My artifacts are a shoulder bag and a bottle of sand from my country of origin.  The bottle is blue and has seashells inside.  I went to my Grandma because she has many objects from Puerto Rico. She showed me the shoulder bag and the bottled blue sand and seashells that were in a box under my bed. Before doing this project, I had no way of knowing about this box under my bed nor did I pay much attention to it. I thought it was stuff I didn’t need to know and kept there by my parents.  Everything changed when we started the Immigration study and had to bring objects into school. These artifacts have helped me understand and learn more about my traditions because now I know each object has clues about my culture.  For example, the shoulder bag has a white ship on it which is because Puerto Rico is an Island and boats are what we used by my Grandma and rest of our family when we went to visit her.
In addition, my Grandma gave me this object to help me remember memories of Puerto Rico. This is a way I have learned more about Puerto Rico and how I am beginning to remember my visits to my grandma in Puerto Rico. Now I no longer put these items back under my bed.  Instead, I use my shoulder bag to carry my personal things with me. I use the bottled blue sand as decoration in my room. These objects have become very important to me because now that I understand the true value of what they mean to me. 

– Jenna Alvarez

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant