From around the world to Emory: International student orientation builds confidence and community

Priyanka and Sajith Sivanandan did one of the hardest things a parent can do a few weeks ago: drop their son Agastya off at college.

But this was no ordinary “great goodbye” to a first-year student taking his first steps into adulthood.

The Sivanandans live about 9,000 miles away from Emory University in Bengaluru, India. Leaving their son in the school’s hands requires extraordinary trust since coming to his aid if something happens requires more than packing a lunch and hitting the highway. 

“As a mother who is going to leave her first-born in college, it is a very emotional time for us,” Priyanka Sivanandan said while standing outside White Hall as cicadas perform a full orchestra of sound overhead.

Fortunately, Emory College’s comprehensive International Student Welcome (ISW) orientation program helps ease those anxieties for students and parent alike. 

About 305 of the 370 eligible students from 45 different countries came to the university in August for the four-day welcome and information program, which is designed to make the transition as easy as possible for them and any family members that accompany them to campus. This year, about 22% of Emory College’s first-year class is international students. 

Frank Gaertner, senior associate director of academic advising in Emory College’s Office for Undergraduate Education and leader of ISW, said the total number of attendees was the highest the event has seen in the three years since he began tracking those numbers. 

Additionally, the number of students eligible for the program this year was the highest he had seen since beginning to run the ISW in 2017, Gaertner said. China, South Korea, Hong Kong and India led the way with the largest number of incoming international students.  

“These are highly talented students academically and in other ways,” Gaertner said. “But in order for them to really do their best, we believe that they have to feel safe and secure, to feel like they have a home here at Emory.”

To address the needs of such a large contingent, Gaertner worked closely for the past six months with Emory College academic advisors Zach Issenberg and Caroline Duffy, who were critical in planning this year’s ISW.  

“Additionally, many other academic advisors on our team helped with behind-the-scenes tasks and with check-in for the students as well. This was truly a team effort,” Gaertner said.

That support included practical aid like helping the students set up bank accounts and local phone numbers, connecting them with others from their country, and workshops on parenting a college student. The Emory Police Department shared safety presentations and advisors from International Student and Scholar Services led a session on immigration-related issues.

Prior to their arrival, students even receive a visual guide to Hartfield-Jackson International Airport to easily navigate and find dedicated shuttles to take them to campus. 
 

Putting parents — and students — at ease

To give parents a taste of a typical liberal arts class at Emory, six professors — Andrew Kazama (psychology), Hong Li (Chinese), Christine Ristaino (Italian), Tracy McGill (chemistry), Chris Suh (history) and Marjorie Pak (linguistics) — offered a session called “First Class at Emory.”

“Having come here and met people like Frank and professor Andy [Kazama], it put us at ease that people are very nice and nurturing and will look after our son like their own,” said Priyanka Sivanandan.

Older international students, acting as academic fellows, are the program’s secret weapon, according to Gaertner. The older students understand the loneliness, isolation and fear that can come with trying to navigate a foreign country and customs that can seem strange. 

“One of the other signs that speaks to the value of the program is how many students want to be academic fellows each year,” Gaertner said. “Last year, when we started the selection process, we had space for 35 students. We had almost 100 apply.

“Many of them tell me that the ISW is their favorite time of the year,” Gaertner added.

Tanvi Kamra agreed. The Emory senior from Noida, India, who is studying neuroscience and behavioral science, said having an academic fellow guide her during the early days of her first year was invaluable.

“I was really scared. It was overwhelming,” Kamra said of her first days at Emory. “In your eyes when you first enter, the campus seems huge and exciting.”

Her academic fellow helped smooth her transition, sharing resources and offering a warm, friendly face on campus. The next year Kamra became an academic fellow and this year she was named an academic fellow captain and helped the advisors to create and carry out the program. 

“I really appreciated that,” Kamra said of her academic fellow. “That’s what inspired me to hold the position myself.” 
 

Inspiration and confirmation 

Academic captains aren’t the only ones who enjoy the program. Kazama, the director of undergraduate research in Emory’s psychology department and an associate teaching professor, plays an active role every year during the welcome week. 

This year he gave parents a preview of his behavioral neuroscience class, one of several simulations offered by Emory staff of what it’s like to learn at the university.

“This is honestly one of my favorite lectures to give,” he told a room full of parents during the simulation of his class. “I get to give a lecture to not just the students, but their parents, too.”

For Kazama, supporting ISW is personal. He grew up in Juneau, Alaska, and his parents couldn’t afford to accompany him when he entered North Carolina’s Davidson College in the late 1990s. Once he arrived, an admissions officer picked him up and helped him get his bearings, including taking him to a local store to get him set up. 

And despite hailing from an American state, Kazama says North Carolina might as well had been foreign soil because the atmosphere was so different from what he was used to. That made the support he received from the admissions officer even more invaluable.

“My very first experience was one of kindness and compassion. That’s another reason I do it,” he said of his participation in ISW, “to pay that forward.”

Ana Botello, whose daughter Ana Sanchez, 18, is an incoming first-year student from Metepec, Mexico, said visiting campus during ISW eased her concerns about Ana being so far away from home. 

“Emory is a school that really knows what they are doing and really has a special essence as they know how to make parents feel comfortable with their kids coming here,” said Botello, whose Spanish was translated by her daughter.

Agastya Sivanandan, who plans to study biology, said he made friends with other Emory students from Bengaluru through the message platform WhatsApp. That will hopefully make being so far from home easier.

“Emory is very beautiful,” the 19-year-old said. “This is a great environment because everyone wants to socialize. I met a lot of great people this week.” 

Emory’s effort to make the experience seamless allowed Sajith Sivanandan, Agastya’s father, to breathe easier.

“Knowing my son is halfway around the world is a sobering thought,” he said. “This helped us get a sense of comfort.”