Catholic school helps teenage refugees adjust to new life in U.S.

Published: 2008-02-05

CHICAGO (CNS) -- Thierry Mubugora, a soft-spoken young man, fidgeted with his calculator while he searched for words in English. "I like St. Greg's," he said. To explain why, he switches to speaking French and turns to Catholic Charities' caseworker Dagmara Drazewska for the translation. "There were fights in his old school every day," she translates. Mubugora is one of six St. Gregory High School students whose families are part of Catholic Charities' refugee services program. Most arrived less than a year ago from countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo -- Mubugora's country of origin -- or refugee camps in Burundi and Thailand. They started at St. Gregory at the end of October, after attending school for several weeks at different Chicago public high schools. "I said they could come here," St. Gregory's principal Erika Mickelburgh told the Catholic New World, Chicago's archdiocesan newspaper. "We had empty seats. I didn't really think about it." Right now the school is absorbing the tuition cost but would welcome donors underwriting the students' education.

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