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Good neighbour ?

March 04, 2009

The Rollins Child Development Center & Student Research Center organized the Good neighbor Conference, on Feb 21, 2009. Three separate workshops were conducted throughout the day in Bush Building. I along with two of my friends, Fabia and Konrad helped Jenifer Leon-the director of International Student and Scholar Services to conduct one of the three workshops.

From R Journal

Jenifer Leon making the presentation.

Some of the programs held were about exploring dynamism of culture, tolerance, culture and customs of the Unites States of America, diversity at Rollins College, multiculturalism, communicating, etc. the conference I hosted was at Bush 170 which was ‘Do You Know Your Neighbor?’. We not only talked about what it takes to be a good neighbor, as the title suggests, but we performed group activities and interrogation rounds to find out more about how and what values one’s neighbor might have and what everyone’s responsibility would be to make our college a better place. Amongst the various topics that we covered, our main focus was Cultural Shock and Adjustment. We talked about various issues. Adjustment to college was one of them. Transition to college can be a difficult phase not only to international students but for anyone. Since, most of the things vary vastly from a high school environment; it is a challenge to students no matter their country or state. Hence, this program was vital to not only the international population on campus but to the American students as well. Therefore, we had Jenifer Leon organizing this seminar with me and international students like Konrad and Fabia. Fabia hails from Switzerland, who is in the college Golf team and Konrad hails from Venezuela, whose is passionate about mountain range and archaeology.

From R Journal

Jenifer, Fabia, Me and Konrad after our presentation.

Rollins currently has about 200 students from about 50 countries. The internationalized experience at Rollins College is truly priceless. The flags that are hung at the campus center are a great portrayal of the richness of culture and traditions in this college. For instance when I have dinner with 7 friends from 7 different nations, it is truly enriching experience. All in 1 hour we manage to talk about the mountains of Switzerland, chant some Buddhist mantras, learn some German, update soccer news from England, and talk about vibrant cultures from Brazil. As an international student myself, I have found the support and services provided to us very commendable. The international students themselves add to the charm of the already great college experience. Some of my friends say that foreign cultures and traditions fascinate them, just like some American customs surprise me. Some admire our different approach to classes may it be economics, religion, philosophy etc, while some like our accents. Rollins understand the importance of such diversity and tries it best to make the whole college experience a fruitful one. Since people eventually are going to have to go out into the real world and with globalization everyone and every cultures are so interconnected today that a foundational knowledge of other cultures/people is important to succeed in the world.

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