
NEWARK, New Jersey (WABC) — John Oriundo, an 11th grader at Science Park High School, spilled his emotions out on to paper months ago.
At the time, it was just an assignment for his English class – a story about his family’s journey to the U.S. from Peru.
But now his story is one of 58 published in a book titled ‘We Were Strangers Once, Too: An Immigrant Memoir.’
“Very nerve wracking. I was very nervous at the start, but then I felt honored and I felt like it was sort of my mission to provide them a voice,” John Oriundo said.
The collection of raw and vulnerable stories were written by students at 8 different high schools in Newark detailing their stories of saying goodbye, the journey to the U.S. and their families’ new lives.
Shawn Adler is a teacher at Science Park High School. He is the one who carefully chose, edited and compiled the stories.
“We knew that we wanted to tell the immigrant stories of our community. We wanted to give voice to the students who, quite frankly, were voiceless, and we wanted to share the positive and resilient stories of America,” Adler explained.
The book was officially published last year, but the students were honored at a ceremony Friday morning with U.S. Rep LaMonica McIver and given small royalty checks.
Newark schools superintendent Roger Leon says this book has been praised by local, state and federal leaders. He hopes this process has taught these 58 students that their stories matter..
“Their future is going to become brighter because what they’re living today and not only what they’re living, but the stories that they’re telling about their ancestry speaks volumes about the courage that is in their own respective families, that they come from accomplishments,” Leon said.
“We Were Strangers Once, Too: An Immigrant Memoir Collection” is available on amazon.com.
Proceeds from sales of the book are donated to student fund accounts at Science Park High School and the Newark Public Schools.