Senior Jude Khdeer was 15-years-old when her family decided to move to Saint Charles on July 31, 2017. After a year of living here, her family had to take a trip back home to the Middle East.

“Over the summer, we weren’t planning on going back,” Khdeer said. “We wanted to spend the whole summer here to try to experience what it would feel like not going back, because back in Qatar we used to go every summer to Jordan.”

Back in Qatar, Khdeer attended a prestigious international school named International School of Choueifat that teaches students English from a young age.

“It was a small international school compared to a large public school where you have to keep meeting people and create new connections,” Khdeer explained. “Over there we stayed in the same room and you made really strong connections and everyone was your close friend in that class.”

During her time back in the Middle East, Khdeer got to visit her relatives for the first time since arriving in the U.S.

“It was a big change going back, because of the way my relatives talk to me and they treated us differently and told us to not speak English because they didn’t want us to forget Arabic,” Khdeer said. “But it was nice going back, because I got to experience living in an Arabic country all over again and it kind of reminded me how my life was in Qatar for 15 years it was nice seeing everyone again.”