Junior Luis de la Torre, a double major in economics and international business from Mexico City, has worked hard this year to implement the newly formed International Club on campus.
According to de la Torre, the club started mostly with Goah scholars, who are not necessarily international students. He spent a few months over the summer working to gear the club more towards meeting the needs of international students on campus– anything from finding host families, to practical visa help, to refining Milligan’s international student handbook.
“I want to build a community of internationals that support each other and help each other out,” said de la Torre. “We share that one thing in common that not one of us is from here; we kind of stick out in different situations. It’s good to have people to talk to about those things– to get used to this life, reduce homesickness, provide a better experience, help (international students) if they want to stay in the States after.”
de la Torre said that something that many people don’t often realize about being an international student is how dependent they, by necessity, must be.
“You depend on people for everything, because you don’t have papers, or you don’t have a car, or because you don’t know how things work here,” he said.
One practical goal that de la Torre has for the International Club is to get international students set up with host families over breaks since going home often means thousands of dollars for many of these students.
Junior exercise science major Isiah Goddard-Joseph from Windsor, England, is one example of an international student who has benefitted from de la Torre’s efforts towards the International Club. A soccer player, Goddard-Joseph arrived in the States for pre-season a few days before students were permitted to move onto campus for the fall semester. After contacting several people, de la Torre was able to find a family to host Goddard-Joseph.
“After Luis reached out to people in the area, the pastor at Hopwood, Tim Ross, was really keen,” said Goddard-Joseph. “He picked me up from the airport, took me to the mall, took me to the clinic to get some shots I needed, took me to sort my phone and my bank account out, and showed me what he knew of campus.”
de la Torre said that the ultimate goal of the International Club is that it goes from being a student-run club to something that Milligan’s administration initiates.
“The hope is that there will eventually be someone on staff that takes care of internationals and provides that help and guidance and time and space for internationals to get used to this life because it’s hard,” he said.
de la Torre said that a few professors have offered to get together and provide an introduction to East Tennessee culture for international students; he hopes that this idea will receive official backing from the administration.
Follow the International Club on Instagram @milliganinternationalclub for more information.