According to the Virginia Department of Education School Quality Profiles and Enrollment, HHS is more diverse than any other high school in our proximity. Junior Enas Sharhabeel was born in Sudan and moved to Egypt before moving to Harrisonburg. She believes Harrisonburg is more diverse than these places. 

“It’s really diverse to where I used to live. Egypt was mostly made up of Sudanese, Egyptian, Arab [people, it was] a lot of people from different places,” Sharhabeel said.

Junior Enas Sharhabeel takes a picture with her cousins on the sprit day “twin day” at school.

Sharhabeel and her family moved to Egypt in search of safety as well as better job opportunities for her mom. After three years in Egypt, she moved to Harrisonburg with her family in search of a better education. They had to leave her father behind due to his immigration process being delayed and they are still unsure of when they will see him again. 

“It was really hard living in Sudan and Egypt. When I lived in Sudan there was war going on, so it was really hard. My dad lived far away. It was hard for my mom to take care of us, that’s why we moved to Egypt because my auntie and my uncle used to live there. My mom wanted to find a better job,” Sharhabeel said. “My dad was in the Nuba Mountains when we were with my mom. In Sudan, we don’t have shelter, we don’t have school, food, technology. My uncle goes back [to the Nuba Mountains], he wants to start a school. It’s not safe. That’s why people move from [the Nuba Mountains] to Sudan. Sudan is not safe either, so that’s why we came from there to Egypt, so [my family could] work jobs and buy houses.”

Sharhabeel has found a new appreciation for her education at HHS because of many of these experiences. 

“[In] my country, we don’t have education, so it inspires me to come to school every day,” Sharhabeel said.

Sharhabeel feels that the high school does a good job of providing opportunities and platforms for students to share their cultures in different ways such as including “culture day” in spirit week. 

“HHS is a really comfortable school since we’re very diverse. Everybody speaks different languages,” Sharhabeel said. “Especially when we have culture day and we get to dress up, everyone is from different places, it’s really cool to see. It’s really important because it makes [students feel] more comfortable and included.” 

Junior Julie Thomas also feels that the high school does a good job of providing students with a safe place to express themselves in this way, she also highlights culture day.

“With Black History Month, they’d say a quote from a black person each day. I really liked that. We’ve had culture day, I really liked that because you get to express your culture,” Thomas said. “It’s important for [people] to have that representation because without it, they might feel insecure or like they’re not able to show their culture and what they believe in because they don’t have that platform to do it.” 

Thomas is South Sudanese and was born in Syria, but grew up in Harrisonburg. Despite growing up here, her ethnicity is important to her in forming her identity and honoring her history. 

“It’s really important to me because I came from a place that was very poverty stricken. It only recently became its own country. It’s the youngest country in the world right now, so it’s very important to me,” Thomas said.

South Sudan became the youngest country in the world as of 2011. Thomas has been brought up with traditions like South Sudanese Independence Day, July 3. 

“Downtown a few years ago a lot of South Sudanese people came together, it’s a nice celebration. We also have the Ruka Festival which I went to last month, it was during Christmas time. It’s a musical festival with all South Sudanese singers and artists,” Thomas said. 

Like Sharhabeel, Thomas also feels that Harrisonburg and the high school are diverse communities in which she feels able to relate to her peers in contrast to possibly attending another school in our area. 

“We do have a very diverse community because our town is a refugee resettlement place, so we have a lot of refugees coming from all over. Our school is really diverse too, you see a lot of different people,” Thomas said. “I can relate to a lot of people that are my classmates. I know a lot of South Sudanese people who go here and if I were to go to the county, I probably wouldn’t see that amount of people.” 

Sophomore Hector Jose is Puerto Rican. While he also believes that HHS’s diversity is unique and inclusive, he feels that his experience has been different than other students because he can pass as white.

“School is pretty diverse. There’s definitely a few more of certain populations, but it’s fairly balanced. A lot of people just don’t show it, I especially don’t look the part,” Jose said. “Most people don’t even notice that I’m Hispanic until I start speaking Spanish. I personally probably wouldn’t face many issues just because of how I look, but I know others who are Hispanic would probably have some issues because I’m on the privileged side. There are definitely people in this area, country, that don’t like us even though we’re also a part of the United States. A lot of people don’t realize that and it’s annoying.” 

Jose moved to Harrisonburg when he was three, but still visits Puerto Rico with his family. His experience living in Puerto Rico has been very different than that of Harrisonburg. 

“Puerto Rican food is so much better. It’s obviously a lot hotter because it’s basically on the equator. Everything’s a lot smaller, a lot closer versus massive schools and big buildings. My grandma’s house is very small. You could probably compare her entire house to someone’s living room here. It just feels more like home, but not in the sense of where I was born because I don’t really feel that much of a connection to Puerto Rico.

It feels like home because it feels cozier, everything’s closer and just less city, at least where my grandparents live,” Jose said. “My grandpa had a whole mango tree in his yard and palm tree. He would just naturally get mangoes and coconuts. Another huge difference is the architecture. It’s obviously getting hit by a lot of hurricanes. Everything’s made of concrete and because of the heat, everything is lightly painted too. It caused a very big issue a few years ago when they were getting hit with constant earthquakes. The architecture wasn’t built for that.”

Another difference between Puerto Rico and Harrisonburg, in Jose’s opinion, is inclusivity. Jose feels representation of other cultures and ethnicities in school is essential at HHS due to the lack of inclusivity in the US. 

“Because of the way this country is set up, [representation is] definitely [important],” Jose said. “In Puerto Rico, no one cares where you’re from. Most people there are Puerto Rican, and if not, who cares. We speak English and Spanish anyway, we’ll talk to you anyway.” 

Jose feels comfortable sharing his culture and family traditions with others. 

“I don’t mind talking about it and I definitely wouldn’t mind sharing food,” Jose said.