Home Away From Home

“Home is where the heart is, and my heart is on this campus,” Shanaya James said.
James is a sophomore at Calvin University from Islamabad, Pakistan. Like many international students, she decided to study at Calvin without ever visiting the school.

Her reasons are ones commonly cited by other students too: its excellent financial scholarships, strong academics, a Christ-centered community, and a beautiful campus. While that’s all been validated by James’ experience at Calvin, she's also discovered something much deeper.

“There have been no nights I have been sleepless. When I go to bed, I know I belong here,” she said.

That’s music to the ears of Josh Samarco, director of Calvin’s Center for Intercultural Student Development. His team works with students from dozens of countries around the world who are adjusting to a new culture on campus.

“The orientation to Calvin has been the best experience of my life,” James said. “There was a special package designed for international students where we had group mixers and activities, and it broke the boundary of being uncomfortable. Being able to talk with people who are sharing the same story and same struggles as you de-escalates your emotions of anxiety and stress.”

From the start, the CISD team ensures that Calvin’s hundreds of international and domestic students, students of various races and ethnicities, and first-year students have the tools and resources needed to navigate a new space.

“We want to set our students up well. When international students feel culture shock, we want to be able to point them to where they can go for help,” Samarco said. “That first week in the states, we are helping them with things like cultural identity, emotional support, mental health, helping them get bus passes, set up bank accounts, and showing them where to grocery shop. We are doing all this resourcing. It’s a beautiful display of what it means to be the body of Christ.”

Student after student agrees. It’s a key reason people have such high regard for Calvin’s Entrada Scholars Program, which gives high school juniors and seniors from racial or ethnic minorities an opportunity to experience what college life is like for one month in the summer.

“Although I attended a diverse high school, my experience as a Christian often placed me in environments where I wasn’t surrounded by many people of color like myself,” said Hannah Jeong, a first-year student from Novi, Mich. “This contributed to my struggle with confidence in my identity. Entrada has shown me how to love my roots and appreciate them.”

Whether they come from abroad or from just down the road, students are seeing the benefits of a multicultural, multiethnic campus community.

“Through conversations and experiences, I’ve gained a lot of different perspectives and viewpoints,” said Gabby Halliwill, a first-year student from Charlotte, Mich. “There’s a lot of value in incorporating and engaging with people outside of your background and culture.”

“As the body of Christ,” Samarco said, “one of our greatest witnesses can be our withness. When we are living life with people from different ethnic and racial backgrounds, we are living out our faith as God intended for us to be. At Calvin, we get the opportunity to do just that.”