One of 360: Neris G. '23

I was born in Troy! My family moved to Illinois when I was little. Both my parents are from Turkey and I was raised bilingual. Many of my family members are teachers, so education has always been a pillar in my life. My parents made sure I grew up if not geographically, culturally close to Turkey. Turkish meals, music, storybooks, movies and tv dramas were a very big part of my early childhood. This gave me two different experiences and cultures that shape who I am. 

I appreciate and love the community. It’s hard to put into words how at home and safe I feel at Emma. When I’m feeling upset, everyone, from teachers, to friends, to new students I don’t even know, will offer a hand. We all have something in common, even if we come from entirely opposite places. Everyone at Emma, in their own way, contributes to making the community better. Going into a big college I am especially treasuring my last moments on this campus.

I am involved in a student-led project in the east of Turkey that  is working to include Syrian and Afghani refugee children in the school system. We created a database where teachers can record refugee children’s names and grades so that in the next school, the students can continue their education without disruption. Refugee families tend to move a lot due to parents chasing seasonal work, and the Turkish government has not yet created a system that incorporates these students. As a result, children can fall through the cracks in the system and never really progress in their learning. We are using education to give displaced families hope for the future, to open their minds to a whole world of new ideas. 

I would love love love to learn how to fix up cars. Driving is one of my favorite things and being able to fix or build a car would be so incredibly cool.

Mock Revels!! I was the biggest advocate for there to be mock revels this year, after there wasn’t one last year. I loved going down to the archives to look at old programs. I had emailed all of the people in charge in January to convince them to do mock revels!!