This year, BCNC Adult Education students shared their stories and served on the editorial board for The Change Agent (TCA), a national adult education magazine for social justice by and for adult learners and educators. TCA is published three times a year by the New England Literacy Resource Center at World Education.

The current three-issue series is about immigration. Read the latest issue Creating New Community here. For this issue, two BCNC learners, Hwiyoung Gwon and Zuanping Zeng, served on TCA’s Editorial Board alongside BCNC Adult Education teacher Katie Hamel. This diverse Editorial Board offered feedback on student submissions from across the country, resulting in an effective, inclusive, and well-thought-out series of publications. 

Two stories from BCNC students were also featured in this issue. In addition to serving on the Editorial Board, Hwiyoung wrote an article titled “How Can I Settle into this Here?” about her immigrant experience. Hwiyoung writes “I searched for English classes, and I found one at the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC). Being a student made me feel like I was in a community.”

In her article “My Neighbor,” BCNC student Xiuping He shares her attempts to connect with her distant neighbor: “I wrote a note: ‘This is from your Chinese neighbor. These are organic vegetables. I hope you are happy every day.’ I put the note inside the bag and left it on the neighbor’s doorstep.” This small gesture of kindness and outreach led to a new friendly relationship with Xiuping’s family and her neighbor. Xiuping writes, “When you treat people with love, they will be friendly with you. Most of the time.”

BCNC Adult Education teachers used student writing in class as part of a unit on community. Students were thrilled to see their classmates’ stories in print. Keep an eye out for the final issue in the immigration series on February 15, 2023. BCNC students prepared a collaborative piece about education and technology that will be published in this issue.

Congratulations to BCNC’s students! We’re proud to learn with you and create community with you.