“Lifelong friendship and cultural integration will be the legacy you carry on from study abroad for a long time,” Chen said.
After realizing the importance of open dialogue across cultures as part of study abroad enrichment — and the lack of it in State College area, where international students from 140 countries encompass nearly 15 percent of the student population — the idea of Global Integration first emerged in her mind.
“I never thought about actually starting a club before,” Chen said. That was until she met Marc McCann, executive director for Global Connections, a local nonprofit organization affiliated with Penn State and the United Way of Centre County. It aims to bring together people of diverse national origins to foster intercultural community and understanding, promote awareness of everyone’s roles as citizens in the wider global community and facilitate partnerships and resources that enrich the vitality and diversity of the Centre Region.
Chen took the initiative to follow up with a meeting. With a similar goal in mind and deeply impressed by her passion and vision to better the community, McCann first suggested the idea of Global Integration and continued to assist her with advice and resources.
After weeks of preparation, Global Integration was established officially in the fall of 2014. It has since hosted several events including panel discussions, volunteer activities and cultural celebrations. Recently, the group hosted its last event of the semester, Cultural Spotlight: International Dance Party, in collaboration with the Panamanian Student Organization and Afrique Fusion. Students from different backgrounds participated, sharing and learning cultural dances from each other.
“The contemporary workplace values multiculturalism, and studying abroad is a great opportunity for you to grow both professionally and personally,” Chen said. “It was definitely a life-changing journey for me.”
Connecting first-year students through cross-cultural leadership
Cross-Cultural Connections is a student club with similar goals co-founded by Niyantara Singh and Polina Tai.
Singh, a senior in psychology and criminology from New Delhi, India, participated in a faculty-led program in the Netherlands last summer.
“It was interesting to be able to compare criminal justice systems among the Netherlands, United States and India,” Singh said. “Studying abroad as an international student provides you the opportunity to look at everything comparatively.”
Singh has been an international student orientation leader since her freshman year. “It’s great to be able to help other international students who have newly arrived because we’ve shared similar experiences,” Singh said. “It’s been the best part of my memories at Penn State and I have stayed friends with many of them. I want to help international students make the most of their time at Penn State.”