You might have wondered about the tent that was set up at the northeast corner of the 3C building during the week before Thanksgiving. It was just one part of the large-scale activities during our 15th-annual International Education Week (IEW) at Arizona Western College.

According to Ken Kuntzelman, director of International Program (I-Team), the week's festivities were an opportunity "to make friends with a student from another country and culture, to enjoy the discovery and insight that comes from crossing cultural barriers, and to dedicate some time to be more informed about world events and global issues."

Diversity

The Program consists of about 55 international students from 21 different countries living and studying at AWC.

"The I-Team is a club where students can begin to globalize their education and experience without leaving town," Kuntzelman said.

Among the club members' proudest contributions to the event were arts and crafts they had prepared depicting the specialties of their country. For example, they made several big cards to introduce their hometown to passersby.

Zhang, a second-year student from China, would point to a spot on the map and say, "The biggest city and the most wonderful shopping center in China is Shanghai."

Others highlighted their roots in Mexico, which, though it is much closer than China, of course falls into the category of "international."

Preparation

In preparation for the celebration, Kuntzelman distributed a big empty world map and asked the group to mark all the countries on it.

"Write down some countries and city names on our world map showing where you can be reached two years later," said Sarah, an assistant in the international program.

After several busy weekends, two complete world maps appeared on the wall as part of the big IEW display. The first map showed all the different countries, and the other was painted with the footprints of the students.

"Standing behind our map, I felt like taking a world tour," Zhang said.

I-team students also put various national flags along the road to the campus entrance.

Every year, the group of the international students has had its special stories about the experience of studying and living abroad, which they have written down as a journal. Finally, the Journal has become special publication, The International Voice, which made its return to the AWC campus at the November event.

Photo by Ning Wei Wang