Reference no: EM133744663
Scenario: Alon immigrated to the United States as a young child to live with his grandparents. When he was a teenager, he learned from his grandparents that he was not a U.S. citizen. Upon hearing this, Alon was filled with emotions. He had to grapple with what it meant to be an "undocumented immigrant," an "illegal," words he had often heard, but never thought about in such a personal way. He did not feel as if he were "alien" to this country. He had a strong identity as American. He struggled to understand what this meant for him and his future. He kept these feelings to himself until one day when he decided he had to disclose his citizenship status. Alon was the president of his high school's Habitat for Humanity chapter, and his faculty advisor approached him about a wonderful opportunity for their entire chapter to travel to Mexico over spring break for a special project. His advisor, Mr. Rand, told him that he was still working out the details, but that it looked like he could get the entire trip funded through a local education foundation.
Alon knew he could not travel without the proper papers, so he decided that he had to tell Mr. Rand about his undocumented status. There were no excuses for him to hide behind. The trip was fully funded and everyone knew of his passion for helping communities in need. No one would believe that he just did not want to go, or that his grandparents would not let him. To his surprise, Mr. Rand said, "Well then, there is no need for a trip to Mexico. There are plenty of special projects to complete here in the U.S. Let's find a new location and then announce the exciting news to the club." Alon had not expected such kindness. He had been thinking that once he told people he was undocumented, they would view him in a bad light, and that may still be true of others. But it was not true of Mr. Rand. Because of Mr. Rand, Alon became hopeful that the way he viewed himself-as an American-could also be the way others viewed him.
Question: In what ways did Alon's experience with immigration shape his identity and interactions with educators?