Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 15, 1995 TAG: 9504170033
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-12 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Tech has 1,500 international students enrolled from 104 nations; more than one third of its graduate school students are internationals. Radford is host to 204 foreign students from 58 nations.
They're drawn here primarily by the schools' sciences, engineering or business programs. In their countries, they are regarded as being among the best and the brightest.
However, being intelligent and highly motivated doesn't ensure academic success, particularly for those who find themselves as strangers in a foreign culture. "The issues that complicate their lives are totally beyond academics," said Piper Durrell, director of Tech's Student Legal Services.
"It's quite an adjustment," said Beulah Kline of Blacksburg. "There are very great differences. They just want to know what we do and how we do it."
Kline, a retired elementary school teacher, is one of many local residents who participate in Tech's International Host Program by offering friendship and guidance to foreign students. Radford has a similar effort called the International Friendship Program.
Both offer an informal pairing between these students and families or individuals who volunteer to participate. Once introduced to one another, students and their hosts get together periodically for any activity they might mutually enjoy - recreation, entertainment, meals - whatever smooths the student's adjustment. There's no obligation involving financial support or residential housing between hosts and students.
Thursday night, on the sixth day of Tech's International Week, Kathy and David Stone had dinner at their house in Christiansburg for several of their students.
Christine Sun has become more like a family member there than a guest. "I'm really lucky," said Sun, a doctoral student from Taiwan. "They provide emotional support, which is very important."
The Stones have hosted international students from Tech for two years. They've had backyard cook-outs, dispensed advice on how to buy a used car, and taken students to the New River Valley Mall.
All at the dinner table enjoy a laugh recalling Vladimir Balabanov's reaction when the Russian first set foot in the mall. "He was dumbfounded. In his wildest dreams he never imagined a place like that," said Kathy Stone.
Vinod Chachra, president of VTLS Inc., the Blacksburg-based library automation and software development firm, came to Tech from his native India in 1967, and recalls the encouragement and support lent by the local family that hosted him. "Someone to orient me to a new environment and a new culture - that was extremely valuable to me," he said.
Families who host students say the relationships with international students adds a broader scope to their households. "Our children have learned so much," said Jackie Nutter of Blacksburg. "It just brings the world so much closer."
The table was turned on her last year, when Nutter traveled to India to attend the wedding of a student she had hosted. "It was overwhelming. I've never been treated with such hospitality," she said.
"They're wonderful people. It's been a blessing for me," said Kline, who plans to host about 25 students for Easter dinner Saturday.
And the feeling of global warming is mutual. "It's nice, to have such a program," said Tech doctoral student Pinkie Zwane, a native of Swaziland.
For more information about hosting international students, contact Virginia Tech's Cranwell International Center at 231-6527 or Radford University's International Student Services at 831-5939.
by CNB