Celebrating a sweet international student day

International students were invited to eat candy and play games for an international student day celebration at Cleveland State University

International students Prazil Patel, left, and Om Patel, from India, had candy, coffee, and conversation with Alma Alhamed, right, from Saudi Arabia during the international student day celebration on Nov. 17. Photo Credit – Abigail Preiszig

Cleveland State University celebrated international students on Nov. 17 from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Michael Schwartz Library in honor of International Student Day.

Students had access to a variety of games and were invited to add a pin to a world map to indicate where they are from. Reserved tables had candies from Turkey, Poland, China, Bangladesh, Argentina, Japan, Taiwan, and Indonesia.

“I love trying candy from different countries,” Prazil Patel, an international students from India studying business, told The Cauldron. 

The library is one of the first places international students tour when they come to campus, explained Theresa Nawalaniec, the sciences and engineering librarian at CSU and head of the International Student Support group who planned the event.

“We have more and more international students coming in and we want to be able to provide more support for them,” Nawalaniec told The Cauldron. “We want them to feel welcome and help them with their academic success.”

At the beginning of the year, a group of eight librarians and library staff teamed up to form the International Student Support group. They put up displays throughout the library and plan events to curate a comfortable and welcoming place for students from all over.

There are over 1,400 international students at CSU, making up 6.2% of the student population. International students looking for support can email t.nawalaniec@csu.ohio.edu

Author: Abigail Preiszig

Abigail is a current journalism student at Cleveland State University. She has knack for writing and investigation. Abigail loves creating and editing videos you can see on her YouTube channel. She enjoys reading, hiking, thrift shopping, wasting hours watching YouTube and playing with her pet hamster Pablo.