Great Project
Reading the alumni magazine for my undergraduate alma mater today, I came across a great project. They have created a program where they match international students with host families in the surrounding community. The families include the students in family activities, invite them to holidays, help them navigate the university system and being in the United States. The students bring connections to other countries, other places, languages. Sometimes the families end up visiting the students’ families in the home country.
It’s a neat idea because it breaks down barriers between cultures in small ways. Of course, it’s great for the college because it helps the students feel at home. But it has a larger social purpose as well. The children growing up in these families who connect with international students are likely to have a more open mind towards people different from themselves. They are likely to have more chances to visit other places if the relationship continues beyond the students’ time at Connecticut College. This is how larger social barriers based on fear, difference between countries and cultures are broken down in small ways.