I grew up in New York City, so you would think I would know something about diversity in public schools. My neighborhood elementary school on Staten Island, however, was a relatively homogenous mix of children of mostly Irish, Italian and Norwegian parents, with just a few children from Asian homes scattered about the grades. We almost all spoke the same language, played the same games, went to the same churches and ate the same food.

Compare that experience to the one that the children are having who attend Champlain Elementary School in the South End of Burlington are having (children, by the way, that include my own two). Despite Vermont being the least ethnically diverse state in the nation, the city of Burlington is home to a variety of New American groups, and Champlain Elementary School’s students include Vietnamese, Bosnians, Mexicans, Central Americans and a significant number of Somali Bantu children who are adjusting not only to school but to a life worlds apart from the refuge camps they were born in.

Assistant Professor of Sociology/Anthropology Patti Delaney and her students are making a huge difference in these children’s lives. She’s brought her sociology students out of theoretical discussions and into real-life interactions with these Champlain students, and Mark Tarnacki’s insightful story, and Andy Duback’s sensitive photos, beautifully capture the symbiotic relationship between teachers and students (see page 26).

This is one of those stories that I’ve come to love in the months we’ve been putting it together. It’s helped me realize how much my children are benefitting from going to a school where so many students are so different from them, and how much more learning I could have had as a child had my school’s population reflected the greater diversity of the city. As always, I welcome your comments about the magazine. Please write to me at ccrawford@smcvt.edu, and be sure to visit the magazine online as well, where it’s easy to leave comments and interact with our contents. www.smcvt.edu/magazine  :

—Caroline Crawford