CARE - Connecting Students and Showing Support by Ashley

CARE - Connecting Students and Showing Support by Ashley - December 2019 Scholarship Essay

One organization that I am currently a part of is the CARE program, also known as the Cardinal Ambassador for Global Relationships & Empowerment, this program was designed by my university's department for Social Justice and students to address the concerns involving our international student populations' presence and isolation during their time with us on campus. Our university has less than 50 international students yearly arriving and interacting with campus, many students are, actually, unaware that we HAVE a international student population. Which results in these students basically being forgotten about, and alone. CARE hopes to change that.
Within this program, thus far, I have learned a great deal about our international community. As well as the other residential students that I typically would not be interacting with if not for this shared interest. All of us within this program come from a great variety of places and walks of life, it is amazing to have my viewpoints and horizons expanded with all of this interaction. Each new person is the potential to learn about a new culture, a history and stories! We are hoping, as the program progresses, that we are able to do so much more than just establishing that connection. But, to discover new traditions and make friendships that last a lifetime.
I have yet to receive the student that I will be mentoring, but I have greatly enjoyed helping the other mentors with their international students, as well as creating a variety of resources for our campus and community to better understand the issues these students face and what we are doing. It allows me to express my creative side, while also helping further broadcast this great resource.