Community College with Global Influence
International students find a second home in Edmonds. By Beth Bond. Photos courtesy of Robin Munshaw.
Have you ever wanted something so badly that you struggled and worked tirelessly to get it? I don’t mean that special toy for your birthday or the train set for Christmas. I mean trying to achieve a personal goal when the odds are against you. For young people in emerging countries, getting a quality, formal education can mean a giant leap up the ladder of success. When this goal is not possible in their home country, they compete with dedicated vengeance for the chance as an exchange student in America. Many try for this opportunity, but only a very few are accepted to begin the selection process. For instance, from Pakistan there were 6,000 applicants.
The first steps are to approach the U.S. Embassy. Hopeful participants from Ghana, Brazil, Costa Rica, Kenya, India and Bangladesh, visit their local embassy. There is a general screening involving the youth and their educational environment. Is this candidate capable of adapting to a completely different academic and cultural setting? Next are financial obligations and the logistics of where to live and what college to attend. Each prospect must get a visa and ensure he or she has sufficient funds for a year in the U.S. They also complete a housing application and obtain health insurance.
Edmonds Community College is in its fourth year as a member of the North West Community College Initiative program (NWCCI), a program where young college students from developing countries have a chance to hone technological skills with ten months of study at an American college. But even more than this great academic opportunity, these students also get the benefit of an American cultural experience. More than 130 students have been able to take advantage of this program and earn a coveted certificate in technological support.
Several local churches and leaders in our community open their hearts and their homes to these “new” students from around the world, enabling both an academic and social experience to flourish. Each student participates with the friendship family in community and neighborhood events and can begin a new understanding of life in America. Their business and technology classes afford them hands-on opportunities as they join field trips to some of the large corporations here in the northwest. They participate in excursions to concerts and national parks with their friendship family.
Life as an exchange student at Edmonds Community College is a win-win situation. A trading of cultural experiences is educating and enlightening for the student, his friendship family and the home country. When the student returns to his or her own country, they have the confidence of business skills learned in higher education and become ambassadors of American ideals. Some may even begin their own companies and encourage a network of support for others.
Returning alumni are another bonus of the exchange program. Benjamin Kanligi is a graduate of the NWCCI program who returned to Ghana to practice his newly acquired business technology skills. Everywhere he went young people were eager to learn, but with a shortage of materials, it was frustrating to all. So, Benjamin formed a network of team leaders and then applied to the U.S. Department of State for a grant to put his business plan in place. He was thrilled to receive a grant for $25,000 for his project, “Techi Skills,” which provides community support for youth who lack the opportunity or funds for computer skills, business acumen and leadership potential.
What’s it really like to be a college exchange student in the NWCCI at Edmonds College?
I recently met Noor Abir from Bangladesh who competed with more than 500 applicants for his chance to come to America with the NWCCI. Noor believes he was selected because he did well in the personal interview part of the process. That could be true; he is a very articulate young man, having had classes in English since pre-school age. Learning English is a requirement in Bangladesh and seen as the channel to succeed in the world. Noor is required by the NWCCI program to give three cultural presentations and volunteer a total of forty-five hours of community service during his ten months at college. When he is not in class or helping at Annie’s Kitchen to feed the homeless, Noor uses social media to inform friends and family know of his life in America. Noor’s outlook is, “to live life in the front row.” He attributes this attitude to his mother who always urged him to push hard for personal success. Noor’s friendship family is with Robin Munshaw, his wife Dawnita and their three young sons. The boys are always thrilled to have Noor join them for Halloween pumpkin -carving or sharing in their games and toys.
Noor says he said he finds Americans humble, always willing to help others and smiling often, even when they don’t feel well. He will be a great ambassador for the U.S. in Bangladesh.
The Edmonds Community College Initiative Program demonstrates how reaching out to help young people in underdeveloped countries and sharing our wealth and pride in education and family can bring about astounding results individually and globally.
