New program supports international students

On Friday, Jan. 13, an event was held in the Mayfield Annex to explain a new program for international students as well as to thank the people who support it.

The program is Lee’s first international student endowment scholarship, called the Lee International Student Support Program.

“This is a message for the community to help out,” scholarship chairman Augustin Bocco said.

Donations of bikes, gift cards, warm coats and over $1,000 worth of book vouchers were given to the students. Clubs, organizations, banks and churches in Cleveland were presented as options for the students’ benefit.

Several Lee University staff members received awards as “Champions of Diversity,” including Larry Berry, Lyn Darling, Renee Williams and Renee Lastra. The awards serve as a testimony of the inclusive environment that the Lee community strives to create for international students.

The event closed with everyone joining in the same dance, the “Cha-Cha Slide.”

Typically, international students are faced with opportunities, along with many challenges. They are confronted with unfamiliarity, limitations and various hoops to jump through.

Immigration laws restrict students to only working on campus with hours insufficient for their own provision, Kelvin Tarukwasha, a Lee alumni, former international student, and current Sodexo retail manager, said.

“I believe that supporting Lee’s international students is a more effective way of making sure that change really does take place in our world,” Tarukwasha said.

At Lee, international students and non-international students are not divided, but given the same opportunities as well as level of care.

“It is more than just an assignment and responsibility for us,” Phil Cook, vice president for enrollment and scholarship sponsor, said.

Sarah Burnett, a new international student from the Bahamas, came to Lee, and the United States, for the first time in the spring of 2012.

“Everyone is so friendly, and I’m thankful for how welcoming Lee has been,” Burnett said.

The central message the scholarship fund’s supporters aim to send is this: No matter what country, continent, or region you come from, you will have a place at Lee University.