Skyline College has received more than 70 new international students this fall! Not only is this the largest number we have ever received for one semester, this new group is bringing in more diversity to the campus than ever before. The fall new international students are coming from over 30 countries. Majority of the students are from East Asia and South East Asia, such as China, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. The rest is from Middle East, Europe, Africa, North America, Central America and South America, including countries such as Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Sweden, Canada and Brazil.
The new students gathered for the four-day orientation held from August 4 -7, 2015. The orientation included variety of activities and presentations, placement tests and counseling, and a field trip to Great America. Seven orientation leaders took a leading role in many of the activities held during the orientation. Our orientation leaders represented five different countries, the orientation leaders are current Skyline international students who volunteered their time for the event. They shared their knowledge and experiences as Skyline international students in presentations, mingled with new students during the ice breakers and meals, and provided a tour around the campus. Having the current international students involved in the orientation certainly made the event more engaging and fun. One new international student from Moldova commented, “I came from another community college, but they did not provide an orientation like this. This is really nice!” Another new student from Singapore wrote to the ISP office to let us know that she had “a lot of fun at the orientation”.
ISP will continue to provide services and programs for international students as well as for the entire Skyline community. If you are interested in learning more about future ISP programs and events, contact ISP office at skyinternational@smccd.edu or call (650) 738-7021.
Article by Chikako Walker | Photo by Claudia Paz
