Videos and photos by Seeger Gray for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Photos of the International Welcome Center, a school for recent immigrants in North St. Louis County to learn English and prepare for high school in the Ritenour School District. 

In the week after President Trump's second inauguration, attendance dropped 20% as families feared their children wouldn't be safe from the crackdown on immigrants by ICE, superintendent Chris Kilbride said in a video interview. District employee Yibeli Lopez, who came to the United States from Honduras at 17 years old to reunite with her mother in the Overland neighborhood, attended the International Welcome Center and said it made a 'huge impact' in her life and career.

 Read the article by Monica Obradovic in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Ritenour School District superintendent Chris Kilbride speaks on the effects of President Trump's immigration policies on the district's International Welcome Center in St. Ann, Missouri, which teaches immigrant students English to prepare them for high school in an interview on January 29, 2025.

Ritenour School District employee Yibeli Lopez shares the impact attending the district's International Welcome Center in St. Ann, Missouri has had on her life and career in an interview on January 29, 2025.

The exterior of the International Welcome Center at Hoech Middle School in St. Ann, Missouri on January 29, 2025.
The exterior of the International Welcome Center at Hoech Middle School in St. Ann, Missouri on January 29, 2025.
A Spanish translation for the phrase "I have the right to remain silent" written in the counselors' office of the International Welcome Center at Hoech Middle School in St. Ann, Missouri on January 29, 2025.
A Spanish translation for the phrase "I have the right to remain silent" written in the counselors' office of the International Welcome Center at Hoech Middle School in St. Ann, Missouri on January 29, 2025.
Yibeli Lopez, who attended the International Welcome Center after coming to the United States from Honduras and now works for the Ritenour School District, poses for a portrait at the school district headquarters in Overland, Missouri on January 29, 2025.
Yibeli Lopez, who attended the International Welcome Center after coming to the United States from Honduras and now works for the Ritenour School District, poses for a portrait at the school district headquarters in Overland, Missouri on January 29, 2025.
Handprints of students who attended the International Welcome Center before moving to another Ritenour School District school on the wall at Hoech Middle School in St. Ann, Missouri on January 29, 2025.
Handprints of students who attended the International Welcome Center before moving to another Ritenour School District school on the wall at Hoech Middle School in St. Ann, Missouri on January 29, 2025.
Spanish translations of English phrases in a classroom at the International Welcome Center at Hoech Middle School in St. Ann, Missouri on January 29, 2025.
Spanish translations of English phrases in a classroom at the International Welcome Center at Hoech Middle School in St. Ann, Missouri on January 29, 2025.
A worksheet in a classroom at the International Welcome Center at Hoech Middle School in St. Ann, Missouri on January 29, 2025.
A worksheet in a classroom at the International Welcome Center at Hoech Middle School in St. Ann, Missouri on January 29, 2025.

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