A Learning Experience

Refugee and immigrant teens are students in this summer program and learning English and career skills. - - Donna Poisl

Sometimes it’s not just the students who get taught a lesson.

At first glance, the lobby of Gonzaga’s Jepson School of Business Administration resembled nothing so much as a middle-school dance. A line of teenagers waited shyly along the near side, staring out across an empty floor to where their partners also stood, waiting. Erin Welch Meuer, who was chaperoning, stood between the two groups and tried to facilitate a somewhat awkward initial greeting.

But unlike those awkward 12-year-olds jamming to the latest beats, once the signal was given — and the teens were relieved of having to introduce themselves to the entire group — they scampered forward, eager to interact, engage and learn. Clutching little blue booklets that listed short profiles of each organization and a few “interview primers” that were supposed to serve as guides for their conversations, they fanned out over the room.
Click on the headline above to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.