Main content
Summer Social builds community with International Student and Scholar Services
Photo credit: Liliana Lim

Attendees and ISSS staff listen as Sheley Hunt (far left) explains the rules of the social mixer warmup game.

— Liliana Lim

International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) hosted its second annual Summer Social in July, organized to provide students with an opportunity to make friends while playing games and enjoying refreshments in Glenn UMC’s Fellowship Hall. Attendees included current Emory students as well as incoming students whose programs began in late summer.

The event began with attendees engaging in an icebreaker activity led by Sheley Hunt from the ISSS office to get conversation flowing. That was followed by mixing and mingling over board games.

For Florence Feng, a new Goizueta Business School graduate student from China, these interactions proved to be one of the event’s highlights. “This event marked my first interaction with Emory, and I was deeply impressed by the warmth and hospitality of the ISSS team,” says Feng. “I also happened to meet a few fellow attendees who, to my surprise, turned out to be my future classmates.”

For other attendees, such as Shilpi Mandal, a PhD student in mathematics in the Laney Graduate School, the event held sentimental value. “As I am finishing up my degree at Emory this summer and moving away, I found myself remembering all the good times I have had, and ISSS events made the top of the list. The 2025 Summer Social was full of delicious banh mi for the tummy, thoughtful questions to tease our brains, ice cream to beat the summer heat and familiar faces with bright smiles. Emory ISSS is my home away from home.”


Recent News