There are not many Asian students at Greenville University. These students may not adapt to campus and life abroad as well as American students. In order for them to have a sense of belonging to the campus, the school created an Asian Student Community to help them adapt and create a better campus experience.
The Asian Student Community was founded in the Fall of 2018 by the office of International Affairs. The main purpose of this organization is to promote Asian culture and cultivate students’ leadership and learning atmosphere. Every two weeks, an Asian student conference is held to help students fully understand the learning and life experience on campus, as well as what resources and services are readily available and provided by the school.
Liang Ge, one of the staff of the office of international affairs and the principal director of the Asian student community said, “The first thing is to improve the study experience of every Asian student and help them establish an effective communication platform. We want to asure that every Asian student can have a good study experience at GU through this community. The second is to solve the problem of awarding scholarships to Asian students. Since the education received by Asian students before college is different from that of American students, most of them have not taken the SAT or ACT, so it is difficult for schools to award scholarships to these students. Asian Students Community awards scholarships to students based on their performance, academic achievements and contributions.”
When it comes to how Ge hopes the group will develop, he says now that the foundation has been laid for establishing the Asian Student Community, he hopes to add more functions to this foundation. The current activities are mainly led by the Office of International Affairs, and students’ participation in the activities are mainly based on scholarships. Therefore, it cannot provide a platform for Asian students to exercise their leadership. In the future, Ge hopes that the activities of Asian students’ union will be included and student-led organizations can be developed.
In recent years, the Asian student community has organized a variety of activities, which not only enriches students’ extracurricular life and aids international students to adapt to the study environment, but also introduces Chinese culture to the many other cultures among the campus. Last year at the Asian Autumn Lantern Festival, students ate Asian food in DC then proceeded to Francis Fields to light Asian lanterns and send them off as a community.
As a member of this group, I hope that this student community will be acknowledged and continue to grow. I also hope we can take an active part in the activities organized by the Asian Student Community by spending precious time making memories here at Greenville together.
