July 24, 2025
We hope you are having a pleasant summer.
Refugee & Immigrant Transitions (RIT) is very glad to announce that our Home-Based Student, Rossana’s poem “My House in Guatemala” was selected as a Topical Winner for a National High School Poetry Contest. High school students from around the country submit their poems, but only about 2% of them get selected. The poem will be published in a book. Congratulations Rossana! Here is the full poem:
Thank you to Jean, one of RIT’s 70 volunteer tutors, who supported Rossana in her poetry journey. Jean has been volunteering with RIT since 2011. During that time, she has worked with families from Afghanistan, DR Congo, China, Myanmar, Ukraine, Mexico, and now Guatemala. “It has enriched my life. I have learned so much more from my students than I could ever hope to teach them,” she says.
Just like Rossana, 500+ immigrant youth students in the Bay Area work with RIT tutors each year! Students meet their tutors at home, libraries, and at our 6 partner schools. This past academic year, in addition to our continued partnership with San Francisco International High School (San Francisco), Fremont High School (Oakland) and Visitacion Valley Middle School (San Francisco), RIT expanded our Daytime Academic Support program to 3 new schools: Burton High School (San Francisco), Castlemont High School (Oakland) and Ygnacio Valley High School (Concord)! Multilingual RIT staff and volunteers provide support to English Learner youth in subjects such as Math, English, Science, and History, taking into account students’ educational background in their native country.
A particular highlight is the support we enjoy from our RIT Youth Leaders: Peer Tutors in Oakland and Wellness Ambassadors in San Francisco. This past year, the Peer Tutors assisted other students academically, while Wellness Ambassadors made engaging schoolwide presentations with interactive games on important topics such as Extreme Heat, Mental Health, Importance of Healthy Lifestyle, The Truth about Vaping, and Screen Time. They did it in 6 languages: Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, and English.
We are so proud of our Youth Leaders and Youth Students. Some of them who graduated this year, went on to local colleges such as UC Berkeley, SF State, and local community colleges. Congratulations to all the graduates! We are so proud!
Besides academics, we are continuing skill-building workshops and classes in both San Francisco and the East Bay. In SF, we launched bilingual DMV permit courses in both Spanish and English at San Francisco International High School.
RIT Staff, Grace, oversees our SF Youth programs. She says, “Over the years, our students have truly inspired me. Watching them grow, find their path, and become who they're meant to be has been one of the greatest joys of my work. I've learned so much from them along the way.” We are grateful to Grace for her leadership in creating and expanding newcomers support programs in San Francisco for the last 17 years!
For our wishlist, please visit: bit.ly/rit-drive-2025. You can purchase items and drop them off at our San Francisco or Oakland locations. Instructions for online purchase: click here.
Thank you for your care and support!