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Atlanta, GA | Posted: October 13, 2014
Brandie Banner
Student Government Association
Kristen Bailey
Institute Communications
Summary Sentence:
International students and campus hosts can be matched to share a cross-cultural Thanksgiving.
Full Summary:
International students and campus hosts can be matched to share a cross-cultural Thanksgiving.
Claire Batten with fellow students during ThanksgivingMembers of the Tech community have long welcomed international students into their homes during the holidays. Now, a group of students is making it easier to connect those interested in sharing an international Thanksgiving.
Home for the Holidays is an effort to join international students not going home for Thanksgiving with faculty, staff, and other students who would be up for treating them to a festive American meal.
Last year, Brandie Banner, vice president for the undergraduate Student Government Association (SGA) and resident advisor in Housing, hosted two of her residents at her parents’ Alpharetta home.
“My family loved having them and hearing about their culture, and they kept saying how happy they were to get off campus during the break and have a taste of an American home,” the civil engineering major said.
Maria Silva-Willson, a fourth-year industrial engineering major, has spent all her Thanksgiving breaks away from her family in Venezuela. She spent the first with new friends from Tech, gathering in a dorm for a traditional menu of turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, and pumpkin pie. They followed dinner with a cab ride to shop on their first Black Friday.
“You see everyone leaving campus to spend Thanksgiving with their families and loved ones, which makes you want to learn more about the tradition and be part of it,” Silva-Willson said. “Most international students don’t have the means to fly home this time of year.”
Silva-Willson has spent her college Thanksgivings with friends from Tech and from high school but never at a table with an American family — something she hopes to do this year.
“It took me three years to understand that Thanksgiving can be celebrated in numerous ways and that there’s not one meal or event that is the rule of the day,” she said. “The only common theme is to take time to get together and express gratitude.”
The Office of International Education helped advise SGA on this initiative. Meg Popick, international student advisor, has firsthand experience hosting students at her home and organized a similar Thanksgiving host program while working at Boston College.
“At Tech, most of us are used to being in a very diverse environment, but to bring that to your family is really rewarding,” she said. “The cross-cultural experience is beneficial for both sides and an important part of an international student’s stay here in the U.S.” International students make up about 21 percent of Tech’s total student population, and fostering globally engaged students is part of Georgia Tech’s Strategic Plan.
To those who are hesitant, Jen Abrams, a public policy major and resident advisor who’s helping organize the initiative, offers pragmatic advice: Just go for it.
“It may be a little uncomfortable at first, as it is whenever you meet someone new, but don’t let uncertainty keep you from the chance to make others feel like they have a home in a place so far away from their own,” she said.
Potential hosts and students looking to be hosted can express interest online by Saturday, Nov. 1. When completing the online interest form, potential hosts can choose whether they’d like to host for just the meal or overnight.
