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| Senior Hillary Su of China speaks to students about her culture at Big Walnut High School's recent "Diversity Day." |
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Like many international students at Ohio Wesleyan, junior
Amy Raksakul wants to share the culture of her native Thailand with other people. With this goal in mind, Raksakul is establishing an International Student Ambassadors Program (ISAP), which will provide yet another avenue to cultural awareness at OWU and beyond.
Raksakul became involved in the project when she accepted a staff position in the international student services office. "Part of the job entailed initiating ISAP," she explains. "This is a brand new program that is still in the formative stages."
The purpose of the program is to promote cultural diversity and ethnic awareness on campus as well as in the local community. "We have a large number of international students at Ohio Wesleyan, and we should share their cultures," says Raksakul.
Director of International Student Services Darrell Albon agrees and adds, "The program is also a way to connect our international students with the local community to experience aspects of American culture they wouldn't normally be exposed to."
"I hope this program gets our students even more excited about their backgrounds," says Raksakul. "And it's an opportunity to represent our own countries and Ohio Wesleyan." The ambassadors will also benefit from the chance to hone their public speaking skills. "We hope to speak to the Delaware community at large including, among others, schools, Rotary Club, and Kiwanis," she says.
Overall, Raksakul's goal for the first year is to simply establish the program. There is room for only five ambassadors this year, but Raksakul urges students to apply again in the future. "We hope to add more students every year, and there are definitely events where we need more than five people."
One such event was Big Walnut High School's "Diversity Day," which was held Nov. 18. "We took over 20 Ohio Wesleyan students to the school to share costumes, food, and interesting stories from their home countries," says Raksakul.
The OWU students visited Big Walnut at the request of English teacher and student council advisor Angie (Kenney) Stooksbury `93. "Our student council is working to promote tolerance and diversity," she explains. "And so we contacted Ohio Wesleyan to help us make that happen. It was an event for the entire school, and I really hope that it was just the first of many visits from OWU students." Raksakul hopes so, too.
"Currently we're working with the resources we have," she says. "It is my wish that this group continues to expand, and hopefully this year's ambassadors will be able to guide the new students next year."
For more information about ISAP, please e-mail owuisap@owu.edu or call 740-368-3073.
-Ericka Kurtz
