State High is home to many clubs and activities, from sports like football and basketball to organizations like DECA and FBLA. One such club—World Café—stands out among them as a club designed for State High students in the ESL program.
English as a second language—or ESL—is for State High students who do not primarily speak English. These students are from around the world from places such as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, South Korea, Venezuela, and Kazakhstan.
While World Café is a place for ESL students, it isn’t just a place for non-English speakers. It’s also a place for English-speaking students to converse and interact with people they otherwise wouldn’t ordinarily meet.
ESL teacher and World Café member Melissa MacNeely shared her perspective.
“The one thing I would love for kids to know from State High is that there are a lot of students from other countries looking to meet new friends,” MacNeely said.“So if you see a kid, maybe from another country, by themselves at lunch, and it’s not super awkward, try to start a conversation with them. Just try to reach out and away if you can, because we had a student, like, the other day from Uzbekistan, a kid from a jewelry class just came over to her and was like, ‘Hey, what’s your name?’ And she gave her a bracelet. She just made a connection. It’s those little things that don’t seem big that matter a lot to our kiddos who are new and really trying to find their place here at State High. So just remember to be kind.”
MacNeely explained why English-speaking students should visit World Café, and how she hopes they can reach out to the rest of the student body.
“So yeah, I don’t know how many people know about World Cafe—besides the people that are involved—but we do make a point to put it on the announcements before our meetings, and just so we can kind of draw in different kids,” MacNeely said. “Mrs. Tobias made sure that our group had a table at the activities fair last—I guess it was in September—and that brought in a couple of new kiddos that we had never met. And I think that’s really awesome. So it’s really amazing to see the student body grow like this…And we have more of an international flair here at State High than people are aware of. So I think that’s important too… And I think that’s an important element of World Cafe that we’re trying to remind kiddos that they need to give back to the greater community.”
This idea of World Café being for all State High students was further supported by Lana Kairdenova, a student from Kazakhstan and a leader for World Café.
“I really recommend people to join it. It’s not just because you speak languages, other languages, or you’re from [a] different country, [or] different nation. It’s just about people, about sharing, about communicating, about, like, connecting. Connecting together,” Kairdenova said.
World Café is a unique club at State High for ESL students to connect and discuss whatever is on their minds. However, it is also a place for English-speaking students to meet and interact with people they otherwise wouldn’t have. For any interested students wanting to visit World Café to see what it’s like and experience it for themselves, they meet in D115 during 6 and 7 lunch once a month. Email Henry Feinberg at [email protected] for meeting dates.
