This project, completed in my first year of college, was a learning experience for me about the different experiences and obstacles that international students face in getting an American college education. This experience was composed of a documentary highlighting the different obstacles and experiences international students have here at UC. It features several of these students from different countries, majors, and degree levels responding to different questions about their experiences here at UC, including visa restrictions, culture changes, and the extent to which they feel accepted here in America. It also involved asking American students several questions about their knowledge of many restrictions of international students, to gauge the public’s awareness of these issues. The goal of this experience was for me to be able to learn more about how international students adjust to American culture, despite the many restrictions and obstacles they face.
I have shown this video at a luncheon event during Worldfest Week in order to inform American students of these issues. The luncheon was discussion based and involved participants of the video answering audience questions and further elaborating on their experiences.
This project is personally meaningful because I have a passion for diversity and culture. I have been lucky enough to have been exposed to people of different cultures throughout high school, as well as here in college, and have always enjoyed learning about new cultures and languages. Talking to international students here at UC about their experiences and telling other American students about these stories, I realized that there was relatively little awareness of the different obstacles and experiences international students face in college. As I am a UC student and could get the most consistent data from interviewing students of one university, I decided to interview UC students. When I became a member of the Worldfest Week planning board, I decided to merge this video with Worldfest Week, and turned it into a luncheon and discussion that was held on March 12th, 2016.
For the project, I interviewed several international students from various countries and cultures about their experiences with the American college system and recording at various picturesque places around campus. I also learned how to use Movie Maker in order to complete the video. This includes video editing, putting title and quote slides, and adding text boxes with the participants’ name, major, country of origin, and year in school. I also received funding from both UC International and UC Student Government for the luncheon part of the event. I also gained other technical skills in the course of this project, such as how to successfully promote an event using both posters I made on Microsoft Publisher placed around UC's campus and through social media, and how to gain funding for a luncheon utilizing funds from both UC International and UC Student Government.
I believe that I did learn a lot from this experience, as I discovered a lot that I was unaware that international students faced, such as the small nuances of adjusting to a new culture that someone who grew up in America takes for granted, the difficulty of making American friends rather than just seeking out someone from their own culture who also attends UC, and further developed my leadership and cross-cultural skills. I also met more international students and helped introduce them to different resources and perspectives. This was definitely needed for the UC community, as a large majority of the American students that I interviewed were unaware of these problems. The lively discussion that the attendees had, both international and American, about these obstacles, really highlighted the success of the project. As a new IPAL, a volunteer for UC International to help welcome international students to UC, I will further develop this knowledge and skills with further interactions with international students and connecting them more and more to America. My video is even being used for the IPAL retreat in September to help inform the student volunteers of these issues and help them be better prepared to aid the international students.
The journal/reflection log I wrote for this project and the link to the video is here.
Journal/Reflection Log of Project International Students' Perspectives Video
I have shown this video at a luncheon event during Worldfest Week in order to inform American students of these issues. The luncheon was discussion based and involved participants of the video answering audience questions and further elaborating on their experiences.
This project is personally meaningful because I have a passion for diversity and culture. I have been lucky enough to have been exposed to people of different cultures throughout high school, as well as here in college, and have always enjoyed learning about new cultures and languages. Talking to international students here at UC about their experiences and telling other American students about these stories, I realized that there was relatively little awareness of the different obstacles and experiences international students face in college. As I am a UC student and could get the most consistent data from interviewing students of one university, I decided to interview UC students. When I became a member of the Worldfest Week planning board, I decided to merge this video with Worldfest Week, and turned it into a luncheon and discussion that was held on March 12th, 2016.
For the project, I interviewed several international students from various countries and cultures about their experiences with the American college system and recording at various picturesque places around campus. I also learned how to use Movie Maker in order to complete the video. This includes video editing, putting title and quote slides, and adding text boxes with the participants’ name, major, country of origin, and year in school. I also received funding from both UC International and UC Student Government for the luncheon part of the event. I also gained other technical skills in the course of this project, such as how to successfully promote an event using both posters I made on Microsoft Publisher placed around UC's campus and through social media, and how to gain funding for a luncheon utilizing funds from both UC International and UC Student Government.
I believe that I did learn a lot from this experience, as I discovered a lot that I was unaware that international students faced, such as the small nuances of adjusting to a new culture that someone who grew up in America takes for granted, the difficulty of making American friends rather than just seeking out someone from their own culture who also attends UC, and further developed my leadership and cross-cultural skills. I also met more international students and helped introduce them to different resources and perspectives. This was definitely needed for the UC community, as a large majority of the American students that I interviewed were unaware of these problems. The lively discussion that the attendees had, both international and American, about these obstacles, really highlighted the success of the project. As a new IPAL, a volunteer for UC International to help welcome international students to UC, I will further develop this knowledge and skills with further interactions with international students and connecting them more and more to America. My video is even being used for the IPAL retreat in September to help inform the student volunteers of these issues and help them be better prepared to aid the international students.
The journal/reflection log I wrote for this project and the link to the video is here.
Journal/Reflection Log of Project International Students' Perspectives Video