, they were matched with a school that will meet their needs.
The students from Wat Tham Krabok will begin the school year in classrooms throughout the district. Some will attend newly opened Transitional Language Centers at Como Park, Hayden Heights and Phalen Lake elementary schools. Others will be enrolled in well-established, successful English Language Learner programs.
Wherever they come from, all students will be given ample opportunity to succeed, according to Superintendent Patricia Harvey.
Teaching students who are new to our country is nothing new to us. Its a large part of our work, Harvey said. Every day, we help students from all over the worldfrom as far away as you can imagine to as close to home as you can seereach their dreams.
Chai and Toua are already excited about the endless possibilities. In Hmong, they told Student Placement Center employee Xia Lyfong that they want to become doctors.
I believe you will become doctors, Lyfong told them. Our schools will help you become what ever you want to become.
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