By SAMANTHA MCGUIRE, Staff Reporter
Northwestern Oklahoma State University currently has 151 international students enrolled, which is the largest international class in all of Northwestern’s history.
Yet only a fraction of these students are part of the International Student Association.
The ISA is a club on campus that is open to all students. The ISA’s focus is to help educate Northwestern’s campus and community about all the different cultures represented on campus.
The ISA has been active since 2000. The ISA has meetings the third Tuesday of each month. For students interested the meeting this month, they can attend the meeting on Sept. 20.
Rebecca Cook, international academic advisor, said, “During the meetings we explore ideas on how to get ISA more involved on campus, as well as explore different cultural events that we can put on.”
One of the events that ISA puts on annually is the Festival of Cultures, which is in the spring semester. The ISA is currently looking into holding more events throughout the course of the academic year.
“We are working on some events that can assist the ISA in fundraising for international student scholarships,” Cook said, “as well as give all students a taste of something different on campus.”
One of the main goals of the ISA is to help international students get accustomed to the campus.
“We would love to show the international students that we welcome their various cultures to Northwestern by having more general student involvement,” Cook said.
Hayden Clark, an international student from Australia, has taken the changes in stride. Clark is a business major that came to Northwestern to play football. He said as far as customs go in America compared to Australia there are only minor differences.
The main thing Clark expected was for Oklahoma to look a lot different from Australia, but he said it doesn’t. Although Clark has adjusted well to America he said he misses home, his family, his friends and how easy it was living in his own country.
Another international student followed in her dad’s footsteps to come to Northwestern.
This student is Ana Gabriela Parra, a junior from Venezuela. Parra said the one thing about coming to Northwestern that made her nervous was making friends.
Parra is a member of the ISA. “[ISA has] been great,” Parra said. “Every year we organize the Festival of Cultures and the community loves it!”
Although the ISA is targeted toward international students all students are welcome to join.
Cook said, “We have students that are not considered international, but were born/raised in a country other than the U.S. We also have some American students who have expressed interest in joining and we have welcomed them with open arms.”
For more information about the International Student Association, students can contact Rebecca Cook. Her email is rlcook@nwosu.edu, and her phone number is (580) 327-8435. Students can also visit her office located in the Fine Arts building Rm. 208.