The East Suburbs, with its many municipalities and mixed ZIP codes, could seem like an alien world to immigrants unfamiliar with its communities.

Some students at Boyce Campus Middle College High School in Monroeville are hoping to make the process of deciding where to live a little less overwhelming for foreigners new to the area.

As the culminating project for a 10th-grade English class unit on immigrant literature, teacher Lisa Silverman challenged her students to research their own neighborhoods and write brochures featuring information immigrants would need to know if they settled there.

The information in the brochures covered everything from average home costs, religious institutions, industry, schools, hospitals, transportation, history, libraries and restaurants.

Students in the Spanish I class, with help from teacher Susan Tanski, translated the brochures so that both English and Spanish versions are available. Silverman selected the best brochures for each neighborhood to be professionally printed and shipped to Pittsburgh's Welcome Center for Immigrants and Internationals in Squirrel Hill.

Those brochures were written and designed by Robert Pellegrino, Turtle Creek; Ashley Thompson, North Braddock; Shamari Allen, Braddock; Renee Grum, Verona; Darnell Davis, McKeesport; Breanna Roberts and Bobby McAdams, Plum; Leah Ford and Maylena Riccardi, Penn Hills, and Tyler Coles, Monroeville.

The project was funded by a $564 mini-grant from Woodland Hills Academic Foundation. The foundation has awarded $33,500 in mini-grants over the last five years to projects in Woodland Hills School District.

"This is the first time we've awarded a mini-grant to this program," says M.E. Contouris, foundation board member.

Because Woodland Hills is one of the supporting districts for the middle college -- and Silverman and Tanski are technically Woodland Hills teachers on loan to the alternative high school -- the project was eligible for funding.

During a ceremony to honor the students' efforts, Silverman explained her goal is to draw connections between people and encourage them to love one another.

The immigrant brochure was a way to tie together English lessons and provide a community service project for the students in Silverman's classes, who come from Penn Hills, Plum, Gateway, Woodland Hills and Wilkinsburg high schools. Several immigrants visited the class and spoke about their personal experiences.

Brianna Stefan, a student from Penn Hills, says she and her classmates have been reading literature about immigrants, providing different perspectives of the immigrant experience. She praises Silverman, whom she calls an "awesome teacher."

Amber Brice of Wilkinsburg, who hopes to become a nurse someday, says she liked the idea that the brochures can help people. Anthony Arcuri of Penn Hills enjoyed learning the history of his hometown, especially seeing old photos of how the municipality used to look.

"Most of the things I wrote about I didn't already know," he says.

The program culminated with an ethnic soul food festival at Community College of Allegheny County-Boyce Campus, where the high school is located. The festival included Indian chana masala, Chinese fried rice, Japanese sushi, Jewish challah bread, Italian spaghetti and African-American collard greens donated by local restaurants, students and teachers.