MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2009, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Architecture (Master of)

Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria are the result of the sudden population displacements of 1948 and 1967. After 60 years, unorganized urban growth compounds the situation. The absence of state support pushed the refugees to take matters into their own hands. Currently the camps have problems stemming from both the social situation and the degradation of the built environment.Keeping the refugee camps in order to “represent” a nation in exile does not mean to me that there should be no development. The thesis seeks to make a contribution in solving the social and environmental problems in a way that emphasizes the Right of Return. The needed services will be offered in community centers scattered around the camp. These centers will use the human potential of the refugees through participatory design. As a young Palestinian refugee architect I seek realistic proposals in addressing this problem, although, if it were possible, I would like to eradicate the entire situation. This thesis is a starting point for a life-long project. Complete devotion to this topic is a self-commitment.

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2007, Educational Leadership

EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE OF THE SUDANESE REFUGEE CHILDREN IN THE UNITED STATES My study seeks to gain an understanding of the educational experience of the Sudanese refugee children in the United States (U.S.). Five Sudanese refugee parents and their five non-high school children all living in Southwestern Ohio took part in this study. All of them have been within the U.S. for less than a decade. The study included interviewing, observing, and looking at reports of accomplishments of these children sent to families by schools. The approximate aggregate number of hours spent interviewing and observing the children was 22.9 hours, and overall time spent interviewing and observing the parents was approximately 12.8 hours. I have drawn on a specific theoretical framework to analyze the interviews, observations and reports of accomplishments. This theoretical framework has previously provided an understanding of the educational experience of minorities other than refugee children living in the U.S. It explains two contrasting educational experiences of minorities, one experience being the opposite of the other. My research thus seeks to understand which minorities within the U.S. share similar educational experience with refugees. By doing so it also seeks to understand which minorities do not share educational experience with refugees. This study is therefore crucial in that it seeks to broaden an existing theory to see how it would explain the educational experience of refugees especially those from Sudan. My study found that the educational experience of the five refugee pupils is similar in many ways to the experience of one group of minorities and dissimilar in many ways to the experience of another group of minorities.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2022, Cross-Cultural, International Education

Students from refugee backgrounds under the WUSC – Student refugee Program in Canada experience a lot of challenges. The challenges are mostly attributed to their background as refugees. Having been resettled from refugee camps where both the quality of life and standards of education were not admirable, their transitioning to higher education and to a developed country is marred with many challenges. This study documents the experiences of students from refugee backgrounds that were resettled to Canada through the WUSC – Student Refugee Program. The study utilizes a phenomenological approach to focus on a sample of six students from refugee backgrounds under the WUSC – Student Refugee Program that are in Canadian universities. The study utilizes Berry's (1997) acculturation theory. The results show that the program offered them an opportunity to access higher education but also brought with it challenges that they encounter as they navigate higher education in Canada.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2020, Communication Studies (Communication)

Refugees, particularly female Afghan refugees, are among the most vulnerable populations. For decades, previous research on displaced and refugee populations had a “nongendered” approach toward studying refugees' experiences and struggles: they either looked at refugees' experiences as a group, or in cases where they had a focus, they mostly looked at male refugees' experiences and challenges throughout the pre-flight, flight, and resettlement process. This dissertation, however, examined the personal narratives, experiences, and challenges of female Afghan refugees throughout their resettlement process in the U.S. Specifically, taking an ethnographic qualitative method approach, this study examined (a) female Afghan refugees experiences of the everyday routines throughout the early transitional period of resettlement, and (b) the advocacy work of local NGOs with refugees as they navigate and manage the new everyday routines. To address the research questions, I volunteered, worked, and drew the sample from a midwestern local refugee-advocacy NGO. I conducted participant observation for more than 24 months and 16 in- depth 1- to 2 hour-long interviews, with three female Afghan refugees, and 13 NGO staff, liaisons, and volunteers. Using Tracy's (2013) iterative paradigm data analysis yielded three emergent themes in regard to RQ1, (a) مرد و مدد (Mard va Madad), (b) illiteracy and English language (im-)proficiency, and (c) support of local NGOs. Following the same analysis approach, the relationship between liaisons and refugees was explained using parent-child relationship metaphor with one overarching theme of independence vs./and autonomy and two subthemes of fulfilling vs./and expectation and expectation vs/and reality. The result of this study provides a deeper understanding of refugee voices and experiences from their perspective and role of refugee-advocacy NGOs by pointing out the importance of considering refugees' cultural background, social gen (open full item for complete abstract)

MAE, Otterbein University, 2018, Education

This curriculum project explores best instructional practices that support refugee students in the classrooms. The questions that guided this project were: What are effective ways for classroom teachers to engage refugee students in learning? How can teachers foster a sense of belonging and demonstrate cultural competence when working with refugee students in the classroom? What research-based best practices provide academic support for refugee students in the K-12 classroom? The literature review provides background knowledge about the best practices that support of the existing literature on the best practices that support the education of refugee students in the United States (U.S). It begins with information on the resiliency of refugee students. It further continues to provide literature on psychological issues facing refugees, the stress of dealing with learning a new language, and the different types of strategies that support refugee students' learning. The purpose of this curriculum project is to research best practices that support refugee students in K-12 schools. The theoretical framework based on theories that are grounded in student development, social inclusion and culturally responsive pedagogy. Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol, Culturally Responsive Teaching, Universal Design for Learning, and Direct Instruction practices were reviewed because of their evidence for socially, culturally, and linguistically responsive instructional practices that are geared towards improving refugee students' academic performance. The findings from the project will be used to provide suggested classroom practices and instructional strategies that support refugee students.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2020, Cross-Cultural, International Education

Considering concepts of acculturation, learner-citizens, policymaking and appropriation, and the framework for the education and well-being of low-income immigrant students, this thesis examines the case of Metro Elementary School in Southeastern Michigan, which has experienced a significant increase in refugee student enrollment over the last decade. Relying on interview data considering the perspectives of six educational administrators and support staff as they navigate education and refugee resettlement policies that comprise the world of refugee students, this study offers insight to educators regarding possible policy responses to arrivals of refugee populations and may serve as a guide for supporting refugee students as relevant for their background and status. The author identified six themes that contributed to the success of the elementary school examined: procedural change, administrators' initiative, the reprioritization of needs, resources, cultural considerations, and communication and collaboration. The study highlights the pivotal roles of school and district administrators in facilitating positive learning environments for refugee students and the ability of school communities to connect refugee families with available resources and supports.

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2019, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

The practice of architecture is inseparable from the people who experience, interact, visit, and inhabit the built environment. It is for this reason that architecture as a discipline must always contribute to the conversation regarding any challenge that humanity faces. This is true in one of the most dominant global issues of the 21st century, the refugee crisis. Architects and designers have been quick to interject solutions to the dilemma, especially when addressing the thousands of temporary shelters needed to house millions of forcibly displaced persons in refugee camps across the world. However, as forcibly displaced persons move beyond a temporary camp environment and are resettled into another country, the role of the architect has receded. In many countries, including the United States, refugees and asylum seekers are usually placed in inadequate apartments in unwelcoming neighborhoods. Although they are provided with many services by local agencies, the services cannot compensate for the negative effects of housing related stresses. Studies by both architects and researchers have found that housing for refugees often are insufficient in terms of size, layout, safety, and tenure among others, and that they are often unaccommodating to the culture and prior lifestyles of the forcibly displaced. These studies have shown that this has a detrimental effect, causing continual stresses on the refugee that continue the physical, mental, and emotional trauma of displacement. This thesis argues that this is a problem of design, and that the discipline of architecture should reinsert itself as a prominent voice into the conversation regarding refugee housing and the architecture of resettlement. By combining findings of the previously mentioned studies and other relevant literature with an analysis of work related to this discipline, a new design methodology will be established with the intent to create transitional, supportive housing that alleviates, rat (open full item for complete abstract)

Bachelor of Arts, Marietta College, 2018, Leadership

The Syrian refugee crisis is a humanitarian failure of the modern day. As the rebellion continues to fight for a peaceful democracy, the Syrian government exerts more military force. Displacing over 11 million refugees both internally and externally, the crisis has quickly expanded beyond the influence of the state. As a result, refugees have flooded the international system. Neighboring states directly feel this pressure through the physical presence of refugees and have acquiesced to offer refuge at a mass level. The European itself has mandated an equally dispersion of refugees among member states. However, the United States, separated from both the physical and geographical pressure of refugees, has only offered refuge to approximately 50,000. This paper analyzes the current situation of the crisis through the application of three ethical lenses to determine how the United States should ethically respond. The three ethical lenses include Kantianism, Utilitarianism, and Rawlsian ethics. The applications suggested that from an ethical perspective, respect for humanity and human rights, a much more engaged response is not only necessary but ethically required of the United States.

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2010, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Community Planning

This thesis examines the viability of Sphere Humanitarian Shelter Standards within the construction of Ifo II, a new refugee camp in the Dadaab refugee camps of northeastern Kenya in 2007. One of the largest refugee settlements in the world, the Dadaab camps contain over 300,000 refugees and have been in place since 1991. As the Sphere Standards have been designed for use within an emergency crisis, this thesis investigates their applicability in the protracted settlement of Dadaab by utilizing a recent shelter initiative as a case study. In 2007, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) initiated a new housing and camp expansion project in Dadaab to accommodate future population growth and to overcome many of the problems of the earlier camps. Committed to sustainable solutions for displaced populations, the agency relied upon the Sphere Standards as a means to provide culturally, environmentally,and economically appropriate housing and infrastructure planning. To determine if Sphere Standards meet the needs of the refugee populations, three months of qualitative research were undertaken within the Dadaab camps in 2007, with additional follow-up research in 2009. Field research focused on the socioeconomic roles of informal housing consolidation strategies in the camps, pre-Sphere agency-provided housing, and the new NRC camp expansion. Field research revealed that Sphere does not provide the tools necessary to contend with the matured socioeconomic dynamics of a protracted settlement. By expanding the standards to include a stronger recognition of the conditions which frame the lives of those in protracted displacement such as national policies, regional conflict, and local market activity, Sphere will provide humanitarian agencies with the means to provide displaced populations with better shelter and settlement solutions.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2013, Cross-Cultural, International Education

Across the globe, millions of people have been forcibly displaced giving them a shared experience with other refugees. However, their journeys are differentiated by the sociohistorical circumstances and personal developmental stages that contextualize each experience. Every refugee has a story to tell. This qualitative study explores the stories of emerging adult Karen refugees who have resettled in Dallas, Texas, and examines what their shared experience entails. The Karen are the second largest ethnic group in Burma recognized for their strong ethnic identity and decades of in-country conflict. After fleeing Burma, many Karen refugees have spent most or all of their lives in refugee camps in Thailand. Thousands of Karen have left the Protracted Refugee Situation with the option of third-country resettlement in the United States. Through transcendental phenomenological methods this study seeks to understand the shared experience of eight participants who are now in their emerging adult stage of life. They were all born in Burma or in a Thai border camp, lived in the Thai camps for over ten years during their childhood, and then resettled to the United States. Through phenomenological reduction, clustered themes emerged giving meanings to the textural descriptions. These meanings took shape through the structural variation of continual flight occurring in the three stages of origin, Protracted Refugee Situation, and third country resettlement. The synthesis of these descriptions makes up the essence of the now emerging adult Karen refugee experience. The overall essence provides us with new knowledge and understanding of the Karen refugee experience phenomenon which informs previous theoretical research done on refugee studies and emerging adulthood as well as prior empirical work on the Karen people.

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2024, Political Science

This thesis investigates the remarkable response of Poland to the Ukrainian refugee crisis following the Russian invasion in 2022, contrasting it with previous refugee reception experiences, particularly the 2015 EU refugee crisis. It illustrates the methods employed by the Polish government and humanitarian actors, which allowed Poland to overcome challenges in reception processes and a lack of experience in hosting refugees. Based on an analysis of secondary sources, literature, and primary interviews, this thesis found that the unique bond between Poles and Ukrainians contributed to an extremely high rate of volunteerism from Polish citizens. These efforts placed pressure on the Polish government to respond to the crisis and led to a collaboration between humanitarian actors and the government for maximum efficiency. This thesis demonstrates that flexible, informal humanitarian systems allow for optimal efficiency and that the states with a strong desire to host refugees will do so, despite having a limited capacity.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2024, Geography

Despite ongoing geopolitical concerns and influence of big data companies, this research focuses on the everyday practices on TikTok that reveal different aspects of the platform's use. This research explores the impact of TikTok on the lives of Bhutanese-Nepali women residing in Central Ohio. Through six ethnographic interviews with Bhutanese-Nepali women – who use TikTok to showcase their–everyday domestic practices – this study reveals how TikTok practices facilitate (digital) placemaking, fostering a sense of belonging for relocated refugees living in the suburbs. By contextualizing the history of displacement from Bhutan to Nepal and the US, and mapping relocation patterns from urban areas to suburbs, I illustrate how these recent movements can traced within online practices of Bhutanese-Nepali refugees. While acknowledging the potential risks of manipulation and public scrutiny associated with sharing content on a public platform, Bhutanese-Nepali women demonstrate adeptness in navigating and leveraging the algorithm, showcasing their agency and resilience both online and offline.

PHD, Kent State University, 2024, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies

This qualitative multi-case study delved into the perceptions of five immigrant and refugee high school students enrolled in an early childhood pathway program in a Midwest high school in the USA. The primary objectives were to explore how these aspiring teachers' Funds of Identity (FOI) influenced their perceptions of teaching in the USA, understand their motivations for choosing a teaching career, and uncover their perspectives on the roles of early childhood teachers. Data collection involved participant-created artifacts, in-depth semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions conducted over several months. The study found that participants' perceptions of teaching in the USA were profoundly shaped by their FOI. Their previous informal caregiving roles and a strong desire to positively impact early childhood education motivated them to pursue teaching careers. Their social and family backgrounds reinforced the view of teaching as a moral duty aligned with principles of ensuring educational access for all children. Additionally, they thrived in structured educational settings as both learners and aspiring educators. However, language and cultural challenges emerged as complex issues within teacher education programs and the teaching field. As English language learners with diverse cultural backgrounds, participants recognized these challenges, including potential difficulties in navigating college life and concerns about financial stability related to higher education. Yet, they recognized their diverse language and cultural backgrounds as strengths that could positively impact others. They all believed they possessed the ability to make a significant difference in the lives of children and society, which drove them to pursue their dreams in the teaching field.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Media and Communication

The World Bank classifies the Lebanese economic crisis as one of the 10 worst such crises globally since the 19th century—and possibly one of the top three. Azma fawq ‘azma [crisis upon crisis] includes financial collapse, inability to care for 1.5 million refugees, the highest number of refugees per capita in the world, the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic on an already fragile healthcare system, and the catastrophic explosion in Beirut, one of the worst non-nuclear explosions in human history, that killed 218 people, injured 7,000, and left 300,000 unhoused. Due to unprecedented levels of inflation, the Lebanese pound has lost 90% of its value, food prices have risen 500%, and 80% of the population lives in poverty. These crises have transformed Lebanon from a beacon of success to a failed state. Given the severe lack of organizational communication research in the Mashreq (Middle East), this dissertation is of particular importance as it fills a critical gap in research. The dissertation takes an interdisciplinary approach to examine how NGOs mobilize support, provide services, and engage in interorganizational collaboration to support citizens, residents, and asylum seekers struggling to survive in Lebanon. The triangulated methodological approach includes policy analysis, two phases of field research in Lebanon, and in-depth interviews with leaders, administrators, employees, and volunteers representing 52 NGOs. Interview respondents (n = 64) provided first-hand experiences, insights, and assessments of NGOs' efforts to combat intersecting crises, reflected on the complexity of these crises, and highlighted the need for economic and political reform to assuage the feelings of being trapped in the azma fawq ‘azma. Emergent themes include the importance of collective identity through interorganizational collaboration, the benefits of group cohesion in providing support and services, a sense of purpose that has expanded alongside the crises, a continuing (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2023, English (Arts and Sciences)

This dissertation investigates the challenges and resources of international students who come from countries experiencing high levels of distress, war, violence, and unrest but who do not have refugee status in the country they are studying in. This project involved four qualitative case studies that examined the participants' intersectionalities as both international students and students who may have similarities to refugees. The study brings together acculturation strategies (Berry, 2005) found in second language writing research (Hung & Hyun, 2010) and identity studies (e.g., Harre et al., 2009; Estrem, 2016; Hooper & Enright, 2011). Additionally, it draws on trauma informed writing pedagogy (e.g., Munro, 2018; Tayles, 2021) and refugee literature (e.g., Matsuda and Hammill, 2014; Shapiro et al., 2018). The study found the participants had incredibly rich resources and a distinct vulnerability of more instability. While they had similar perceived needs to refugee students and may benefit from similarly supportive resources, they may also be more difficult to identify. Participating writing teachers expressed a lack of self-efficacy in working with students with trauma backgrounds and little awareness of ISDL needs apart from their English language development. Several implications for writing teachers emerged that align with trauma informed writing praxis. Some implications for further multilingual writing research also emerged, such as a correlation between acculturation strategies and student value for writing practices, and potentially expanding previous studies in transfer theory on the disposition of attribution. Ultimately, this research argues for more compassionate classrooms that adopt trauma informed writing pedagogy in response to self-disclosed trauma symptoms and perhaps as a regular practice rather than as an exception.

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2023, Cross-Cultural, International Education

This study explores the implementation of the global refugee educational policy on the educational experience of Congolese refugee students in the United States (U.S) public schools. The current policy stresses the integration of refugee students into the national education system of receiving countries. The study involves high school Congolese refugee students who have resettled in Lansing, Michigan under the U.S Refugee Admission Program (USRAP). Based on previous studies, these students arrive in the U.S with a unique migration experience which often causes socio-emotional challenges, family separation, trauma, communication barriers, and cultural shock. The participants are aged between 18 and 22 and are considered to have a disrupted educational experience. Consequently, this study examines the influence of migration and pre-migration experiences on the educational experience of refugee students in the U.S public schools. In examining educational experience, this paper will focus on three contexts: the country of origin, transition country, and receiving country. People interested in the experiences of Congolese refugees in the U.S education will find this study helpful because the resettlement experience of Congolese is still understudied. Lastly, people who study the integration of refugees in places where there are not large foreign-born communities would also find this study useful.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, History

This dissertation examines the rehabilitation and education of Polish Jewish children after the Holocaust. It argues that schools, summer camps, and children's homes in Poland were national and international sites for the rehabilitation of child survivors; therefore, they served as laboratories and arenas for debates regarding Polish Jewry's future. By comparing Zionist and non-Zionist institutions of child care, I illustrate how educators and caregivers engaged with competing ideologies to create normalcy in the best interests of the children. Rehabilitation was not just physical or mental; it required Jewish children to develop skills that would make them independent and good citizens. What did they study? What did they read? Did they learn Yiddish or Hebrew in school? Did they speak Polish in the classroom? The answers to these questions have broader implications regarding the reconstruction of Jewish communities in Poland after the Holocaust. While Jewish communists and Bundists in the Central Committee of Jews in Poland (Centralny Komitet Zydow w Polsce, CKZP) desperately fought to keep Jewish children in Poland, Zionist organizations saw no future for Jews in Poland. Through an analysis of correspondences, meeting minutes, educator conference programs, lesson plans, children's own writing, memoirs, and interviews gathered through multi-sited archival research, this dissertation exposes tension between organizations and traces how the educational and ideological goals of the CKZP Department of Education drastically evolved under the growing influence of Poland's communist government. Ultimately, studying education as a form of rehabilitation and nation-building enhances our understanding of the delicate nature of rebuilding Jewish life after war and genocide.

PHD, Kent State University, 2021, College of Public Health

Children from resettled refugee families (RRF) in the United States are a vulnerable group for childhood lead poisoning (CLP)-- an environmental hazard with multiple irreversible adverse health effects in children. My dissertation research aimed to assess CLP among children from RRF pre- and post-U.S. resettlement and understand CLP knowledge, attitudes, and practices, and prevention barriers (KAP-B) among Nepali-speaking Bhutanese (NSB) resettled refugee groups in northeast Ohio. Data from the post-resettlement refugee medical screening of 5,661 children resettled in Ohio from 2009 to 2016 were utilized to assess the prevalence of elevated blood lead level (EBLL)—defined as BLL ≥ 5 micrograms per deciliter (µg/Dl)— as a proxy for pre-resettlement exposure. Electronic medical records (EMR) data from an Akron Children's Hospital Outpatient Clinic were used in a retrospective cohort study to assess the incidence of EBLL in a sample of 6,283 children <6 years of age between 2009 to 2015. The primary language spoken at home was used as a proxy to classify children as either being from RRF or being from non-RRF (NRF) categories. A Nepali language questionnaire (KAP-B) was developed and used to assess current knowledge, attitudes, daily household practices, and barriers to prevention measures for CLP among 200 NSB RRF with at least one child ≤ 7 years in northeast Ohio. Overall, 27.1% of RR children <6 years in Ohio had an EBLL at the time of resettlement. Children from RRF from the South-Asian region (Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and Burma [56.2% - 31.8%]) had the highest EBLL prevalence. Of these, children from Nepali-speaking families had the highest EBLL incidence at 9.67 per 100 person-years. Children from RRF had 11 times the risk of EBLL than nonrefugee children. NSB parents surveyed demonstrated a low level of knowledge regarding CLP and prevention measures. While 80% of respondents lived in pre-1978 houses, only 27.5% perceived their house/neighborhood to (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Political Science

Convergence hypothesis argues that there is a growing similarity among industrialized, labor-importing countries in terms of immigration control policy and integration policy (Hollifield, Martin and Orrenius 2014). This hypothesis also applies in the context of refugee policies that are enacted among these countries. Specifically, two of the most prominent industrialized countries that are built as nations of immigrants and that host refugees are the United States and Canada. Following the logic of convergence hypothesis, the United States and Canada should be similar with regard to immigration control and integration policies. However, Canada is considered an outlier with regard to convergence hypothesis. Convergence hypothesis was descriptive of immigration control in the form of racial exclusion in both countries until 1971 with Canada's adoption of a federal multiculturalism policy. This study tests the convergence hypothesis in the areas of immigration control and integration policies from the United States and Canada by examining policy adoption documents using qualitative content analysis from 1971-2019. The data shows there is a difference in both the inclusivity or exclusivity of the language used by the United States and Canada with regard to refugee policies as well as the frequency of their occurrence. The Canadian turn to multiculturalism was positively associated with more inclusive legislation when examining immigration and refugee policy documents while the United States was more inclusionary with regard to refugee policy. The study also finds there is a clear and definite association between adoption of multiculturalism by Canada and its divergence to being more inclusionary than the United States with regard to refugee resettlement and integration policy. These findings confirm that the adoption of multiculturalism as being associated with Canada's outlier status with regard to convergence hypothesis and demonstrates that industrialized nations can (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, EDU Teaching and Learning

Oftentimes those within a particular minoritized group (e.g., refugees) are assumed to have had the same language and literacy experiences or to hold the same language- and literacy-related values and beliefs. This fails to consider the variation that exists both across and within these groups. Children from refugee backgrounds attend elementary schools across the country and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, we know very little about the language and literacy experiences of young refugee children in the United States. In order to provide appropriate support to children from refugee backgrounds, it is necessary for educators to understand students' repertoires of cultural practices. Educator knowledge of these repertoires can prevent overgeneralization or oversimplification of refugee children's backgrounds and experiences and can challenge the assumption that the practices in which they engage in their communities are fixed or static. Thus, the aim of the current study was to examine and document the language- and literacy-related practices of a group of children from refugee backgrounds at their church, afterschool program, and homes (in both offline and online spaces). In recognition of the dynamic nature of these practices, I paid particular attention to the ways in which the children's repertoires of practice shifted from first through third grade and again as they navigated changes resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Consequently, I engaged in an ethnographically-informed case study between 2018 and 2020. Research occurred in two phases. During Phase 1, I engaged in participant observation, conducted staff and family interviews, and collected artifacts (e.g., church programs, photos of the research site). With the onset of coronavirus, I added a second phase of data collection to the study. Due to COVID-19, data in Phase 2 was limited to (a) interviews with children and staff members via phone or Zoom and (b) the colle (open full item for complete abstract)