The World Sleeps Over

The New American Center is a coalition of seven partner agencies, which have the same goal: to serve the refugee and immigrant communities of Lynn. The agencies provide many services, including ESL, after-school programs, job search and placement training, healthcare, and refugee family transitioning services. They serve individuals and families from Bosnia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Russia, Cambodia, and South Sudan, among many other countries.

Gordon students volunteer weekly at the New American Center through the service component of The Great Conversation course.

Reflection by Hannah VanderLaan ‘16

The New American Center Sleepover was an amazing Friday and Saturday of games on the quad, pizza in Lane, rock-climbing and basketball in Bennett, and a movie in Barrington. I spent the evening dancing to Hindi music, herding 40 students around campus, and begging teenage girls to fall asleep at 1 a.m. When it was over I was thoroughly exhausted, yet incredibly thankful for the experience.

My favorite part of the event was Saturday morning. After the campus theater group, REACH Drama Ministry, performed various skits for the NAC students, they invited them to participate in a simple improvisation game. I watched as the Lynn students slowly began to join the game. The whole room erupted in laughter as the kids played off the humor of both their Lynn friends and the Gordon students. In that moment, the divide between NAC students and Gordon students began to blur.

I believe moments like those are both rare and valuable. The NAC sleepover at Gordon allows for these moments: moments of authentic, natural friendship between the Gordon community and the New American Center. The sleepover gives Gordon an opportunity to reach out to the refugee community and to the city of Lynn as simple, genuine friends. I am so thankful to all the Gordon staff who didn't hesitate to see the value in the event and did everything in their power to make it an incredible time.

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