WYOMISSING, Pa. — This fall, Penn State Berks welcomed 110 international students to the campus community. Of that number, 40 are new students. To help these students succeed, the college has implemented a variety of programs and events.
According to Sharon Pitterson-Ogaldez, coordinator of diversity and international programs, the largest area represented by the college’s international students is Asia, including the countries of China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, and Taiwan. This year, the Penn State Berks also has international students from Brazil, Egypt, Germany, Haiti, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Mongolia, Nigeria, Russia, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.
For Patrick Nunes, it was his desire to study biological engineering that motivated him to leave Brazil and enroll in Penn State. “In Brazil, there is no room for bio-engineers,” he joked. He applied to Penn State University and was assigned to begin his studies at Berks campus, and he is quite pleased with the way it worked out, commenting, “Berks is a great campus.” Nunes explained that he took some English as a Second Language courses before the fall semester began, so he is ready to hit the ground running.
Meanwhile, Haochen Wang from Shanghai, located on China’s central coast, has not decided if he wants to major in engineering or computer science. Weng grew up in Singapore, where he began his studies in engineering. He stated that while he was accepted to a few colleges, and he chose Penn State because of its excellent reputation in engineering.