OWATONNA — To help the organization’s volunteers better serve minority students, leaders of Grandparents for Education asked Somali and Hispanic residents to speak at the group’s annual meeting.
Grandparents for Education invited Ibrahim Hussien, Hanzi Ali, Chely Flores and the Rev. Brent Carlson, a local pastor who spent time in Asia, to Thursday’s meeting at Wilson Elementary School in Owatonna. Sonja von Arb, co-founder of Grandparents for Education, said the panel was asked to the meeting to allow volunteers to gain a better understanding of the differences in cultures.
Each panel member spoke for about 10 minutes to the crowd of roughly 50 volunteers, teachers and district administrators. After the introductions, the crowd asked questions.
Von Arb asked the panel if there was anything people did, unknowingly, that was offensive. The panel agreed that people shouldn’t stereotype or judge a book by its cover.
Ali, a student at Owatonna High School, shared a story of how a woman told him, while he was working as Cash Wise, that she couldn’t believe how well he spoke English.
“She said she couldn’t believe I spoke ‘so good.’ I had to fight the urge to correct her grammar,” Ali said.
