Amplifying Immigrant Voices and Building Connections through Storytelling in the Twin Cities1/21/2025
![]() Welcome back to Faculty in Focus! This week we’re highlighting Julia Chadaga from Macalester College In her Russian Studies course, Once We Arrived: Stories of Immigrants' First Jobs, Julia Chadaga partnered with the International Institute of Minnesota to connect students with local immigrants to share their stories. By exploring the challenges immigrants face in securing their first job in the U.S., students gained invaluable insights into immigrant experiences while amplifying these individuals’ voices. Students conducted interviews which were recorded and uploaded to a course website, preserving their narratives and making them available to the public. Through this project, students gained valuable skills in communication, collaboration, and technology while deepening their understanding of the contributions of immigrants to their local community. Working in small groups, students were matched with interviewees from all over the world, including Afghanistan, Cameroon, Ecuador, Mexico, and Russia. The project began with an informal meeting designed to build trust and rapport - a highlight of the course. As one student shared, “I think having this first meeting was extremely important and helpful for the success of our interview. It made the process feel relationship based and I think it allowed her to be more comfortable sharing her story publicly. For me personally, I learned the most meaningful information about her story from this informal meeting.” ![]() Through these interviews, students created a public-facing website to preserve and share these powerful narratives. Along the way, they gained practical skills by developing the course website, writing interview questions, filming and editing interview videos, and creating website content. When reflecting on what they gained from the course, one student wrote, “I have really appreciated the knowledge and life skills that this class has taught me so far. These are the classes that not every school has and I’m really glad I have the opportunity to do something different than the routine courses.” In reflecting on the project’s broader impact, Julia Chagada shared, “My hope was that if my students could get to know local immigrants as individuals, that knowledge could shape the way these students would think and act in the future, ideally with more understanding and compassion toward immigrant communities, and toward minoritized groups more broadly.” This project is a testament to the power of storytelling to foster empathy, understanding, and connection across diverse communities while equipping students with real-world skills and perspectives. All the interviews are showcased on the course website, which also features local resources gathered by students and context on various immigrant communities in the Twin Cities. Check it out here. Comments are closed.
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