International Student Association connects with students
International Student Association (ISA) is an umbrella Recognized Student Organization (RSO) that oversees other RSOs related to the international community on campus. In addition to that, ISA hosts their own events to build connections with international students.
Last Friday, ISA hosted a town hall, where they introduced the upcoming events, discussed the work they have done so far and provided attendees with games and snacks. The president of ISA, Cyrille Date, said the town hall event was created to connect with new students more.
“Town hall was just something new we wanted to do. Because historically, ISA has just been, like, the board members hanging out, and then all the other students just come to the events they organize,” said Date. “There’s not really that connection that we want. The town hall is something that we just wanted to organize to build that connection.”
Date finds such events more calm, personal, and relaxed, which contributes to the opportunity to talk and have a nice time together with newcomers. ISA board members used the opportunity to talk to attendees and ask about their first week of classes and overall impression of the new academic year.
The office manager of ISA La Nease Bullard said the timing for the town hall event was intentional as this is the “prime time to learn more about how we can be helpful to students.”
“Our town hall was pretty much put together to get more connected with the students and then give them the opportunity to talk to us about their experiences so far because it’s been a couple of weeks since they got here,” said Bullard.
According to Date, ISA aims to create a community where everyone will feel welcomed and understood.
“I see it as a second home, a second family for myself and a lot of international students that are part of our organization. I really want ISA to be the thing that students go to when they’re feeling homesick, missing parents or culture, or whatever they want,” said Date. “They can always come to us, and we’ll always be there to help them.”
In addition to working on the events and connections among international students, ISA works on policy-related issues that concern the international student population.
“Aside from all the fun stuff we do in ISA, we have a lot of meetings with student government and we meet with a lot of the deans and faculty chairs. We had a meeting with President Roshit and the Dean for Global Education when they wanted to make the change on the scholarship for students. We gave them our feedback regarding that,” said Date. “Anytime anything involves not just international students but all students on campus, they will come to us and we will give feedback.”
ISA invites everyone to follow them on social media at @isaatmnsu and visit the upcoming events to connect and find a welcoming community.
Caption: International students visiting International Student Association Town Hall to discuss events and provide feedback. Students played games and had snacks during the event (Amalia Sharaf/The Reporter).
Write to amal.sharafkhodjaeva@mnsu.edu