Sampson County Schools in collaboration with Community Partners have scheduled Latino community Migrant Ed meetings for families in each of the four attendance area districts.

Each of the district meetings were well attended and our staff was excited about the partnerships and information provided to our families including: CommWell Health services with their Give Kids a Smile Dental program, DACA renewal documents, Student Farmworkers, Telamon, Parks and Recreation, testimonials, opportunities available through our community college.

Maria Faulkner, Lakewood-Roseboro District Migrant Recruiter commented that her favorite part of the program was the explanation of the mural that Ramon Zepeda, the Program Director of Student Action of Farmworkers Association out of Durham shared.

“The stories on the mural tell how the hardships that the farmworkers and families go through on a daily basis and the various work they encounter,” Faulkner commented. “This includes the backbreaking farm work endured from before sunrise until sunset, exposure to pesticides and other chemicals just to make a living to provide food for their family. Being overworked, underpaid, the migratory lifestyle, the continual fight for human rights and descent work and living conditions. The mural also depicts the hope and dreams (as in dreamers) for the next generation to rise above and become educated, giving back to the Spanish speaking community. There are words written on the mural in Spanish, ‘levante’ meaning ‘get up’and ‘si se puede’ which means ‘yes you can!’ and ‘algun dia’ meaning ‘one day’. All these combine for messages of hope for a better day.”

Hobbton District Migrant Recruiter Jose Garcia said he was told that the meeting was beneficial and more like it would benefit the community.

“Everyone who presented brought it to the table and everyone was able to leave empowered with information,” Garcia said.

Dr. Linda Jewell Carr, Director of Federal Programs for Sampson County Schools relayed her enthusiasm for the hard working staff in the Migrant Ed and ESL classes as well as the school administrators for making the Sampson district nights a true success for students and parents.

“We sincerely appreciate the efforts of our partners in education for coming out to the schools to share information and resources with our parents,” Jewell-Carr said. “We are here to serve you. If there are other community partners that would like to make their services available please contact us so you can be included in upcoming events scheduled this spring. We are making plans to offer another training session and want to serve our community.”