Seeking refuge in urban America: Refugee students in an international public high school in California

Before this study, no prior research existed on the educational experiences and emotional as well as academic needs of contemporary refugee students in California. To fill this gap in the research literature, my study explored refugee students' educational and emotional experiences as well as their psychological and academic needs. My participants were comprised of a total of ten students and two teachers. The student participants are from the following regions: ethnic Nepalese from Bhutan, ethnic Karen from Burma, Liberian and Meskhetian Turk. I used a qualitative approach to interview participants. My data collection process included: conducting a one-hour interview with each participant, transcribing all the dialogues, categorizing the transcriptions into themes, and relating the themes to the literature.;This study revealed that student participants had various educational and emotional experiences based on the political stability as well as their social and economic condition in their native country and or in the refugee camp. Consequently, students' academic and psychological needs differed accordingly. Additionally, the teachers' knowledge and incorporation of students' histories, languages and cultures into the curriculum and classroom dialogue created a sense of safety for refugee students. Furthermore, the school community at this small International public school served as social capital to contemporary refugee students. My research adds to the scholarly research on adolescent refugee students in urban public schools.