I started off at Longwood University in August of 2016 after graduating from Rustburg High School, a place only 40 minutes away from Farmville. When I was a student there everyone sounded like I did, and we simply found things like driving around to be fun. We embraced that “country” atmosphere and lived our lives that way. When I moved to Farmville, people were very quick to point out my accent, but we all had something in common, we all spoke the English language.
Now, I want you to think from the perspective of an international student. You move to a completely new place, in a small town like Farmville, and are already behind. According to College Factual, there are only 67 international students on Longwood’s campus, and in the 2018-19 academic year according to an article from The Rotunda, 40 of those happened to be athletes. These students are at a disadvantage because they have not lived in the same culture that we have, for the same amount of time here in America. They also may not know the English language, which is something we easily take for granted. Over the course of my first two blog posts, both with friends from Spain, they talked about how important the English language is. On the bright side, there is an organization called Global Leaders on Longwood’s campus which serves as a mentor base for these international students. Organizations like these are why I argue that Global Leaders, and other international help organizations, need to be more promoted on Longwood’s campus to better help the issue of intercultural communication.
Readers of this post should care about this because I feel we would want the same for ourselves if we moved to a different country. We would want others to take us under their wing and hear us out to better acclimate to the culture of that country. Longwood University says that citizen leadership “depends on our active, daily participation.” If we are truly fulfilling the mission of this university then we have to lend a helping hand to organizations who help international students acclimate to our culture, and highlight their own at the same time. I say this because I feel we would want others to do the same for us.
The first way to fix this issue would be for the university to fix the link in which the Global Leaders organization is recognized on the official website. It will be hard for a prospective international student to find that there is an organization which helps the international students better adjust to life in a new place, halfway across the world, if the link doesn’t even work. When we look at the Global Leaders official page on Lancer Link, we see that the organization assigns a member to 3-5 international students and basically serve as a mentor to assist with the transition in any way possible. The organization also puts on events that highlight cultures other than ours, which I feel is very important. According to The Wall Street Journal, many international students are attending universities that more widely known, such as the University of Southern California, Arizona State University and New York University. Longwood University can possibly attract more students, and also help improve the issue of intercultural communication by showcasing a group like Global Leaders.
According to Martin and Nakayama, identities are created through communication. The article says that presenting our identities is not a simple process. However, I feel if there is an organization that can help an international student show off and embrace their identity, then I think that should be highlighted very brightly. We also see that a minority can face resistance and separatism when moving into a new culture. This includes discrimination and name calling. I don’t believe any person who comes to a college campus from another country deserves to be called names or face discrimination, and a group like Global Leaders prevents that from happening.
The Global Leaders organization, to me, is an example of Hybridisation, which is an “intimate clash, of ethnicities, cultures, and histories”, according to an article from Nederveen Pieterse. It is a clash because it puts students from other cultures together, to work together. It provides an international student a mentor, and a person who has lived the American life to be a constant support system through this tough transition. I feel Hybridisation is a great way to bring people of other cultures together and help us get to know each other better. Members of Global Leaders are subject to sensitivity training to make sure they understand cultural differences. The organization also helps with different personal items like finances, phone plans, and even provides tours of the local community.
I first found out about the Global Leaders organization, in this, my junior year at Longwood University, during a Student Government Association meeting. I was instantly intrigued by the mission of the organization, and hope to possibly join during my next semester. I say that because I want to be a “citizen leader” and assist in any way possible with these incoming students. Like I mentioned earlier, we would easily want our experiences in a foreign country to be positive, so we should try our best to empower the organizations that promote those values. I hate it that it took almost three years on campus for me to find out about the organization. We live in a world that has taken a weird turn on immigration, and I feel for those who come as students should have the best experience as possible so they can go through the process one day and become legal citizens. More promotion of Global Leaders is key.
In conclusion, Longwood University has to do a better job of promoting the Global Leaders organization because it is a wonderful resource for international students to come to America and have that mentor figure and solid base when beginning in a new place. If we show off organizations like this then there will be more members who will want to join, and therefore there can be more one-on-one interactions with international students to be friendly and build relationships that could possibly last for a lifetime.