Society for International Students

This past Friday the SIS was pleased to host its first Cultural Hour. At approximately 2:00 p.m. students arrived and were eager to find out what Cultural Hour was all about. The Cultural Hour started off of by introducing the SIS officers, followed by introducing the 10 Belizean students present

After introductions, a video created by one of the Belizean students, Jason Castillo, was shown. The video was a compilation of people, culture, and music from Belize. It displayed traditional music, and featured popular tourist attractions such as Mayan sites and the great barrier reef. Dj Karlo, also from Belize, was entertaining guests with traditional music throughout the Cultural Hour. Next, students were given a description of the food provided. Garnaches was the main entree, which is made with a fried corn tortilla then topped with re-fried beans. Once the beans are pasted on the tortilla you can garnish it with onion or cabbage sauce, and lastly you add crumbled cheese. This food is typical to the Mestizo culture and is a popular street food sold all over Belize. Garnaches are eaten with the hands and usually eaten for dinner in most Belizean homes. The dessert provided were bread and rice pudding. Both desserts are some of the typical desserts eaten in Belize. After guests enjoyed the scrumptious treats they were asked to return to their seats so that they can ask about questions they were interested in knowing about the country. Students were eager to know about the different ethnic groups in Belize such as Mestizo, Creole, Garifuna, Chinese and East Indian. They were also interested in the different sports played, which include: soccer, baseball, basketball, volleyball and cricket. This portion of the Cultural Hour encouraged the sharing of experiences and participation among students. All in all, the SIS is pleased to say that the first Cultural Hour was a success and we will be preparing for the second one in 2 weeks. We would like to thank everyone who attended, we encourage you to share your experience and let us know all about it. The SIS would like to thank everyone who helped with preparations, setup and clean up. We look forward to have very successful Cultural Hours throughout the semester.

The Society for International Students has been hosting bi-weekly Coffee hours for the past 2-3 years. Coffee hours were created to encourage interaction between International Students and American Students. These Coffee hours have been successful and our students really enjoy it! Since the friendship between students has been created, we now want to implement our goals and values as an organization.
The SIS officers decided on changing Coffee hour to Cultural Hour! Cultural Hour will now focus on a different country every time it is held. It will highlight students from that country and interesting facts they would like to share. By encouraging the students to share about their country, we will be fulfilling our duty as an organization. We want students to learn about other cultures and share their own. Cultural Hour will not be an event whereby you will just sit and listen, it will be very interactive and fun. Students are always eager to share their experience of living in the U.S and how life was when living in their home country.
Apart from sharing culture, Cultural hour will feature a traditional dish from the country being featured for that day! It will be a great way to experience a taste of abroad right here in Valdosta! The SIS hopes to attract new and returning students and anyone who would like to learn more about what the SIS is all about.
The next Cultural hour will be held on Friday, September 20th. The country being featured is Belize, Central America because it will be celebrating its Independence on September 21st!

The SIS would like to thank all students who took the time out to stop by its tent on Thursday August 29th. This student organization is working on improving its presence here at VSU. The Happening was a success for the SIS because it gave a chance for our International students to share their college experience with other students. The SIS would like to mention that anyone attending VSU can become a member of this organization. Some countries that were represented under the SIS tent were Nigeria, Belize, Korea, Honduras. If anyone is interested in meeting more students from other countries we want to invite you to our bi-weekly coffee hours. There will be one this Friday September 6th at 2 p.m. See you there!

It’s that time of year!

Despite the South Georgia heat and humidity, Summer is moving along steadily. Good luck to all students enrolled in Summer classes and CONGRATULATIONS to our Summer Graduates.

As you might guess, there are students full of anticipation and excitement (and sometimes dread?) as Summer comes to an end and Fall semester comes closer in to view.

We are officially 2 weeks away from welcoming NEW international students to begin their studies at Valdosta State University. Fall 2013 Orientation week will take place August 5^th through August 9^th.  As part of our Fall traditions, the Society for International Students plays a key role in orientation week. They do so by serving as Orientation Leaders and hosting a welcome cookout for new and returning students. This year, the cookout will be hosted at the VSU Center for International Programs on THURSDAY, August 8^th.  ALL ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND! MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

At this time we are welcoming VOLUNTEERS to assist the VSU Center for International Programs during Orientation Week. It will also be a chance for our new students to meet currently enrolled international (and domestic!) students.

If you’re interested in volunteering to be an International Student Orientation Leader, please contact Lauren or Danielle.

 NOTE: There will be 2 Orientation sessions for new F-1 international students and a separate orientation for new J-1 exchange students.

 Students receiving the international student scholarship– becoming an Orientation leader will count towards your scholarship activities (volunteering also counts towards community service hours!).   

We hope you’ll consider being a new student leader and welcoming new international students and exchange students to VSU’s campus.

 Enjoy these last few days of Summer!