Calling the Island home

When teacher Carlos Trindade accompanied 10 Island high school students to Bridgewater State University last April, part of his mission was to prove that they could be the first in their families to earn a college degree. 

The students walked around the 270-acre campus’ large sports venues, saw robots delivering food in the cafeteria, 25 airplanes set aside for an aviation course, and a team experienced in supporting first-generation students with housing, food, and other financial aid. 

Trindade knew his mission was accomplished when he saw one of his students change completely — instead of the uninterested look of a student just using the visit as an excuse to miss class, he saw a senior doing the math in his head, and exclaiming, “I can afford this! Imagine spending all day studying here!”
“This work means a lot to me, because it can change lives and create a ripple effect that benefits the entire community,” said Trindade, who teaches civics, humanities, English language learning, and world languages at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. He has been nominated twice for the America’s Favorite Teacher competition, and ranked among the region’s top 15 in the past two years. 

The change Trindade speaks of is especially true for students with Brazilian heritage, who mostly come from families who didn’t have the opportunity to go to college in Brazil or the U.S.

“[Immigrant] parents value education a lot, because it’s something many didn’t have access to,” Trindade said. “In general, they try to motivate their kids to pursue higher education.” 

Brazilian immigration to the Island started in 1988, but in the beginning many stayed for only a few years. There were fewer Brazilians who called the Island home, as well as fewer Island-born Brazilian-American children. The community started growing in the late 1990s and early 2000s when more Brazilians started calling the Vineyard home, establishing businesses like landscaping companies, restaurants, bakeries, and construction and cleaning companies.

Now, some of the U.S.-born children of those immigrants — the first generations of Brazilian Americans growing up on the Island — are starting to enter adulthood. And like many other children of immigrants, such as the Irish and the Portuguese, this first generation of Americans is calling the Vineyard its home, and dreaming of going a step further.

The Times spoke to several Brazilian American high school students, and most consider the Island their home, even if some plan to move off-Island for future opportunities after graduating. Many want to work as contractors, following their families’ path, or go to trade schools to be part of Massachusetts’ much-needed labor force of electricians and plumbers. Others want to continue in the community’s strong tradition of Evangelical faith and become pastors, or gospel singers. And many plan to further their education. Trindade says that around half of Brazilian American MVRHS students attend college. 

Islander Kaua de Assis, a senior, is one of those students. He is headed to Bridgewater State in the fall to study criminal justice, and will be the first in his family to attend college in the U.S. (His mother earned a degree in biology in Brazil, where she was a teacher.) Like other first-generation Americans, De Assis was encouraged to be a hard worker and dedicate himself to his studies and sports. This year he was the captain of the swim team, which broke school records. He’ll swim at Bridgewater State as well.

De Assis spent the last two summers as an intern at the police department, which helped him know that he wanted to pursue a career in law enforcement: “I really liked every single day of it,” he said. De Assis speaks English, Portuguese, and Spanish, and translates when people call for help at the station and on the street, among other situations. He has seen how having feet in two worlds can help immigrants feel more comfortable while interacting with the police, especially during stressful times, like car accidents. “I’m Brazilian and I’m also American, so I can help both sides,” he said. 

De Assis wants to work on-Island after graduating. “There are a few police officers on the Island who are Brazilian American,” he noted.

A hard-working ethos also rings true for Gabriel Arado, a junior who wants to pursue a criminal justice major and become an FBI agent. “The main model that I have in my life is just work hard,” he said, adding he applies himself to every test he takes. “I get that from my dad, because I see that in his life.” Arado wants to go to Merrimack College, a private college, with his family’s support. “My dad didn’t go to college so he told my sister and me, ‘No matter what, you guys are going. I will do whatever I have to,’” he said. The Arado siblings would be the first generation in their family to go to college in the U.S., as their mother graduated from a university in Brazil. 

“I love the Vineyard, and when I was younger, I never wanted to leave,” he said. “But … I realized that being an officer out there would open me to various experiences that I might not have on the Island.” In any case, he wants to stay in Massachusetts so that when he has his own family he can provide a good education to his children. 

Among those who plan to go to college, many plan to give back to the Island community after completing their degree. T.S., a senior born and raised on the Island, became sure of what she wanted to do when she shadowed healthcare providers at the Island’s hospital. “I fell in love with everything,” she said. (She prefers not to reveal her full name because of the current political climate toward immigration.) She’s the first in her family to finish high school and go to college. 

T.S. plans to study biochemistry and molecular biology, focusing on neuroscience and child development research, and was admitted to one college’s honors group. After finishing the course she wants to return to the Island to work at the hospital. “When you are a healthcare provider you are helping cure people and making them feel better,” she said. “It’s a good feeling to have, especially when you’re helping people from your community that you’ve known since birth. Getting to help people who helped you is so wholesome and rewarding.” 

Sometimes it takes more than one generation for immigrant parents’ dreams of seeing their children graduate to come true. Some students want to pursue other paths, or can’t afford the course they are passionate about. Senior Priscyla Cruz opted for a nine-month aesthetics course instead of going through eight years to become a pediatrician as she had dreamed. 

“The total aesthetics course costs $16,000, while the school I wanted to go to was $40,000 a year, and imagine paying that for eight years,” she says. She was born in Florida and spent part of her life in Brazil, living in Belo Horizonte, the Minas Gerais state capital. Her school friends helped her to adapt to Martha’s Vineyard when she moved in 2022. Still, she plans to leave the Island after graduating: “I prefer the warm weather and I’m also used to living in a big city in Brazil.” Then she laughs: “The Island is too small and cold.”

Many of the students say they want to pursue trades like carpentry, landscaping, electrical work, HVAC, and house cleaning, or take over their parents’ businesses. “I think people are attracted to staying on the Island or coming back after college, because you can make good money here,” Cruz added.

Teacher Trindade hopes that more first-generation students can accomplish their goals after following the steps of the high schoolers who are trailblazing in the community: “Some of the seniors say they want to teach the new generations to give back what they were able to achieve. This is rewarding.”