OIHS

I had an assignment earlier tonight that is something worth mentioning. It was a graduation ceremony for Oakland International High School. This is a pretty run down high school off of Broadway, just walking to the school i saw a few things i shouldnt have seen, rough neighborhood, but the school is really something else. Its not called “international” for nothing…this years graduating class had 40 members, of those 40, there was a collective languages spoken of 18 ranging from 16 different ethnicities. In the 3 hours i was there, i met people from Mexico, China, Nepal, Congo, Senegal and Ghana, just off the top of my head. And im not talking about second or third generation students, these kids immigrated here from their respective countries as little as last year, none spoke english before they enrolled. Thats what the school was set up for, is to bring in international immigrants, who speak no english, and offer them high school courses to graduate on time. I mean how cool is that.
The more and more I dive into Oakland, the more i realize what a gem the city really is. Despite all the violence, I cant think of a place as beautifully diverse as Oaktown.