COLIN PERRY
Assistant News Editor
International Education Week concludes on Nov. 19 with singing, dancing and every college student’s favorite: a whole lot of food. The first International Dinner will be held in the Williams Center Multipurpose Room to benefit scholarship funds for Fredonia’s international students.
The event is sponsored by International Club, the International Students Services Office, the Office of International Education and Campus Life.
Jacob Czelusta, assistant director of international student services, said that it will be “representative of everything that we have here in terms of our international students.”
True to his word, the night is slated to be full of variety. Since, according to Czelusta, over 50 percent of Fredonia’s international students are East Asian, the menu will feature cuisine like Korean bulgogi (marinated grilled beef) and karaage (Japanese fried chicken). Food representative of other cultures, like Arabian salads and Turkish desserts, will also be served.
Beyond that, those at the International Dinner will be able to enjoy dance, vocal and guitar performances by a number of international students, as well as an appearance from Vocal Point.
Students, faculty and community members can enter to win one of the many gift baskets being raffled off that night. Each basket has been designed by a different international student group and will contain different foods to represent its own culture.
Aside from the food and fun, the International Dinner is also meant to raise money for the Xylia Peterson Memorial Fund, one of the few scholarships at Fredonia available to junior and senior international students. Czelusta said the scholarships currently offered are “puny,” and that many international students still have financial difficulties.
“Before they’re accepted, [international students] have to prove that they’re financially able to come here,” he said. “All of the students have shown that proof. That doesn’t mean that some of them aren’t pinching pennies or aren’t wealthy where it’s no problem.
“It’s still very expensive for international students [to attend],” he continued. “I do get a lot of inquiries about scholarships … and my response is limited.”
“A lot of scholarships that are available right now, they’re for $100 here, $200 there, [but] there’s really no reward for students who have been going here for four years and are completing their degree,” said Jordan Holmes, senior Spanish adolescent education major and president of International Club. “We want to try to start something new for more incentive and for students who really put in their work to earn their degree here at Fredonia.”
International students at Fredonia, who make up roughly three percent of the student population, pay the New York State non-resident tuition fee, which for the 2015 – 2016 school year started at $8,962, almost twice as much as what New York residents are charged. On top of that, of course, are varying fees for housing, meal plans and other living expenses.
Czelusta and Holmes both feel that providing international students with more opportunities at Fredonia is beneficial for the entire community.
“I think [international students] play a huge role in diversity on our campus,” Holmes said, “when you see people who come from different ethnic backgrounds or nationalities who you normally wouldn’t see here, in a small town in Western New York.”
Holmes, who also serves as a global student ambassador on campus, also thinks that international students play a role in the local economy.
“They’re not just on campus — they’re exposed to the town as well,” said Holmes.
“Having more internationals on campus can help us with our declining enrollment, as well — that might be an area for growth,” Czelusta said. “Fredonia’s mission calls for the creation of a ‘global citizen,’ so part of that, in my view, is trying to create a more diverse student population and trying to create a more diverse classroom.”