Michaea Vaughn

November 11, 2016

Senior Seminar Plan
Connections

Topic: Anti-Immigration policies

Immigration is a highly controversial subject in modern politics. President-elect Donald

Trump has a very strict 10 point anti-immigration policy. His 10-point plan includes building a

bigger wall on the US-Mexico border that Mexico will pay for, end sanctuary cities, triple the

number of ICE agents, and more deportations. As opposed to Obamas immigration policy

which included protecting immigrants up to 5 million undocumented individuals from deportation,

expand DACA, and streamlining the application process for visas and naturalized citizenship.

Immigration policy is important because

The person I hope to contact to speak on this subject is Fadumo Adan. Fadumo

graduated from University of Colorado Denver in 2014 with a degree in Sociology. She came to

the United States in the mid 1990s as a Somali refugee. Before moving to the US, she lived in

Kenya and Minneapolis, Minnesota before moving to Denver, Colorado. She has worked for

Building Bridges as a facilitator and recently joined the Peace Corps. She left the Peace Corps

in November 2016 and came back to Colorado. Now shes working as an advocate and

translator for refugees. I originally met Fadumo through Building Bridges Colorado Program in

June 2015. Throughout the program we had many facilitated discussions about immigration and

intersectionality. We also watched the documentary Undocumented. Fadumo and the Building

Bridges team have exposed me to varying perspectives on immigration and I hope to give

others the same experience. Because she came the the United States as a refugee, she is an

amazing advocate and support for incoming families.

This seminar will address the domains of Recognize Perspectives and Communicate

Ideas. These domains will be addressed because through this seminar the students attending

will learn the perspective Talya Dornbush has on the art world and the evolution of her art
career. Talya has a positive perspective on careers in the arts that will hopefully be refreshing

from the usual cant you just do that as a hobby? Talya will talk with them both as an artist and

an advocate for The Center for Visual Art. The seminar will most likely be in the form of a

technology based presentation or in a panel like set up.

Topics To Be Discussed/Questions To Be Answered:

- Obamas Immigration Policy vs. Trumps immigration policy

- How she has been active in the refugee community
- Possible next steps in the immigration reform process
- What one person can do

Learning Objective: Students will gain insight to what the United States immigration policy is

and what that means for immigrants and refugees in the coming months and years.

Check for Understanding:

- Response Question(s) (Verbal)

Logistics:

I will be presenting to a group of seniors. I will be conducting the seminar during lunch

on February 1, 2017. I am choosing to present my seminar to a group of seniors that are

available 8th period because that is what works best in the interest of time. There are many

students that are interested in immigration policy and reform that I thought it would be beneficial

to talk to someone who has a lifetime worth of experience on the subject. I think my peers can

benefit from this seminar because immigration was a big topic in the 2016 election. This will give

myself and my peers a more global understanding of immigration and what that means around

the world. My seminar will be a little different because it will be a lunch with Fadumo.