Video still: CSI High School for International Studies
George Kaluski interviews his grandmother, Margaret Kubasczyk, who immigrated from Poland.
Save Our History: Immigrant Reflections From Ellis Island to Staten Island
In the spring of 2008, juniors at the College of Staten Island High School for International Studies conducted oral history interviews with current immigrants to answer that question. The immigrants interviewed in 2008 for this project came from all over the globe—Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Europe—yet their dreams are very similar to those who were processed at Ellis Island from 1892 to 1954.
The National Parks of New York Harbor Education Center created the year-long project and brought together several partners: the high school, Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island, Save Ellis Island and the College of Staten Island. The project was funded by a grant from the History Channel as part of their Save Our History program, which preserves endangered local history through school projects.