BY DANIEL SAENZ
It is that time of the year again. Teary-eyed parents are dropping off their children as they start the next phase of their lives. Needless to say, we have all be there. However, there is often an aspect of our new student experience that we often overlook: the orientation leaders.
Orientation leaders act as ambassadors for the university and can often set the tone for our college experience going onwards. I experienced this when I was a new international student at Al Akhawayn University in Morocco and when I was an intern at Ain Shams University in Egypt.
Everyone looked different, the food was completely different, everyone spoke completely different languages than me, etc. For this very reason, I decided to become an International Welcome Leader as I felt I could genuinely serve as a guide for the new students who were coming into a similar situation
here in Hays.
So for a week, I was able to meet students from around the globe, help them become settled into campus, and hear some of their stories. Xiangyu Diao, a new MBA student here at came to Fort Hays through the partnership with the SIAS International University in China. After noting some of the obvious differences between China and the United States, she delved a bit deeper into the most important area of difference: education.
“Here in the United States, professors actually care about what the students think, so they tend to invite the students to give feedback to the lectures and participate in the discussion. In China, it is all lecture based and the professor does not seem to care all that much what the students think. And, the standards of plagiarism are completely different. So, I am afraid that I will accidentally plagiarize something when I am really just not used to the American style of citing.”
However, she concluded that despite some of her fears, she is excited to experience the different environment and culture.
Fionna Guo, another MBA student from SIAS international, shared many of the personal insights from Xiangyu. She added that unlike the United States that has a formal orientation process for incoming students, China simply conducts a military parade. She was also nervous about the new academic system as well as some of the new types of weather that she would have to deal with. However, she had a much different goal.
“As someone who is pursuing a masters degree in Business Administration, I feel that it is important to understand the business models of the United States as it is a large presence in the business world and also connected with China, another emerging business power.”
Matthew Moshen, a finance student from Shenyang Normal University came to Hays due to the partnership with Fort Hays. He states,
“Things are completely different and in my view, what I need is the relatively unbiased atmosphere to help me when pursuing my master’s degree.
Matthew went on to emphasize that one of his favorite experiences was learning the Fort Hays fight song as he was able to engage with the local student culture. In terms of cultural differences, he emphasized that Americans are overly friendly to people they hardly even know. This difference was also a major shock to Kristi Sula, an Estonian finance student here at Fort Hays.
“Everyone here tries to be so friendly with strangers. For me, that is the weirdest thing ever since I come from a country where we are rather laid back and cold in a way.”
She later claimed that she came to have an adventure and to experience something that she has never encountered before. In short, these students are taking a bold step in their lives and should be welcomed in by the Fort Hays community to show our open-mindedness.