Elaine Loft, Staff Writer
Dr. Kristina Isakovich, the parent of Derryfield alums Patrick ‘15 and Tyler ‘20 Critz, related the story of her own immigration experience at Community Meeting on December 9. The Isakovich-Critz family has established a fund for community enrichment, which this year has been centered on the themes of immigration, STEM, storytelling, and character. The fund allowed Derryfield to purchase and distribute the book, Spare Parts, and to bring Joshua Davis, the author of the book, to campus. In October, the fund made it possible to bring together a panel of experts on the topic of immigration, in order to help the Derryfield community understand the complexities of the topic.
Dr. Brandon Gauthier, director of Global Education, introduced Isakovich, who is a graduate of Yale, and has a PhD in physics from MIT. Gauthier noted, “She has spent twenty-five years helping global companies be better at what they do.” Isakovich is co-leader of the Transformation Practice Group and a partner & managing director at AlixPartners.
Isakovich opened her presentation by stating, “Immigration is about personal stories. I am here to tell you mine, but most of you, or your families, have your own stories. While my story is unique to me, variations of this story form the story of America.”
She went on to outline her family history. She arrived in the United States, with her parents, when she was five years old. Her family came from Yugoslavia, “a country that doesn’t exist anymore.” Her father was a physician, and her mother taught French.
“We had an okay life (in Yugoslavia), my parents had jobs, we had an apartment, we had food and friends and relatives, but my dad wanted the freedom to succeed. He wanted to raise his family in a country where their ability to succeed was limited only by their dreams and capabilities.”
Isakovich’s father had waited twenty-five years to be granted a Green Card, so when it finally came through, they left, with only two suitcases and two hundred dollars. Isakovich went on to tell of how her family learned to speak English (a television was their first purchase) and how she read and studied all the time, because she knew that education would open doors for her.
After fielding many questions from students about her career in science, including a number of groundbreaking technologies, Isakovich concluded:
“I would hope that you get past the statistics (about immigration), and think about it through the lens of personal stories, of individual people making life-altering decisions, and on the basis of that composite, develop your own perspectives on how those decisions affect the American fabric.”
