Ambassador program provides support to international students

As part of International Education Week, November 15-19, the Faculty of Arts and Science is taking the time to recognize its Connect program which provides prospective and incoming first year students the opportunity to connect one-on-one with a student ambassador to learn about their Queen’s experience and ask questions.

This initiative has proven to be particularly important to prospective international students who value hearing about the experience of current international students with moving to Canada and adapting to life at Queen’s.

“The Connect program allows us to foster a diverse and inclusive environment within FAS and provide support to our international students,” says Dean Barbara Crow.

FAS is celebrating its five international Ambassadors as part of International Education Week. These five students are part of the larger FAS Connect program, which features 14 students of varying backgrounds, areas of study, and interests.

They all have unique reasons for coming to Queen’s and they each view the Connect program as much more than just a job.

“My interest in studying abroad started early in my life,” says Tingyu Shi (Geography). “I always believed that ‘it is better to see for oneself rather than to hear the stories,’ so I was determined to go abroad and meet people from different cultural backgrounds. I don’t think of this program as a job but as an opportunity to learn from my peers and supervisors. It’s an opportunity to practice communication and time management, and it’s a good balance for my academic life.”

Ruilin (Rebecca) Zhao (Life Sciences) says she had no connections when she arrived in Canada and that was one of her motivations behind applying for the Ambassador position. “I believe lots of international students share my experiences, both good and bad, so this is what drove me to become an Ambassador. I want to help, to let those prospective students feel less stressed and be more prepared for university.”

Last year, student ambassadors connected with 211 individuals, 31 per cent of whom were international. After the successful pilot year, FAS is excited to bring the program with an emphasis on supporting prospective international students.

“I chose to study abroad because of the opportunities provided in Canada for my intended career in Artificial Intelligence,” says Inika Chikarmane (Computing), who was born in India. “Being an Ambassador allows me to connect with students who are in the same shoes I was in four years ago. It is incredibly hard to make life-changing decisions based only on words from a website, but getting to put a face to the name, hearing about what my life here is like, learning about the best spots to study and eat on campus, these are all important parts of imagining what your life could look like here at Queen's, and the Ambassador program provides just that.”

Arabella Orman (Sociology) echoes those comments and says her experience will help prospective students make the best decision when coming to Queen’s. “This is more than a job for me because I find it rewarding to help others whose position I was once in.”

For more information on the Connect program, visit the Connect webpage. Students can request a meeting via the webpage and the FAS team will follow up to set up a time and method (Zoom, Teams, Skype, email, WeChat or the prospective student’s preferred channel).