DESCRIPTION OF THE SUCCESS STORY
The current story focuses on Anatol P., an 11th grader at “Dr. Mihai Ciuca” High School from Saveni, a north- eastern town of Romania. Anatol is from Moldavian Republic and came here to study; his parents gave him the opportunity to learn and attend a better school so as to have a brighter future. Although Anatol is Moldavian and in Moldavia Republic the official language is Romanian, (also named Basarabia). The Romanian language from Moldavia was altered by Russian language. This is the main reason why Anatol’s main problems were at first related to his classmates’ preconceived ideas about what happens in his native country and also their ironies and laughs at his way of speaking, which was a mixture of archaic Romanian and Russian languages. But he came in Romania with the thought of staying here as long as he can. No matter how hard it was for him, sooner than expected, he gained his colleagues’ respect and strong empathy because his patience, generosity, intelligence and sense of humour and the way of passing over others’ evils with a good turn, made all his enemies see him in a different light. His teachers, especially his classteacher and the history teacher, felt his teenager’s inner frustrations and with patience, involved themselves in his attempt of integrating in the “Romanian student atmosphere” by helping him to show his intelligence and human potential. Through a huge effort, Anatol managed to improve his linguistic problems and become one of the best students in the class; he even participated in a debate contest related to European Integration of Romania and Moldavia, in which he talked about it in a beautiful and elegant Romanian language, gaining the jury and public appraisal.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
It is a successful story about the delicate process of integrating an immigrant, in which his character, personality and ambition were of utmost importance. Teachers’ and school involvement was of great help; but also, the way our society strives to move on, leaving behind its prejudices by giving a chance to its citizen. Romania is not the place where all your dreams come true, but it can be the place where a talented person with human qualities visible anywhere in this world, with ambition and a clear motivation, who gets help in difficult moments, may definitely not only aspire but also reach his potential. This is the reason why this story must be known, because one more time, it is proved that in spite of the social and economic context, an open-minded and young teenager can become a conqueror simply through the fact he doesn’t accept to be a defeatist in a foreign country among unknown people.
