It’s graduation season in New York. A wonderful shoot this week at an inspiring, new high school for “English Language Scholars” – i.e. recent immigrants who are not fluent in English when they enroll in the school – reminded me of these images from a different graduation a couple of years ago.

The background here is quite similar: No student at the International High Schools in New York City has been living in the country for longer than 4 years. Many do not speak a word of English when they enroll in 9th grade. The teenagers arrive in NY from literally all over the world, and many come from backgrounds of economic hardships, war and displacement. English becomes their shared language. By the time they graduate, the boy from Tibet and the girl from Haiti can both navigate the city and make themselves be heard in their new environment.

More on the new shoot soon – after publication of the larger project that it’s a part of.