Story By: Jasmine Taylor
Photos By: Rachel Gough
Missouri Western’s International Student Services teamed up with the Center for Multicultural Education and hosted their second Meet the World event. This semester, Western became home to 137 new International students from 37 different countries. Meet the World was an opportunity for American and new International students to meet and to make the new students feel more comfortable and welcomed. The event emulated speed dating. American students sat on one side and International students sat across from them. Students had two minutes to converse. After the two minutes were up, the American students moved down one seat and the two-minute time clock restarted. Center for Multicultural Education Coordinator Latoya Fitzpatrick, was thrilled to see students taking the time to know their fellow classmates.
“I think this is probably the place that you will meet the most international students in the smallest amount of time,” Fitzpatrick said. “College is one of the few times that you will be exposed to so many different cultures and perspectives so I think it’s important for students to take advantage of that and attend programs like this and others throughout the campus.”
The speedy conversations allowed students to ask any questions they had. After giving students time to converse with one another, the fun ended with a bingo-inspired game. Students had a piece of paper with boxes imitating a bingo board. Different statements resided in each box. The students had a few minutes to go around seeing who could relate to one of the statements in one of the boxes. If someone had done what was in the box, such as knowing how to say hello in Spanish, the individual signed his or her name inside of the box. If a student got signatures in a row, creating a bingo, they received a prize. Students mingled and snacked on refreshments afterward. The event had a nice turnout and students seemed to have learned something new about one another. Sophomore Shawnnae Houston attended the event and learned a few interesting things about some of Western’s International students.
“I got to meet with different people from different countries,” Houston said. “One person said this was their last year and when they leave here they want to start a company with designing clothes.
Meet the World was a great way to encourage students to not only get to know International students but it sparked interest in a few students to study abroad to visit the countries where many of Western’s International students are from. For sophomore Grace Galbearth, who will be studying abroad in Spain next year, Meet the World was a great opportunity to meet and connect with new International students.
“I had a really great time getting introduced to the new faces around campus,” Galbearth said. “I hope that this event will create a new sense of connectedness around campus.”
Meet the World was one of many events created to help break barriers and stereotypes between American and International students. The amount of student participation pleased Fumi Cheever, assistant director of International Student Services. Cheever appreciated the students being interested in learning more about their International classmates.
“Sometimes you will see the International students in your class or sometimes you will see International students around campus,” Cheever said. “Something like participating in these events you will get the opportunity to meet the International students. Some American students may not realize that they may have already just met people from ten different countries just from attending this event.”
Meet the World gave Western students, American and International, a wonderful opportunity to socialize and learn about cultures that they may not know much about. It was a fun way to break the ice between American and International students, thus bringing Western’s students closer together.