Celebrating culture with a night of music and dance
STORY BY JUNE SEO
The International Centre and Sheridan International Student Association (SISA) held an International Night to give students an opportunity to share success stories.
International night was held at Sheridan’s Hazel McCallion campus last Thursday.
Students gathered to celebrate their different cultures through dance and music and share a few laughs.
“This is the start of something magical,” said Andrew Ness, director of Sheridan’s International Centre.
Sonia Sharma, 34, a graduate from Sheridan’s Public Com- munications program and the Communications Coordinator for the Mississauga Arts Council, shared her experience being an international student at Sheridan.
“Coming to a new country is like being born again because you try a lot of new things,” said Sharma.
Sharma joined the dance club and worked on campus as a Student Admissions Representative.
“The best part about going to Sheridan was the amazing family I created here. They practically made me who I am and helped me with what I’ve achieved,” said Sharma.
Sharma was recommended to the school by one of her friends who previously went to Sheridan College.
“The response I got back from the International Centre and Yan Wu [Sheridan’s International Admissions Coordinator ] were so encouraging and positive that I didn’t bother looking anywhere else,” she said.
With the dramatic growth in the population of international students, Sheridan has started to expand its recruitment methods over the past two years.
“We’re so proud to become such a destination for international students. The population of international students has really grown in the last couple of years,” said Jeff Zabudsky, president of Sheridan College.
In the March 22, 2013 report about Sheridan’s international students (on Sheridan’s website), Ness said that the population of international students has grown by 600 per cent over the past five years.
“We’ve started doing pre-departure orientations in India two months before the students travel, academic orientations and soft orientations once the students arrive,” said Ness.
But the students aren’t the only ones travelling.
“We just had a faculty member come back from two weeks of teaching animation in India and have another faculty member going to China,” said Ness.
Ness said that Sheridan is also working to establish international co-op opportunities.
“The invitation is to engage students whether they’re from Brampton or Beijing,” he said.
Andrii Sadlak, 23, is an International Business Management student from Ukraine and is also SISA president.
Sadlak created SISA with five other students last December, when they agreed that Sheridan needed a more inviting environment for international students.
Odecca Ordonez, one of the founders of SISA, then recruited members from the International Centre.
“The concept is to create a surrounding where international students can grow together at the same pace,” said Sadlak. “My vision is to see this club in all of Sheridan’s campuses and to give this opportunity of growth, teamwork and leadership development to all international students.”
Although this is Sadlak’s last year at Sheridan, he hopes to see the club grow and fulfill their mission to promote cultural diversity and to grow a strong international family.
“SISA will leave an important legacy in Sheridan for future international students,” said Zabudsky.
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