The Beyond Borders Initiative Club at North Hollywood High School is a club based around learning about immigrant culture and helping out immigrant communities.
Students meet on Fridays in Room C130 during lunch to discuss different topics regarding recent events, learn about different communities, and spread the club’s values outside of the club. The club was formed in late 2024 by Senior and President of the club Sean Lee and is sponsored by Spanish teacher Mr. Avelar to create an inclusive community of students of many diverse backgrounds to socialize and learn about the wide variety of cultures that have shaped our city into what it is today as well as taking action in response to recent events.
Lee’s motivation for forming the club is that he has parents who were undocumented immigrants until recently: “I always knew that I wanted to support my community because I come from a first-generation family. My parents are Korean immigrants and they were undocumented for nearly 25 years and they just recently got their legal status last summer. Having undocumented parents growing up made me feel really anxious and scared at times.” This experience lead to Lee becoming passionate about the subject of undocumented immigrants and how to support them, especially during these difficult times.
When it was originally formed the club’s main goal is to teach members how to take action to support communities in need, which has escalated further in response to events that have occurred in 2025. Racial profiling has increased exponentially ever since the inauguration of Donald Trump and the enactment of his immigration policies. As a result, many immigrant families have made their voices heard to protest against ICE and every other aspect of Trump’s immigration policies that have been tearing families apart in the United States.
“I understand that some people might feel like our country needs security, but I feel like the way we’re doing it by demonizing and antagonizing immigrant communities is really horrible,” remarks Lee regarding the new immigration policies. The club has discussed many of the recent events that have occurred during Donald Trump’s presidency and the measures that are being taken for mass deportation across the United States.
During times like this where immigrant rights and lives are at stake, the club’s main goal has evolved from teaching about immigrant culture and the U.S. immigration system to taking action and helping others who may be affected by current events feel safe, becoming more relevant each day. Mr. Avelar noted that the main goal of the club connected with him on a personal level, “When [Lee] said about the topic, it was really personal to me because I, myself am an immigrant and I think it’s a topic that a lot of people don’t understand and make assumptions about what being undocumented is. I was undocumented and I had the privilege to become legal and I took advantage of it and I pursued my career.”
Multiple student-led protests around NHHS have already been reported in recent months, further emphasizing the significance of these ongoing events in the eyes of everyone involved and how much passion everyone has put into making their voices heard. Lee and Mr. Avelar create meaningful plans for each meeting to help members arm themselves with knowledge of ongoing events and what to take away, how to get involved, and safety resources and policies. “There are a lot of people here and I hope that they’re here for a personal reason and want to create and spread awareness of the troubles that undocumented people go through. I think it’s going well so far,” remarked Mr. Avelar regarding his thoughts on the status of achieving the club’s main goal.
Junior Jacob Cacho was one of many in the club who learned about how undocumented students apply for financial aid in the most recent meeting, “[The presentation] helped me realize that there’s a lot of disparity between undocumented and documented immigrants applying for financial aid… they probably don’t have that much access to it and it makes it really hard for them,” Cacho remarks about the most recent meeting’s presentation.
One main event that members of the club have taken part in within the past month was distributing pamphlets outside of school listing the rights of anyone who is worried about ICE and how to avoid them and protect themselves. Members of Beyond Borders Initiative are dedicated to helping others feel safe during these nerve-wracking times and spreading awareness of the detrimental effects that the new immigration policies have had on immigrant families.
“Going forward I really hope that my presentations and my digital advocacy can really support these students and protect them from any unfortunate circumstances that may happen,” Lee comments regarding the future of the club, “I just hope that knowing these sort of rights, resources, and that there’s someone that could protect them, I really hope that that could support people who may come from those kinds of background.” With all of the protesting by NHHS’s passionate and diverse ethnic communities among many others across the country, students involved in Beyond Borders Initiative are part of a welcoming, like-minded community, especially during times like this.
