Last Thursday (10/28/2021) , co-sponsored by the Institute for International Studies in Education (IISE) and the Council of Graduate Students in Education (CGSE), the self-governance Student Peer Network (SPN) for international students in the School of Education hosted their first in person event ever since its establishment in 2021 spring. Seventeen current international students from programs of Language, Literacy and Culture (LLC), Social and Comparative Analysis in Education (SCAE), Early Childhood Education (ECE), Foreign Langugae Education (FLE), and Learning Sciences and Policy (LSAP) attended this face-to-face get-together. Three faculty also joined to show their supports to students: Dr. Maureen McClure, Dr. Jorge Delgado from IISE & SCAE, and Dr. Loretta Fernandez from FLE.
Two faculty co-founders, Dr. McClure and Dr. Fernandez reviewed the initial ideas of establishing this network during the pandemic as they found some of their international students felt lonely and isolated. Under that circumstance, the SPN was set as a space for students to talk in both English and their mother language, share their concerns and experiences to each other, and build belongingness to the school. The organizational team then introduced the five zoom meetings in the spring semester and shared the goals of the network for now and in the future. With the results of a survey launched before the meeting, the network will aim for international students’ academic success, identity & belongingness, social connections (peers, SOE, Pitt, & PGH community), and career preparation by focus on topics of: Campus Life (mental health, campus tour, library resources), Pittsburgh Life (museum tour, food, events), Academic Information, Career Information.
The meeting-up was full of laughter, joy, and wonder to each other. For the first time since the pandemic, international students within the SOE could see their peers face-to-face, share their experiences (many of them shared their love to pets), and hang out with someone they knew or didn’t know outside classrooms. The SPN will keep providing opportunities like that based on students’ demands and welcome students to bring their own ideas and make them become true.
Contact us to join our next SPN events: iise@pitt.edu or Yuan Gao at YUG50@pitt.edu .
By: YG
Date: Nov 8, 2021