Outcasts United

              Over summer break the incoming freshman class was told to read this book, Outcasts United by Warren St. John. It was an inspiring story about a group of refugee kids in the small town of Clarkston, Georgia. The book was about this lady named Luma Mufleh, who came over to America from her country of Jordan and changed a group of refugee’s kid’s lives. Luma came over to America to attend college and hope for a better future, but she never ended up returning back home. Passing through Clarkston she saw a group of young kids playing soccer, each with a diverse background. She later became the coach for these kids and showed them the meaning of life and how good it is to be diverse. All these kids were refugees from different countries and Luma brought them all together to join one team and one family. She showed them that no matter how different everyone is we are all the same. Luma was more than just the coach for the kids, she helped them with their school work and even helped the parents find jobs, and be able to survive in this new world. The refugees had a hard time getting accustomed to this new country because all the dominant ethnicities looked down upon them and treated them as though they are nothing. In school they were only allowed to play Americanized sports like basketball, with no diverse background to it. They had trouble getting use to everything but thankfully for Luma they were able to make it through everything and make a better life for all.

                This connects to college because everyone is new to the whole scene and everyone is trying to get accustomed to it. It’s very different from life before as we knew it because we are on our own here. Also in college there are many diverse and different people around and everyone has to learn to get along with each other no matter their differences. College is a whole new experience, just like coming to a new country.