“American Dreamer: Sam’s Story” tells the story of a talented and articulate young jazz musician named Sam, who was brought to the U.S. at age 5 by his Mexican parents. He stayed out of trouble, was drum major of his high school’s marching band, fell in love with playing jazz on the tenor sax, and got his diploma with honors– only to find that for an “illegal,” graduation marks a dead end. . Though Sam dreams of attending college to study jazz performance, he hides his status from even his closest friends, and can’t legally work, drive, get financial aid, or even gain admission to some colleges. "American Dreamer" follows him from his high school graduation, through the following summer, as he struggles to raise money to continue his education and weighs the risks of working and driving illegally against his own desire to achieve his American dream.
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Piece Description
“American Dreamer: Sam’s Story” tells the story of a talented and articulate young jazz musician named Sam, who was brought to the U.S. at age 5 by his Mexican parents. He stayed out of trouble, was drum major of his high school’s marching band, fell in love with playing jazz on the tenor sax, and got his diploma with honors– only to find that for an “illegal,” graduation marks a dead end. . Though Sam dreams of attending college to study jazz performance, he hides his status from even his closest friends, and can’t legally work, drive, get financial aid, or even gain admission to some colleges. "American Dreamer" follows him from his high school graduation, through the following summer, as he struggles to raise money to continue his education and weighs the risks of working and driving illegally against his own desire to achieve his American dream.
Broadcast History
This half-hour version has not been broadcast
Intro and Outro
INTRO:Host Intro:
American schools teach students that with hard work, they can realize their dreams. But every year in this country, an estimated 65,000 young people who do everything right; study, get good grades, awards even – discover that the American Dream isn't for them. That's what happened to Sam, an 18-year-old from Indiana. Sam was brought to the United States by his parents as a young child, but his family overstayed their visas. They've lived here now since the mid 90’s and in that time Sam has grown from a small boy to a young man -- taught in American schools, and churches, he grew up like any other American kid. But it wasn't until he was asked to fill in his social security number on college application that he started to really appreciate the consequences of being undocumented.
Producers Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister met Sam in his last few weeks at an Indiana high school and followed his story as he pursued his dreams of studying music in college.
In association with Latino USA, Long Haul Productions has this hour-long special – ‘American Dreamer: Sam’s Story’.
OUTRO:Host back announce:
"American Dreamer: Sam's Story" was produced by Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister for Long Haul Productions in association with Latino USA. To hear more stories from Long Haul, go to www.longhaulpro.org.
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