Luri Arruda had just turned 9 when she joined Dana Roberts' third-grade class at Henderson Ward Stewart Elementary School in late September. Her classmates welcomed her by singing the Happy Birthday song to her in her native language of Portuguese.
Luri's family came to Starkville from Brazil when her mother got a job at Mississippi State University, and Luri is one of about 130 English Language Learner (ELL) students in the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District.
Roberts made the e
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