Who We Are
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Staff
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Kerry Brogan is a co-coordinator of Buffalo Youth in Motion and a member of Western New York AmeriCorps ABLE. A professional videographer and graduate of Houghton College, Kerry joined AmeriCorps in September of 2009 to help plan and implement the Buffalo Youth in Motion program. With extensive experience shooting and editing digital video as well as teaching digital video, Kerry is primarily in charge of the education component of Buffalo Youth in Motion. She designed the curriculum and delivers lectures on a variety of digital video topics, and serves as the Final Cut Pro guru during lab sessions.
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Katarina Kieffer is a co-coordinator of BYIM and a member of WNY AmeriCorps ABLE. She is a 2009 graduate of Houghton College, and joined AmeriCorps in June of 2009 to help plan Buffalo Youth in Motion. As a former editor of her college’s student newspaper, Katarina is good at meeting deadlines. keeping things organized, and motivating volunteers to stay passionate when things get difficult. She has taken care of scheduling, coordinating outside events, and designing activities to go along with Kerry’s lectures for Buffalo Youth in Motion.
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Students
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Most of our students are from Burma, several are Nepalese, and a few are from Kenya and Tanzania. They have been in Buffalo between 2-8 years and are non-native English speakers. They inspire us every day through their willingness to work hard and excitement to learn and through their humor and good attitudes. We don’t have space to tell you about all of our students, but here are two of their stories:
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Sella
19-year old Sella Myint says he is from Thailand, but is quick to add that his culture is Karen, and he is originally from Burma. He speaks Karen, and says he speaks “a little bit” of Thai, Burmese, and English. At 17, he started at Lafayette High School in the 7th grade, and is now in 9th grade. Before coming to America in 2008, he lived in a Thai refugee camp for 15 years, where he went to school periodically and learned some English. He says, though, that the English he learned in the camp was completely different from what he’s learned at Lafayette. Still, he says that learning English has been “easy” so far. According to Sella, the hardest thing about being a refugee student is that there are so many different languages being spoken at the school, and almost everyone talks too fast. “Except the teachers,” he adds, “They know how to speak slowly.” English is most challenging for his family, not for him. Sella’s parents do not speak English; in Burma they were protecting their family from the Burmese army, and at the camp in Thailand there was no English program for adults. “It’s hard for my parents. They don’t know how to read or speak English,” he says, “But they are trying hard every day, and sometimes I can help them because I keep learning.” He wants to go to college, but first wants to improve his English: to speak, write and read better so that he is able to tell his story and the story of the Karen people.
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Maryan
16 year-old Maryan Jumale is a determined and driven 9th grade student at Lafayette High School. She is from Kenya, and speaks English, Swahili, and Kizingua. Maryan went to school in Kenya, but she says she didn’t stay long. She started in 5th Grade at School 18 in Buffalo. For her, reading and pronouncing English properly have been the hardest things to learn. At Lafayette High School she has learned English and now feels as if she “fits” better. She said she first became comfortable speaking English when she went to a summer program, and learned “how to write, read, and pronounce the words.” Even still, English is challenging- mostly because “everyone- including me- talks too fast!” Speaking slowly while teaching is what she thinks is most important to help people learn English, though she also says that learning certain words first are important; her fifth-grade teacher taught her to say “shut up,” and Maryan says those have been some of the handiest words to know. Maryan is currently involved with the Buffalo Youth in Motion afterschool program at Lafayette, where she and her fellow students are learning to shoot and edit digital video, making projects ranging from personal documentaries to music videos, and she says, “I like doing all of the work!”
