Meet The Cast of "I Learn America"

SANDRA (right) is a tomboy, class leader and she’s also undocumented. She and JENNIFFER (left), a sassy classmate from the Dominican Republic, are inseparable best friends – “like a flower with water.” Sandra has grown confident in identifying as a girl who dresses as a boy, but as prom nears, she confronts her parents' insistence that she wear a dress. As she faces graduation, she fears that being undocumented means she will lose all she has gained once she leaves the security of the school. Gitte Peng

BRANDON (15, Guatemala) crossed the border to the United States to reunite with his mother after ten years apart. Making the perilous journey was easy compared to getting to know his mom again. In America, she has remarried, leaving Brandon to face the difficult task of finding his place in his new family. He is struggling to focus on his schoolwork and becomes distracted as he falls in love with a girl from Honduras. Gitte Peng

SING (18, Myanmar), a refugee, recently relocated to Brooklyn and left his family behind. He barely speaks English and never expected to land in America. At school, no one else speaks his language and his poor English prevents him from making friends. He is isolated and angry. Will his English teacher help him to find his voice? David Jacobs

ITRAT (17, Pakistan) came to America to join her father she barely knew after the passing of her mother. At school, she’s vivacious and outspoken. She is also a devout Muslim and fulfills a traditional role at home, cooking and cleaning for her father and brothers. With feet in two worlds, she is increasingly anxious. What kind of future is waiting for her? Will she return to Pakistan to marry or will she go to college and build her independence? David Jacobs