MICDS Hosts Screening of Day One

Last Friday, MICDS, in partnership with the Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival, hosted a private screening of the film, Day One.

Day One follows a group of teens from war zones in the Middle East and Africa as they are resettled in St. Louis and enrolled at Nahed Chapman New American Academy, a unique school in the St. Louis Public Schools system for refugees only. The kids are guided through an incredible program of healing, PTSD intervention, education and adjustment by the school’s passionate and talented educators. Filmed over the course of a year, Day One follows the kids as they adjust to their new lives, forging new friendships and preparing to be mainstreamed into “regular” public high school.

The film was followed by a Q&A session with Peter Tao ’75, Executive Producer; Lori Miller, Director and Producer; Donnie Harris, former principal of Nahed Chapman New American Academy; Heather Huewe, who organizes the 5K for Refugees in Tower Grove Park each year; Brian O’Connell, Cinematographer and Co-producer; Betsy Cohen, Executive Director of the St. Louis Mosaic Project; and Keary Ritchie, ESL Teacher at Nahed Chapman New American Academy.

MICDS is a St. Louis Mosaic Project Ambassador School, which means we are recognized as having an internationally welcoming and inclusive culture. During the Q&A session following the film, MICDS parents, faculty and students asked how they can be more involved in welcoming and helping refugees and immigrants who have resettled in St. Louis and are being served by the International Institute of St. Louis and Nahed Chapman New American Academy.

If you would like to work with refugees who have been resettled in St. Louis, there are numerous ways you can help through the International Institute of St. Louis. If any Upper School students are interested in getting involved, students ages 16+ are able to work as English tutors or help with citizen preparatory classes after school. Click here for more information.