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K-State Today

January 28, 2013

International buddies: Not just for students

Submitted by Sarah Beebe

International Buddies would like to invite faculty and staff to join International Buddies. It is a student organization at K-State that pairs local K-State students, staff and community members with international students, scholars and family members. Once paired, buddies meet regularly to learn about each others' cultures, customs, and explore Manhattan and K-State.

In the past, this has been a heavily undergraduate program. However in recent years, the number of international graduate students, scholars and their spouses have been joining International Buddies. We would like to be able to accommodate this growth by encouraging our local faculty and staff to join.

Many of you are probably aware of the Go Teacher program with Kansas State that has brought so many Ecuadorian teachers to the university. These teachers are an average age of 30-35 and most have signed up for a buddy and are hoping to pair with other teachers.

Although we encourage buddies to meet at least one hour per week, this is not essential. We would like our buddies to meet as often as their schedules allow.

To sign up for International Buddies please visit k-state.edu/oip/buddies.

Our first event of the school year will be at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 1 at the International Student Center. The event is called “Who’s Your Buddy!?” This year you get the chance to pick. All those who have signed up for buddies will be invited to attend, meet the other buddies and pick their own buddy. Those who are unable to attend will be matched and contacted via email with their matches. To view event details please visit k-state.edu/oip/buddies and click on the “Who’s Your Buddy Event Flier.”