Newcomer school in Denver hosts career day for its students

DENVER — The immigrant crisis is bringing a new demographic to Denver schools.

Place Bridge Academy, a newcomer school in Denver’s Cherry Creek neighborhood, said out of its 850 students, around 200 are new to the country.

“We didn’t know that we were going to be receiving as many as we were this year. We kind of got pleasantly surprised at registration,” said Principal Nadia Madan Morrow. “We got lots and lots of kids coming in at registration over the summer. And then we’ve just continued to welcome students throughout the school year.”

The school held its first career day on Friday. It was organized in part by teacher Natalie Jacobs and included a variety of presenters, including law enforcement, artists, scientists, the announcer for the Denver Nuggets and Denver7.

“I really wanted it to be relatable and aspirational for our students,” said Jacobs. “That they would see people who look like them and sound like them, that they would be exposed to career paths and ways of getting there that they might not know about.”

Denver7 was invited to speak to a 4th-grade Spanish-speaking classroom that included several new-to-the-country students, as well as a 7th-grade primarily English-speaking class.

“We have students literally from all around the world, as well as students that were born here in this country and speak English,” added Principal Madan Morrow, “And this is just a really phenomenal place where you can really see people from all types of cultural and linguistic backgrounds.”

Despite having to adjust to the influx of new students, Morrow said they’ve been happy to provide a welcoming environment for everyone.

“This is what we’re here for. And we have worked really quickly to hire more teachers to be really flexible with our classroom spaces so that we have spaces for our kids to learn,” she said.