Foreign Students Welcomed by Historical Society

Two students sat in a small viewing room of the watching a video of the city early Saturday morning.

“Here’s your school,” said Sandy Halem, president of the board of trustees at the KHS. She stood at the back of the room as they learned about the founding of the university.

After the video, Halem explained there would be a tour of the house followed by a tour of downtown, including the student-run that stocks foods international students request. She promised there wouldn’t be a quiz.

“So now you know all about the town,” she said proudly as music from the video swelled in the background. “We hope you’ll come back with your friends, with your wife, whoever is in your community, and you can help explain why the community is a little more interesting.”

Over the next few hours, about 25 to 30 students trekked to the historical society to learn more about the town they will be calling home for the next few months — or years. It’s the first time the historical society and the have organized an event like this. Given the response, KHS director Tom Hatch said he hopes it’s just the beginning.

“(This) event was an opportunity for international students who are new to Kent State to learn a little bit about their community, be introduced to some of the history of Kent and interact with some of the photographs, artifacts and stories that we tell here,” he said. “We’ve met a number of students who would like to come back and learn more. We’ve found some potential volunteers.”

One international student visited Halem a few weeks ago with an interest in learning more about the community.

Danni Liao, a graduate tourism and hospitality major, decided to pay the historical society a visit in August after hearing about an opportunity to volunteer from a friend and academic adviser.

“I just want to learn," she said. “I want to pass this information to other students.”

After speaking with me for a few minutes, she heads upstairs to give a tour to another group in Chinese.

David DiMaria, director of International Recruitment, Admissions and Advising in the Kent State Office of Global Education, said the event was designed to help students get acquainted with their new setting.

“We were talking about what we could do to get our international students more integrated in the community and learning more about the city upfront rather than over a four-year period or going home and not knowing some of this,” he said.

Liang Yz, a graduate geology major, said he learned of the tour through an email from the Office of Global Education. He decided to come to see the city. As an added bonus, the tour guides took him downtown to the park where he snapped some photos on his
digital camera and learned about hiking and kayaking trails, both of which he plans to do in his year here.

DiMaria said there were 1,430 international students from more than 90 countries who attended Kent State in the spring semester. He couldn’t give an official count for this semester until the university’s enrollment statistics are released; however, he expects the number will increase.

Halem said now that the historical society has moved closer to campus, she’s looking forward to learning what students need or are interested in and helping them in whatever way she can.

She saw that earlier when she mentioned the Haymaker Farmers Market to a group of about 10 women. The room erupted with questions and chatter when Halem told them the market was still open.

After giving them directions, she paused to ask them, “You’re going to come back, right?”

The group’s response: a resounding “Yes.”