I’m not especially smart about investing, but the best investments I have ever made or seen made have been in some refugee children from Myanmar and the Middle East.
Under the watchful tutelage of Sue Silverstein, they have become some of the best and hardest working, and most creative students any school could hope for. I started working with these children five years ago and have never regretted it.
Watching them grow and mature into women has greatly enriched my life and inspired me.
They are both well-known to me and many of the blog readers.
I met them at Bishop McGinn, and the Army of Good has helped them and their families with tuition and other ways for several years. They followed Sue to Bishop Gibbons, as many refugee students did as soon as possible.
They have witnessed and experienced awful suffering, fright, isolation, and confinement in refugee camps>They found a safe home at Bishop McGinn, where they learned to speak English and make the transition to the very different and often frightening culture of America.
At Bishop Gibbons, Sue is once more their guide and leader. I have never heard a word of complaint or self-pity come out of any of these kids.
They are heroes to me, brave, caring, courteous, forgiving, and eager to make their own way and do good. They are the best and most rewarding investments I could ever make. They will make great citizens of America.
Hsner Nay and Say K Paw are outstanding students and human beings headed for college next year. I was deeply touched to see the work they did together in Sue Silverstein’s magical art class. None of this would have been possible without your support.
When Sue assigned her seniors art students to study the vintage clothing pouring into the school and consider how to imagine photographing themselves wearing these astonishing and unfamiliar clothes, Say K Paw and Hsner Nay decided to team up to pore through the clothing and imagine being in another time and space and wearing it.
Hsner Nay, who is notoriously shy, and Say K Paw, who is not, agreed to team up. Hser Nay took the pictures. Say K Paw wore the clothes they chose and posed for the photos. The poise and attitude in the photographs struck me. Say K Paw stepped out of herself and into the lives of long-gone strangers.
They are gorgeous pictures, wonderfully conceived and presented and photographed. I doubt I could do as well.
Sue gave these students options and encouragement. They rose to the very top of her expectations and went beyond. I hope to tell them this personally on Friday.
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The art class students love to paint on wood. Sue asked for people to look for no longer needed wood and send it. The wood is coming in. The wood in the photo above came in earlier this week. It will be gone soon. Sue Silverstein, Bishop Gibbons High School, 2600 Albany Street, Schenectady, N.Y., 12304.
Sue asks that the wood be unused and unwanted; she. doesn’t want people buying any from lumber yards or hardware stores. If you have any acrylic paint lying around, please also send that to her.
Her art class is all about recycling unused or unwanted things. And the students are wild about painting on wood. I think photography will be a linchpin of Sue’s art program. These are extraordinary photographs.