Bex Rinas is ENGLISH @ WORK’s newest AmeriCorps VISTA member. She comes to us with vast international work experience and we are incredibly excited to have her aboard this year! To learn more about Bex, please visit our staff page.Â
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I came to ENGLISH @ WORK because I was interested in learning more about immigrants and refugees in Austin and I wanted to get involved in support initiatives in the community. After only one month of working here, I have already found so many opportunities to expand my knowledge of immigrant and refugee issues by getting to know the students we serve. Because ENGLISH @ WORK serves students from over 30 countries, I have been fortunate enough to start talking to some of our students on a more personal level, to learn about their experiences in coming to the United States; the hopes they brought with them, the challenges they face and obstacles that they’ve overcome.
Because we feel that it is really important for our teachers, volunteers and community members to better understand immigrant and refugee issues, we realized that giving our students a chance to tell their stories would inevitably create more advocates for support initiatives. Therefore, I have started working on a project whose objective is to profile the countries of our students. The project consists of compiling information about the history of immigration between respective countries and the United States and interviewing our students to allow them to tell about their experiences. I hope that this project will be an opportunity to better inform anyone who becomes involved in our organization, as well as give our students an active role in creating a support network.
So far, I have only scratched the surface of this project. I have started putting together information about 3 countries and I hope to start interviewing students this month. Many of our students, in passing, mention incredible experiences in their lives. I am excited to start hearing their stories. I’ll keep posting about how this project progresses, and hopefully, be able to share some interviews with you soon!
Bex Rinas
AmeriCorps VISTA