by Taylor Cotie and Griffin Powell

Close to a million international students each year attend colleges all throughout the United States due to the variety of opportunities we offer here. Greensboro College is one of the many colleges that has international students attend each year. The Collegian recently had the chance to interview the director of international studies here at GC.

When asking the director how many students are currently international here at Greensboro College, she answered, “To answer that question you first need to define what an international student is. To me, an international student is any student who has deep global experience. This could be a student who is a first generation American or a student whose first language is not English. It could also be a student who moved around the globe as a child because of their parents’ careers. It could be a student who holds dual citizenship. And the most standard definition would be a student who attends a higher education institution that is in a country in which they are not native. Currently, at GC, we have about ten official international students.”  

Lastly, I asked the director what she felt the advantages of studying as an international student were. She asserted, “Studying as an international student offers a plethora of benefits, both personally and professionally.” Some of the key advantages include cultural and language immersion, meaningful cross-cultural friendships, cultural excursions, building confidence, resilience and problem-solving skills, global perspective. 

We were able to speak with three out of the ten international students currently enrolled here at GC and ask them how their experience has been so far. The first person we spoke to was Breckyn Bahr, a first-year student from Okotoks, Alberta Canada, who came to play volleyball at GC. The transition from high school to college is a difficult adjustment for many, but especially for those who live outside of the United States. When asking Bahr how her transition to college has been so far, her response was, “The transition has been good so far. I like it at GC, but the biggest difference and challenge is the time change as well as the temperature change.”  

Moving to a new area can be exciting but also scary at the same time. We asked Bahr if she has been excited or nervous about moving so far from home and she responded, “It was a little bit of both. Excited to experience something new and see a new place. I was also excited to be playing volleyball and have a team full of girls that would be my immediate friends. That also helped with some of the nerves, knowing that I had people there. It was scary and hard moving away from my friends and especially my family, but I am glad I did it.”  

Weather can be a major factor someone considers when looking for the college they want to attend. When asking Bahr how the weather here was compared to her hometown, she replied, “The weather is very different. It can get as hot here as it does back home but there is no humidity there. The other major change that I think I am going to like is how light your winter will be compared to mine. I usually see about one to two feet of snow for about four months straight.” The next question I asked her was what she was majoring in and what her career goals were. Bahr said, “I am majoring in exercise and sports studies, and I would ultimately like to either be a sports agent/media person or a sports psychologist.”  

We also had the chance to speak with first-year student Allysia Alfred. Alfred is a US citizen born in New York, but her family is from Saint Lucia where she underwent her studies. When asking Alfred what made her decide to continue her education in North Carolina, she replied, “It was a significant choice for me to go away from Saint Lucia to further my education elsewhere. Throughout my school life in the Caribbean, I always attended private schools with small classes and opportunities for one-on-one interaction with both teachers and classmates. I knew that to broaden my perspective and become a more well-rounded person, I needed to meet a variety of people and have a variety of experiences. When I made the decision to research colleges in the United States, I found that North Carolina, and Greensboro College in particular, seemed to be the perfect fit because of its diverse population of students. The size of the school was also important to me. The smaller class numbers at Greensboro College were a plus for me since they enabled me to cultivate true relationships with my professors and learn from mentors.”  

When asked how she felt Greensboro differs from St. Lucia, she responded, “The transition from high school in Saint Lucia to college at Greensboro was rather a smooth transition with the exception of the culture shock and the change in academics. In general, the educational system is somewhat different, as the schools in the Caribbean are among the most challenging in the world. Saint Lucia’s educational system is modeled after that of the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, I feel as though I have adjusted well and am picking up knowledge of the system as I go along.” Lastly, we asked Alfred what she was majoring in and what her career goals were. She answered, “I am a Bachelor of Science biology major. My aspiration is to work in the medical field, specifically in surgery.” 

Lastly, we spoke with first-year international student Art Harvey. From Margaret River Western Australia, Harvey came to GC to play college basketball, an opportunity that was not available to him in Australia. When asking Harvey how his transition to college has been so far, he replied, “My transition to college has been alright. I was jet lagged for about a week, but other than that it has been pretty good. It has just taken a bit to adjust to everything and the change of schedule, but everyone has been super friendly.”  

We asked Harvey if he was more excited or nervous about moving so far from home and he asserted, “A little bit of both honestly. It did not really feel like I was leaving until I was on the plane, but I was pretty nervous the first week I got here meeting everyone. I was definitely nervous leaving my family and friends though and then being so far away made it harder as well.”  

Harvey came to Greensboro to major in sports and exercise science. When asking him what his career goals were, he said, “My career goals are just trying to give back what I have learned back to my community by sports coaching or strength and conditioning coaching something in that sort of field.”