Mr. Chris George speaks to the Choate community.
By Thandiwe Taylor ’26
Mr. Chris George, the Executive Director of New Haven’s Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS), took to the stage during School Meeting on November 14 to address the Choate community on the organization’s work through an interactive skit. IRIS is a community-based non-profit organization that aids refugees’ and immigrants’ transition into their new communities by offering guidance for issues relating to housing, employment, health, legal, and education.
Having volunteered with IRIS since he was in kindergarten, Owen Sessine ’25, President of Choate Aids Immigrants and Refugees (CAIR), wanted to share his experience with IRIS with the Choate community. He has been working diligently to organize this event since meeting Mr. George last winter.
Mr. George began by handing scripts, clipboards, and hats to students in the front row. Using these props, students transformed themselves into actors in a skit showing how a refugee family would apply for citizenship in the United States.
Matt Pain ’26 played Abdullah, a refugee who went from being an esteemed baker in his town in Syria to a dishwasher at Archie Moore’s. Sofia Schmidt ’25 played his wife, Fatima, who came from a successful family of professors in Syria, who now had to do entry-level work to provide for her young daughter. Their skit highlighted the struggles of real people who are often dehumanized by statistics, blanket statements, and harmful stereotypes.
Seeing peers put themselves into the shoes of refugees made the stories that Mr. George told more personal for Leanne Parks ’25, who played a United Nations officer. She said, “I definitely thought they [the stories] were very helpful because I have to say it was much more personal. Like, here are their names, here’s their story, and I found that was really powerful.”
Mr. George then shared his own personal experiences doing humanitarian work as a Peace Corps volunteer. His most memorable account was of the hospitality a family showed him when he visited a refugee camp: “They treated me like an honored guest. They gave me a lesson in generosity and hospitality that I have never forgotten.”
One question that Mr. George often receives from audience members is: “Shouldn’t we be helping Americans in need first?” Their concern is that “there are Americans, who were born in this country, who are our friends and family, who need help, who’ve lost their jobs, who lost their homes, are waiting in line at food pantries,” he described. However, Mr. George believes we can provide aid for both.
Sessine appreciated Mr. George’s knowledgeable stance on the situation. “He values opinion greatly because he has researched both sides of this conflict,” he said. “He’s been all over the world, so he really knows what we need to do as citizens to welcome refugees in the United States. I think that he did a great job of conveying that without creating a conflict by choosing one side over the other.”
Mr. George suggested that students interested in getting involved with the organization sign up for IRIS’s Run for Refugees in February. Other volunteer opportunities include partnering with religious centers in Wallingford, organizing a clothing drive, participating in educational World Refugee Day activities, or creating a sponsorship group that could help find and furnish an apartment for an immigrant family.
“I would hope for students to go away and talk among themselves or with their parents or with teachers about ‘Hey, what can we do to help refugees?’ I would hope that it would not only be educational, but it would be inspiring and it would inspire people to take action,” Mr. George said.
