CGE Newsletter April 14, 2016

2016 Global Citizen Award Recipients Announced
 

The Global Citizen Award recognizes outstanding students who exemplify global citizenship. Through their intercultural engagement, both at home and internationally, this year’s Global Citizen Award recipients have built relationships across cultures and fostered global awareness and mutual understanding on the FSU campus.  

Students were nominated by faculty, staff, or their peers and selected by a panel of judges.

Our first recipient, Marcella Cavallaro (pictured above middle) is a senior majoring in Visual Disabilities Education. She has worked at the CGE for three years, is the former President of the InternatioNole student group, and serves on the board for Advocates for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. As one nominator said, “She is always willing to go out of her way to make sure international students feel welcome and cared for, and she actively engages in leadership to celebrate each culture.”

Our second Global Citizen Award recipient is Jesse Smith-Appleson (above left). She is a senior Sociology major with a wide range of cross-cultural engagement, including volunteer service in Nicaragua, a Social Science Scholar research internship in Paraguay, an internship working with Latino farmworker youth, involvement with FSU’s Advocates for Immigrant and Refugee Rights’ Farmworker Committee, and her work with the Center for Global Engagement as a student assistant. Her accomplishments exemplify a Global Citizen. As her nominator wrote, she “deserves to be recognized for her sustained engagement in intercultural activities and for her significant investments in international social justice through training, study, advocacy, and research.”

Our final recipient is Ye Wang (above right), a doctoral student in Educational Psychology. Wang has volunteered to assist new international students to ease their transition to life at FSU and is ever-present at intercultural events on campus. He has had a campus-wide impact through his service to the Asian American Student Union (AASU) as he works to bridge the gap between FSU’s international students and AASU members. As one nominator said, he deserves recognition because of his “consistent devotion to learning more of other students’ stories and creating moments where he can share his so that the FSU community can broaden their perspective of the world.”

Congratulations to our Global Citizen Award winners!

Global Ambassadors Program Brings Cultural Awareness to the Tallahassee Community

Intercultural exchange and sensitivity are values FSU’s Center for Global Engagement is constantly striving to promote. One program created to enhance the rich intercultural environment on campus and in the Tallahassee community is the Global Ambassadors Program (GAP). GAP gives international students, faculty, and scholars the opportunity to be cultural ambassadors of their countries by engaging in speaking opportunities throughout Tallahassee at community organizations, K-12 schools, and FSU classes.

Participating in GAP allows international students to become more familiar with American culture, practice English speaking and presentation skills, and meet new people. The Tallahassee community also benefits by engaging with students from all around the world and being exposed to the similarities and differences between cultures.

One of GAP's most unique and rewarding partnerships is with the North Florida chapter of Boys Town, an organization that has touched the lives of more than 5,000 people in North Florida by giving at-risk children and families resources to foster a loving and supportive home environment. Boys Town specifically works with Foster Family Services to connect children with families and train foster parents. During these regularly scheduled trainings, GAP participants and other student volunteers put together cultural activities for the children. GAP students have an opportunity to get creative in how they share their culture, and they work hard to come up with fun ways to expose them to new perspectives. Many of the children have never spoken with someone from another country. Through GAP, the children may learn about new languages, try a traditional dance, practice using chopsticks, or make animal masks symbolic of ancient traditions.

Anwer, pictured above, is a Global Ambassador who chose to share his Iraqi culture by putting together an Arabic lesson for the the children at Boys Town. Starting with the fundamentals of the Arabic language, he explained how words are written from right-left, as opposed to left-right in English. Each child walked away with new knowledge and appreciation of a language that is very different from their own by learning how to spell their own name in Arabic. They were proud to write their name in a new way and many wanted to continue learning, asking for new Arabic words and how to translate English phrases. This excitement and cultural appreciation is mutually beneficial and provides an important space for all parties to develop cultural awareness. If you would like to become involved with GAP, send an email to gapfsu@gmail.com.

by Rima Nathan, Global Ambassador Program Intern