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August 23, 2021

Students Find Their Place at 'Refugee High'

City Cast Chicago

Students Find Their Place at 'Refugee High'

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In 2017, after former President Donald Trump’s travel ban on citizens and refugees from seven predominately Muslim countries, journalist Elly Fishman started thinking about refugee families who were already in Chicago. She then learned about Sullivan High School in Rogers Park, which is also referred to as “Refugee High.” Hundreds of refugee students attend and more than 40 different languages are spoken there. Fishman documented the school for a Chicago magazine article that then turned into a book. We talk to Fishman about what she learned at Sullivan, and how the students’ unique and arduous backgrounds were just one part of these multi-faceted young people who just wanted to be teenagers. 


Guest: Elly Fishman, Author, "Refugee High" (@Elly33)


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