By: C.A. Printup
Staff Writer
@dontwritedown
For international students at IU South Bend, it may seem like a fish-out-of-water experience.
That’s why the IUSB International Student Organization (ISO) offers international students a chance to have a welcoming community on campus.
The ISO helps international students to meet each other, and students who were born and raised in the United States to meet international students.
“We voice international student concerns and seek to promote an environment of cultural awareness and sensitivity on campus. All students, international or not, are welcome to join our group,” according to ISO’s Titan Atlas page.
“When you are an international student, you don’t really know anybody. You’re just new to the whole place, so I guess you just need a community to be engaged in,” ISO President Vanessa Sitima said. “We also learn what IUSB is all about.”
The organization will host a Thanksgiving dinner on Nov. 18. The SGA President, Stephen Salisbury, will make a speech during the festivities and there will be dancing and games, according to Sitima.
“Thanksgiving is not a part of our tradition from where we all come from,” Sitima said. “So Thanksgiving is like an American thing. We are all trying to get to know the American culture so it’s like, why not do something which Americans celebrate.”
The club posts 40 people on their Titan Atlas page as being members in the club.
“I want to learn from everybody else,” Sitima said. “If I learn about where you are from, I’m going to learn about another country, so I guess I love that fact that I get to learn from other people from all over the world. That’s the beauty of the International Student Organization.”
The club is organized by the International Students Office at its new location in the Education and Arts Building. More information can be found about the club on their Titan Atlas page and by visiting the ISO office in the EA building.
One reply on “Titan Club of the Week: International Student Organization”
ISO can be most helpful because being an international student isn’t easy, given our complex culture and language. Assistance must come from numerous sources to aid these young people embarking on life’s journey. Most struggle in their efforts and need guidance from schools’ international departments, immigration protection, host families, concerned neighbors and fellow students, and even informative books to extend a cultural helping hand so we all have a win-win situation.
One such new award-winning worldwide book/ebook that reaches out to help anyone coming to the US is “What Foreigners Need To Know About America From A To Z: How to Understand Crazy American Culture, People, Government, Business, Language and More.” It is used in foreign Fulbright student programs and endorsed worldwide by ambassadors, educators, and editors. It also identifies “foreigners” who became successful in the US and how they’ve contributed to our society, including students.
A chapter on education explains how to be accepted to an American university and cope with a confusing new culture, friendship process and daunting classroom differences. Some stay after graduation. It has chapters that explain how US businesses operate and how to get a job (which differs from most countries), a must for those who want to work with/for an American firm here or overseas.
It also has chapters that identify the most common English grammar and speech problems foreigners have and tips for easily overcoming them, the number one stumbling block they say they have to succeeding here.
Good luck to all wherever you study!