UW Oshkosh Chancellor Manohar Singh hosted a first-ever welcome dinner open to all international students at the university, with Singh giving opening remarks at the event on Sept. 10.
“This is your moment to rise and shine,” Singh, who originally moved from India to Canada for graduate school in 1989 and later on emigrated to the U.S., said. “Success can be achieved in the United States if you dream and if you work hard.”
The International Student Welcome Dinner was a collaboration between Chancellor Singh and New Student & Retention Programs to share and explore different cultures, as well as provide an opportunity for students to get to know each other.
According to International Admissions and Recruitment Coordinator Raiden Montero, UWO currently has 107 international students, including 24 freshmen who came to the university this fall. The majority of foreign students come to the university from China and Korea, with India and Vietnam becoming growing markets in international admissions countrywide.
Aida Barahona-Marquez, an international student from Spain who finished her undergraduate at UWO and is currently pursuing a master’s in English, said she has never had such an experience.
“I thought it was very cool and exciting, because I’ve been here for like four years, and I’ve actually never done this before,” she said.
Barahona-Marquez said she hopes the university will do more similar events in the future.
“I genuinely didn’t even know there were so many international students,” she said. “I had met, like, maybe two in the past. It was really nice, so I really hope that we get to do it in the future.”
Jennifer Aikins, a foreign student from Ghana who pursues mathematics education on a graduate level, said that the event made her feel connected with other students.
“I’ve met a lot of people, and then there’s this feeling that you are not alone as an international student,” she said. “Although I’m the only Ghanian so far, there’s a nice feeling knowing that other people are also coming from other [countries] and then we all came together, had a nice meal [and] good time.”
Aikins said she wishes that the university would continue to do more of such events.
“It’s been a good experience, and I like it,” she said. “I wish it continues so that everyone has an experience of that sense of belonging, which is so important to everyone.”
Singh said that international students are very valuable for UWO’s social culture.
“They [international students] are the wealth of us as a society,” he said. “We learn from them. We welcome them. We love them a lot because we know they’re here with the dreams, and we want to be part of their dreams.”
