Student Leadership Opens the Door to Immigrant Integration

SMAS Assistant Director Tim Doyle
opening the CCAE Bay Conference

CCAE is the California Council of Adult Education. It is the only Adult Education organization that includes everyone - students, teachers, administrators, and community members. Saturday, March 4th was the CCAE Bay Section Conference. Schools from all over the Bay Area came to discuss and celebrate Adult Education.

SMAS Student Leaders presented a dynamic workshop at the conference. They explained how student leadership opens the door to immigrant integration.

What does "integration" mean? Integration means bringing things together, combining them into a smooth mix, connecting different parts into a whole.

Juliana, Lupita, Edwin, Inna, Sayaka

Student Council President Lupita Segura, Vice President Edwin Turuy, Secretary Sayaka Okada, and Board Members Juliana de Lima and Inna Liubarska inspired their audience with information about how our Student Council works and what it accomplishes.

Juliana got the workshop off to a great start with a warm introduction and a straw poll to find out who was in the audience.

Juliana shows what the workshop will cover.

Edwin explaining the importance of student involvement

Edwin described the value of being a leader. He shared his personal story. He said that through Student Council leaders can help others as they have been helped.

Sayaka explained how Student Council works and is maintained. She said that it is symbol of immigrant integration. Students from all over the world work together to achieve wonderful things.

Inna making things clear

Inna talked about how SMAS Student Leaders have been involved at local, state and national levels. She pointed out the challenges and benefits of leadership. She advised listeners not to be afraid to take the first step.

Lupita started things off by reminding the audience that without students, there is no school. Students, school, and community work in a mutually beneficial way. Lupita shared her story and then reminded everyone that if she can do it, they can, too.

Edwin and Lupita in action

Student Leaders were assisted by Marina Kravtsova. Marina is the English Learner Specialist at SMAS and the Student Council Coordinator. She is a former SMAS student and Student Leader, herself.

Other former leaders were there to support, as well. Denise Carrasco and Cristina Munoz Ulrich came to cheer on the new team.

From start to finish, we can see that student leadership creates immigrant integration - in the workshop, at the Conference, at our school, in our community, across the state.

A big, warm and much deserved thank you to the Student Leadership team and Coordinator Marina for bringing this inspiring and informative workshop to the conference. The attendees listened closely, had many questions, and were excited by what they learned.

Adult Learner wisdom matters!