BY PHIL CUSTODIO
Clarkston News Editor
To study the immigration issue, Clarkston High School sophomore Nolan Gerish turned to his own neighborhood to tell the story of a man he once knew.
“He was my neighbor and a good friend of my grandparents and parents,” Gerish said. “He was a kind hearted, hard-working man who brightened everyone’s day. He worked hard to come here to America, and he earned and deserved everything he had.”
He wrote the story for his RED (Relevant Experiential Demonstrative) project in his Honors English Language Arts 10 class, along with classmates Alexa Parsons, Maddie Kujala, and Aidan Gallagher.
The group created a website for the project, redprojectimmigration.weebly.com, also including information they researched on the economic, social, and nationwide impact of legal and illegal immigration, surveys they took, and links for more information.
“We wanted to inform people about immigration, provide an unbiased site about what’s going on,” Gerish said.
Other topics tackled by the class included animal abuse, climate change, LGBQ rights, sexual assault, and gun rights. Students were placed in groups based on their interests. Gerish chose immigration because of the neighbor he knew.
“His story shows how you can achieve anything if you work hard for it,” he said. “Some think it’s impossible to be a legal immigrant, but it is possible. It’s just hard work.”
His neighbor, who he only identifies by his first name, Joseph, at the request of his wife, worked hard to come to Michigan from Italy in 1956, and he earned his way here in America, Gerish said.
“Nothing in life comes easy, and we think that today’s generation needs to be reminded of that,” the sophomore said. “Joseph’s story is included on our website under the ‘real life stories’ page.”
His story – “Joseph was born on Oct. 13, 1932 in Pignataro, Italy. He was born one of 10 children to his parents in Italy. Joe lived with his brothers, sisters and parents in a two story house made of stone and cement with three bedrooms and an outhouse instead of a bathroom. There was no electricity and they had to get their water from a pump outside the house.
“Joe attended a one room school with 25 children and one teacher for grades 1-5. In 1942-1943, in the midst of World War 2, he unfortunately lost his father to illness, leaving his mother to care for him and his eight siblings by herself. During the devastation of the war, he fled with his family to a city called Cremona in northern Italy, where he stayed with his family for six months.
“He would then return home as a young man and enlist in the Italian army, serving for two years. On July 15, 1956, he and his brother embarked on a ship in Naples named ‘The Olympia’ and sailed for 12 days to Ellis Island, New York, New York. They arrived on July 27, 1956.
“Joe lived with his aunt in New York, where he worked on a farm for six months picking vegetables. In March 1957, Joe and his brother traveled to Detroit to seek employment and to begin a new life. He found a job working construction during the day, and he attended school at night to learn English.
“In September of 1957, he met a woman named Dorothy at a wedding, and they married two years later on Sept. 26, 1959. In 1961 Joe became an American citizen, and he had four children with his wife Dorothy. They would then go on to have 10 grandchildren.
“Joe and Dorothy would live in Detroit for 10 years starting in 1961. In 1970 they moved to Eastern Michigan where they lived for 45 years. During this time, in 1989, Joe purchased an empty lot in northern Michigan on the shore of a lake and built a family cottage.
“In 1993, Joe retired from construction after 35 years of service. In 2009 he was diagnosed with dementia and in 2014 with lung cancer. He passed away on Oct. 17, 2014, after a life lived to the fullest.”
It was his group mate Alexa Parsons’ idea to reach out to The Clarkston News to share the story, Gerish said.
“My language arts teacher wanted us to get our story out there,” he said. “Alexa thought the newspaper would be a good idea, and we all agreed.”