Calvin International Students Make Campus Christmas Home

From: Phil de Haan <dehp@calvin.edu>
Date: Tue Dec 20 2005 - 09:37:20 EST

December 20, 2005 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Calvin College is creating an atmosphere of celebration for its international
students who can't make it home for the holidays. Almost 30 international
students will hunker down in Calvin's Knollcrest East apartments from now until
the campus re-opens for Interim on January 3, 2006.

There they will take part in the many holiday activities planned for them by
Calvin's student life staff.

The students (from Korea, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Ghana, Hong Kong, Japan,
Sudan, China, Singapore and the United Kingdom) are a fragment of Calvin's
sizeable international student community: over 300 students representing 44
countries. In the latest Open Doors report, Calvin is rated seventh in the
country among baccalaureate institutions for number of international students
on campus.

The holiday programming is a necessity for a school with a sizeable
international population, says Rick Zomer, Calvin's associate dean of residence
life.

"When we bring students here, especially when they come from overseas, it's
not realistic to think they will be able to go home. But even though they're
not going to go home for Christmas, we're trying to ensure that they'll still
have an enjoyable time, even living away from their families."

The Knollcrest East holiday staff has planned Christmas and New Years parties,
decorating parties, outings to see the Christmas lights at 5/3 Ballpark, ice
skating and more.

For the full story see
http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2005_06/internationals.htm

-end-
Received on Tue Dec 20 09:37:34 2005

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