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Nana Sang-Bender used cross country to adjust to life in America
By Zach Zagger
Posted: 9/10/08, 11:41 PM EST Section: Sports
Nana Sang-Bender was not thinking of the long-term implications of what it would be like to leave her friends, family and everything and everyone she had ever known.
She was leaving her native country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to continue her education.
It was not that she was forced to leave in a hurry or did not think about the struggle ahead. It's just hard for a 15-year-old girl to comprehend the reality of the journey she was about to undertake.
Brought to the United States by her uncle, who was a Syracuse University professor at the time, Sang-Bender could barely speak English.
"It was a big transition," Sang-Bender said, "leaving everyone behind - siblings, friends and family - but I had my uncle to help me."
She arrived in New York the July before her freshman year at Nottingham High School in Syracuse, leaving her only two months to learn English. Guided by her uncle and a summer English as a Second Language course, she was able to start school but running was not even on her radar.
"It was different," Sang-Bender said, "because when you go to class everyone was speaking English and had been speaking it for their whole lives."
Now Sang-Bender is a star runner for the Syracuse cross country and track and field teams, having earned cross country All-Big East honors two years in a row. The cross country team has its second meet of the season this Saturday in University Park, Pa., at the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational.
Sang-Bender did not come to America to run though, and it was not until after learning English and transferring schools did she even consider joining the cross country team.
She was enrolled in Nottingham's ESL program for two years, before transferring to Onondaga High School, which was closer to where she lived. But at her new school there were not many international students like at Nottingham, and she struggled to make friends. She determined that in order to meet people, she would have to join an extra-curricular activity. She was ready to join the dance team when she had second thoughts.
She was leaving her native country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to continue her education.
It was not that she was forced to leave in a hurry or did not think about the struggle ahead. It's just hard for a 15-year-old girl to comprehend the reality of the journey she was about to undertake.
Brought to the United States by her uncle, who was a Syracuse University professor at the time, Sang-Bender could barely speak English.
"It was a big transition," Sang-Bender said, "leaving everyone behind - siblings, friends and family - but I had my uncle to help me."
She arrived in New York the July before her freshman year at Nottingham High School in Syracuse, leaving her only two months to learn English. Guided by her uncle and a summer English as a Second Language course, she was able to start school but running was not even on her radar.
"It was different," Sang-Bender said, "because when you go to class everyone was speaking English and had been speaking it for their whole lives."
Now Sang-Bender is a star runner for the Syracuse cross country and track and field teams, having earned cross country All-Big East honors two years in a row. The cross country team has its second meet of the season this Saturday in University Park, Pa., at the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational.
Sang-Bender did not come to America to run though, and it was not until after learning English and transferring schools did she even consider joining the cross country team.
She was enrolled in Nottingham's ESL program for two years, before transferring to Onondaga High School, which was closer to where she lived. But at her new school there were not many international students like at Nottingham, and she struggled to make friends. She determined that in order to meet people, she would have to join an extra-curricular activity. She was ready to join the dance team when she had second thoughts.
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