‘What we’ve built is a family’: 3 graduate from East Charlotte school for refugees
There was a time when Emily Adrong took refuge cowering behind her mom — a woman who sold cows and borrowed money to help her family flee the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
Emily was barely out of her toddler years when she came to the United States in 2007. The family had survived for weeks in rain-soaked jungles to escape religious persecution.
The little girl was shy and avoided people. She didn’t know English. She really didn’t even know how to speak her own language. She languished in the Charlotte public school system for years, struggling to make friends and falling into what she calls “a deep pit.”
At one of her lowest points, she was introduced to The Nest Academy, a tiny, tuition-free private school on Charlotte’s East side — a sanctuary, of sorts, where refugees, immigrants and under-privileged students learn to thrive.
“I see people get scared about where they came from and their story,” she said. “I just want to inspire them that it’s OK to open up because that’s what makes you special.”
Pushed back one year because of COVID, Emily, now 19 and a college student, went through commencement exercises with two other students Friday morning during The Nest Academy’s class of 2021 graduation. She’s the first in her family to graduate from high school and attends Central Piedmont Community College. She’s planning to transfer to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
“I can honestly say that coming here to The Nest Academy was the best decision I’ve ever made,” she said.
School provides services for free
Mary Catherine (MC to those who know her) Hildreth was directing a nonprofit for refugee youth in East Charlotte and heading an after-school tutoring program for K-12 refugees when she felt compelled to do more.
“These children were slipping through the cracks in the educational system,” Hildreth said. “They were struggling academically, socially and emotionally to the point where they were honestly hopeless.”
Hildreth opened the academy in 2009 with five refugee girls — it was initially for girls-only. Since, The Nest has grown to 27 enrolled students at the end of this recent school year, including boys, and it’s watched 12, first-generation students earn their high school diplomas.
Students have come from as far as Vietnam, Thailand, Ethiopia, Iraq, Malaysia, Uganda, Mali and Cambodia. All are legal immigrants.
“It’s hard work,” said Hildreth, whose school includes eight paid staff members, five full-time volunteer teachers, and a slew of specialists and volunteers. “My thinking, starting out, was if we could teach one girl to read and write, show her to believe in herself, the ways of the American culture, it would be a success.”
Unlike most private schools, the students at The Nest Academy pay nothing to attend. They are fed breakfast, lunch and a snack free-of-charge. Fundraising from individual and corporate donors also helps pay for uniforms, transportation, textbooks and supplies and birthday presents.
A private donor also paid for the 4,500-square-foot building on Eastway Drive that is leased. It contains four classrooms and a cafeteria.
Several local agencies refer students to the school, Hildreth said, including Catholic Charities and the city’s Refugee Support Services.
“We really didn’t speak about the academy publicly because these students had faced really tough circumstances — refugee camps, sexual abuse, witnessed murders,” Hildreth said. “The girls were very fragile. Education was the draw, but it was about helping them find hope. We had to create a nest just to be able to teach them.”
‘It’s an uphill battle from Day 1’
Since the mid-1990s, about 17,000 refugees have resettled in Charlotte, according to SHARE Charlotte, a one-stop shop connecting nonprofits in the city. About 130,000 immigrants live in the city, making up about 14% of Mecklenburg County’s population.
Most refugees, Hildreth said, are seeking safety in the U.S. because of famine, persecution and war. When they arrive, many students can’t speak English, and can’t read or write.
“It’s an uphill battle from Day 1,” Hildreth said. “Children even become translators for their parents.”
Elias Enniss is a middle-upper school teacher who joined The Nest staff in the spring. He was drawn to the school because of the unique nature of its mission.
“The kids at The Nest Academy weren’t supposed to make it,” Enniss said. “The public school system combined with other difficulties brought situations in the lives of these children that left them broken and seemingly hopeless.”
But he added, “No child is too far gone.”
School faces losing its home
While Hildreth’s mission is to provide a safe haven for these children, the school is facing a crisis.
The Nest Academy operates on a $375,000 annual budget — all coming from private funding. All the food the school feeds the students is donated.
“We are in desperate need of doubling that,” she said. “We’ve hit the bare minimum. We are month-to-month with our budget.”
Students also are in danger of not having a school building. Hildreth said the situation “is messy,” but the academy’s lease is nearly up and it won’t be able to stay in its current location at 2223 Eastway Drive. They may have to be out by August 2022.
“We opened Aug. 19, 2020, despite COVID, and we never closed the doors,” Hildreth said. “We beat the odds of a worldwide virus. We learned through this pandemic to find out what happens when you don’t give up.
“This is nothing new for these students. We don’t have the finances. We won’t have a building. But I have some pretty amazing students around me.”
Hildreth said she’s working to identify another property, even welcoming someone who would want to donate.
“The building is brick and mortar,” Hildreth said. “What we’ve built is a family. You cannot contain what we’ve created. These kids move all the time. What we’ve created is a home — even if we have to meet under a tree.”
For more information on The Nest Academy or to help, visit www.thenestacademy.org
