By STEPHANIE BUNKER
Moapa Valley Progress
Representatives of The American Immigration Council visited Grant Bowler Elementary School on Friday to invite the school’s fifth graders to participate in an essay contest celebrating the blend of cultures in America.
Immigration attorney Nathalie Gottschalk promoted the essay theme, “Why I Am Glad America Is a Nation of Immigrants.” She encouraged students to think about where their families came from before they crossed the shores of American soil.
“I want to give the kids ideas and inspire them what to write about,” Gottschalk said. “I want them to think about the diversity in their backgrounds. I hope they get curious and wonder where they came from and why. I want them to know their stories.”
Gottschalk invited several guests from other countries to share their experiences coming to this country.
Jun Hudgell is the wife of an art teacher at the school and an immigrant from South Korea. She told about how rigorous the life of a student is in South Korea attending school from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. with some schools cramming even more hours into a day. Hudgell did not like the rigorous education system and came here on a student visa to study. Two years ago she gained citizenship and came to America for good with her husband.
Three foreign exchange students also shared some of their culture with the students and explained why they wanted to come to America.
“It’s interesting to learn different cultures, I wanted to experience high school and everyday life in America,” Maurice Torbeck from Germany said. “What I knew was what I saw in the movies.”
Torbeck highlighted the extreme school spirit of the high school.
“We don’t have school spirit, there are no sports, just studying,” he said.
Torbeck said that he didn’t know anything about American football before. But he now loves the sport and hopes to find a team when he gets back home.
Lara Bingisser came from Switzerland to America with her family two years ago. She wanted to see what it was like to live here. She talked about all the documents she had to complete in order to be granted access to come, but said it was worth it.
“We don’t have any spirit or sports at our high school either. I would have to be taking 13-15 classes right now and I wouldn’t get to choose any of them,” she said.
Eirik Monsvoll from Norway talked about how he was placed in Moapa Valley and was in shock at first.
“Where I live it’s green and there are mountains and people know what cross country skiing is,” he said. “I was matched here and I’m grateful I was, I lived in a city and now I know that I love it in this town.”
The American Immigration Council essay contest is due on March 1. Members of the Moapa Valley Education Foundation will select the local winner and send the essay to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Nevada chapter. Three state finalists will be chosen to go on to participate at the national level. The winner of the contest will to go on a trip to Washington D.C. with their parents and attend the American Heritage Awards.
Gottschalk said that Nevada has been a finalist for several years.
“I want this town to be included in this contest,” she said.
