Allison Park Photo
Tubac and Silvernale.
Nidia Tubac entered her senior year of high school knowing barely any English. On Tuesday evening, when she stepped on the stage at Hillhouse High School’s Bowen Field to receive her high school diploma, she had defeated the odds.
Tubac was one of 189 total high school seniors to receive their diploma at Bowen Field on Wednesday, marking their last moments together at Hillhouse High School in New Haven.
When asked if she felt good, Tubac sheepishly nodded, and beamed a smile. Tubac moved to the United States from Guatemala last year, during her penultimate and notoriously stressful year of high school. Despite the language barrier, difficulty assimilating into a school with over 900 students, and college preparatory classes, Tubac left the stadium with a shiny diploma in her hand and a ticket to her next challenge.
Immediately after the final “Congratulations” was sung over the Bowen Field loudspeakers, Tubac and her classmates spilled out onto the track, where she ran into her favorite English teacher, Raymond Silvernale.
“He taught me English,” said Tubac. Silvernale, an ESL English teacher at Hillhouse, was part of a school-implemented program that caters towards students who are behind in their English language skills. Silvernale said he teaches students what the school calls “sheltered content.” He both co-teaches with staff in each department and runs his own separate language programs.
“The best part about having students from around the world is you get to learn things from them,” he said. Silvernale said he has students who lived in adverse conditions, including a student who lived in a Syrian refugee camp.
Silvernale said that “if you do it long enough,” you can learn “more from [the students]” than they do from their teachers.
Hillhouse High School graduation took place on Bowen Field.
“Be selfless in the way you treat others,” said guest speaker and WTNH News 8 anchor Keith Kountz.
Being selfless is what motivates Hillhouse graduate Ammar Al-Zouabi to study medicine in college next year. Al-Zouabi said he aspires to help as many people as he can, while striving to make his family “proud of [him].” Still waiting to hear back from Columbia University, Al-Zouabi reminisced on his arrival to Hillhouse in 2016 after a semester-split freshman year in Syria and Jordan, respectively.
Al-Zouabi and his family.
“I’m so excited,” he said. “I had lovely teachers who helped and pushed me lot.” Like Tubac, Al-Zouabi said the teachers pushed him “with language,” and helped him perfect his English upon arriving to Hillhouse.
Next year, Tubac looks forward to working at a hotel near her home in New Haven. She is grateful for the opportunity to learn at Hillhouse High School, where she says she came to America “to study” and for the “good education.”
