COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – More than 60 Legg Middle School students and parents participated this week in a Coldwater Community Schools special event designed to show what it might be like to experience the life of a refugee.
The English department at LMS sponsored the Refugee Journey-Run for Your Life simulation. The activity was presented with the assistance of middle school teachers by a Chicago based organization Exodus world service.
Jody May is Education Manager for Exodus and staged the simulation Wednesday in Coldwater. She said the Legg kids were amazing, asking lots of reflection questions while sharing their thoughts about refugees, and called the entire simulation a really good experience for everyone involved.
As part of the One School, One Book program at LMS, all students read “Refugee” by Alan Gratz, a novel that follows the stories of three refugee children in three different geographic locations and points in time.
Students also brought in personal hygiene and household products to make care packs that were handed over to May for distribution by Exodus to newly arriving refugee families in Chicago. The Branch County Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence donated some of the 500 items that were given to Exodus.
(reporting from Jim Whelan)
