At the end of the unit, AP German students were tasked with thinking of someone, either from their family, their community, or simply someone they know, who has an immigration/migration background, and to tell their story. However, this assignment went beyond a writing assignment. Students needed to show and describe the immigrant’s story by choosing a pair of shoes and when possible decorating these to represent the immigrant’s “path” in life.

Ms. Harari and Ms. Deeth were so kind to agree to display the shoes and excerpts of the students’ writings. There are some very personal stories the students have shared in their writing (the texts are displayed in German and English) and depicted visually, “tread” carefully and respectfully as you read and view them.

Always keep in mind, that there are many roads we and those before us must walk down to become the person we are.

An excerpt from Goethe’s Faust comes to mind when reading these stories:

“There are but two roads that lead to an important goal and to the doing of great things: strength and perseverance. Strength is the lot of but a few privileged men; but austere perseverance, harsh and continuous, may be employed by the smallest of us and rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irresistibly greater with time.”