In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, cancellations and reconsiderations have become the norm for SLUH students and faculty, who have been forced to take their goals and adapt them into something less than what was originally planned. But out of the ashes of altered plans and virtual learning, a once lost SLUH tradition has been revived: the all-school summer reading book, which was resurrected this summer with The Other Side: Stories of Central American Teen Refugees Who Dream of Crossing the Border by Juan Pablo Villalobos.

Prior to the pandemic, plans were already in place to bring back the all-school summer read. Led by Library Director Lynne Casey, a committee was formed—with one person from almost every department—to bring back the assignment and integrate it more meaningfully into the curriculum. 

“The goal from the beginning was not to simply read a book and take a quiz on it, and never visit it again. We wanted it to be a part of our school theme this year: loving. We really wanted the book to be something we can revisit throughout the year, and I hope it can be something we can come together through. Maybe we don’t just have to talk about this single book; maybe it will spark other ideas throughout the year.”

At the group’s first meeting, Casey brought a stack of books that she thought looked interesting and effective for the summer read, and divided them between members of the committee to read and possibly propose for the summer read. Spanish teacher Magdalena Alvarado ended up choosing The Other Side, and highly recommended it for the summer reading book due to its length, YA genre, accessibility, and the important subject of immigration during an election year.

The rest of the committee then read it, and decided that it fit all their criteria. It was also decided that due to the book’s topic of immigration, the One World Club would take the initiative to promote the book throughout the school year and create activities for student awareness and participation. 

Upon reading the book and securing it as the all-school read, Casey and Spanish teacher Maria Paz Campos reached out to the author of the book, Juan Pablo Villalabos, on Twitter to see if he would consider coming to SLUH and speaking to the student body, to which he agreed. Due to the pandemic and the loss of Issues Day—a day held to discuss issues in the country prior to an election—freshman class moderator Tim Curdt and English teacher David Callon proposed integrating the conversation into Freshman Fun Day as they concurred (due to high quiz scores and successful bonus question responses) that more than any other class, the freshmen connected with The Other Side the most.

Organized by the One World Club and Casey, a group of students were selected via email requests, club affiliation, and interest in and engagement with the topic of immigration. From the beginning, it was decided that the purpose of the conversation would be to educate the student body—especially the freshman class—about the topic of immigration, and that students should lead the conversation rather than faculty.

“The One World Club’s mission is to promote awareness of international issues, and right now we are working hard on developing student leadership,” said Campos. “Right now in this world we live in, we have so many global and local challenges that need to be educated on. It was very important for the students to lead and take part in this conversation.”

After being selected for the conversation, students spent time formulating questions for Villalobos, who wanted to focus more on the stories of immigration and less on the legal aspects of it. Ultimately, the group chose three main topics to focus on: the purpose of writing the book and telling immigration stories, specific chapters that stood out to students, and questions on the topic of immigration in general.

On Wednesday, Oct. 28, the students, One World Club advisors, and Casey met in the Ignatian conference room for the Zoom conversation with Villalabos, who Zoomed in from Barcelona. Despite acute organization, planning, and perfect set up, however, the Zoom meeting was met with a 15-minute delay, as the sound input needed to be fixed, and daylight savings in Barcelona accounted for a one hour difference in scheduling for Villalabos.

“The time difference was a big deal for the conversation, and we totally forgot about the one-hour time change on his side,” said Campos. “We were already ready to join at 3:00 his time, but it was supposed to be 4:00. Thankfully, he was extremely nice, very flexible, and he was able to meet with us an hour early on his end.”

What was initially a setback, though, became an unintentional benefit, as the Zoom delay allowed for the freshmen to gather themselves at the beginning of their day and omitted the need for a 15-minute followup reflection at the conversation’s end.

“In hindsight, the delay and errors were kind of a blessing,” said Casey.“Mr. Villalabos was supposed to talk for 45 minutes and then there would be 15 minutes of downtime where freshmen would answer questions I put on Canvas. I’m kind of glad they didn’t have to do that. I think that answering questions after would have felt like homework, and now instead they get to think about these topics afterwards.”

The rest of the conversation and livestream was met with praise and high regards.

“I thought he was fantastic,” said Casey. “He gave a lot of thought to his responses and he was very engaged. He didn’t phone it in at all. He listened intently to the questions and thought a lot before his answers. I was very pleased with the depth of his responses.”

“I really enjoyed the speaker, it was really cool to meet someone that was an immigrant and was able to talk to other immigrants,” reflected freshman Quinn Apprill-Sokol. “I think he taught the class an important lesson on empathy.”

Campos was especially pleased with how the student speakers took upon such a big task, and how they prepared and presented their questions to the author.

“It was super exciting to be a part of it, and I thought the students did a great job at asking questions, presenting themselves, and developing those leadership roles” said Campos. “All of the questions the students asked were very insightful. Myself and Mrs. Alvarado was very impressed with the quality of each question and how much those students were invested in this event.”

Campos is also hopeful that these opportunities can allow for more conversation, reflection, and development of social justice topics, and allow for students to empathize with migrant children and understand the struggles they go through in their everyday lives.

“I hope some students can use this experience to think about and reflect on this issue,” said Campos. “It is a topic that is very difficult to talk about, but I think that the first step is gaining that knowledge and humanizing perspective and taking time to reflect on it. Gaining that perspective and empathy is very important. We cannot forget that these migrants are human beings and should have the same rights and opportunities that we have.”

Plans are now in place to take these experiences and knowledge learned from the book and conversation and put them into action, specifically with service, educating about human rights, and any organizations that focus on immigration in the St. Louis area.

All in all, the Zoom conversation with Juan Pablo Villalabos was a solid start for the study of the topic of immigration during this school year.

“Having the author speak during the first quarter was beyond what I had dreamed,” said Casey. “It definitely raises the bar for what we do the rest of the year and the book we choose next year. Immigration is an important issue, and if this book—and this talk—helps broaden people’s awareness of this issue, then mission accomplished.”