University piloting welcome program for foreign students

To help international students better adjust to life in the United States -- and to Southeast Missouri State University and Cape Girardeau -- the university's office of International Education and Services this summer is piloting a program called Families Across Borders.

Under the program, Suzanne Omran, assistant director of international programming at Southeast, said local participants, who can be individuals or families, are paired with international students. Participants are encouraged to maintain regular contact and invite students to their homes to share meals, celebrate holidays and participate in other events together.

Based on a program offered at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, where she worked previously, Omran said Families Across Borders -- or FAB -- is meant to help ease international students' adjustment to life in the U.S., giving them more of a feeling of belonging, while offering a chance for cultural exchange.

Omran said the university has found that when students -- whether international or domestic -- feel connected to the community, they feel happier and more grounded.

"When a student has less anxiety, in terms of their social life and the outlets they have available, they do better. When you find students with less connections ... you find higher levels of anxiety in a lot of cases, that could translate into some academic difficulties," Omran said.

In trying to spread the word about Families Across Borders, Omran said plans are to contact other civic organizations and churches. "We've had very good luck with working with Centenary [United Methodist] Church and their outreach to students," Omran said.

Ken Heischmidt, director of graduate business programs at Southeast and president of Rotary Club of Cape Girardeau, said he can already think of events to get the students involved in, such as the annual soapbox derby. "I think it will be a good way to help them and also enlighten the local community of what we have here in terms of international students," he said.

FAB will start by pairing students from the Intensive English Program with local participants, and later expand to other international students.

Since it's summer, Omran said response has been slow, so it has been harder to get information out to people. But some responses have come in from students and community members.

The university previously had a program in which students in the Intensive English Program stayed in a family's home for eight weeks. Omran said the program has always been "requested highly" by students, but was a tremendous commitment.

Looking at ways to include more families in the community interested in interacting with international students, Omran said a consistent connection with the students was sought.

"So many of our students want to learn and understand more about American culture," she added. "It's especially helpful for our English-program students who are looking to practice what they're learning in the classroom. ... We're looking for that level of consistency where they don't have to be together every single day, but having regular forms of contact, and then also having that interaction will have a positive effect both in and outside of the classroom for everyone involved."

The program also should work better logistically than the home-stay program, which would always get more requests from students than there were families to accommodate them and many would arrive late when the students were already on campus.

"This will give us more freedom to try and accommodate those students who would like that interaction," Omran said, and also offer families more flexibility. If something changes and they need to opt out for a semester, they can, and it also can work for students.

People can invite students over for holiday dinners, go to Cape Splash for the weekend, go camping or bring them to events such as the SEMO District Fair.

"It's totally up to the families what they feel comfortable with, and the student," Omran said.

For more information, contact Omran at somran@semo.edu or 651-6751.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address:

1 University Plaza, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Families Across Borders does not involve home stays, but local participants are required to:

* Get together with their students twice a month, or more often if they would like.

* Keep in regular contact with the student by phone or email.

* Respect the other person's culture, beliefs and religion, among other things.

* And treat the student as they would want to be treated if they were in the students' home country.