Global Living in Myers Hall
Lixin Liu always wanted to study in America and worked hard for years to turn that dream into reality. But upon her arrival from China, she says she felt homesick, lonely and scared. She felt that she didn’t fit in.
She recalls thinking everything about America was different – the food, the culture, the educational environment. She didn’t get other students’ jokes. Her hometown, Guangzhou, is located in the southern part of China where it never snows, so even the weather was foreign to her.
Liu says she might have decided to return to China were it not for the support she got from her advisors and friends, and from her Business Learning Community (BLC) peers.
As a member of BLC, Liu took classes and lived with a cohort of freshman business majors from many different backgrounds, whom she credits for helping her to acclimate more quickly. “The BLC students helped me a lot. We did a lot of activities, which gave me lots of opportunities to get to know American culture. BLC was like my family.”
Drexel LeBow’s first Global Classroom learning community was created to ensure incoming international students have an experience more like Liu’s and less like Olsen’s. Twenty-three freshmen, eight from foreign countries and 14 American students with international interests currently live together in Myers Hall and take all of their classes together as a cohort.
Olsen, who is now an associate clinical professor in LeBow’s School of Economics, runs the program along with Associate Director of Undergraduate Programs Jackie McCurdy. As one of the program’s first initiatives, Olsen encouraged the students to pair up and write each other’s life stories — an activity which allowed them to toss the stereotypes and talk about real life experiences.
She says the resulting stories were amazing and eye-opening, and the students really bonded. “I want the foreign students to get a solid understanding of the culture here in the United States, and for all the students to understand that while people from different countries may seem very different, on the inside we are basically the same.”
Petkana Vatchev, a Global Classroom student who plans to major in legal studies and business analytics, says living with such a diverse group creates lots of opportunities for learning.
“As opposed to one specific thing, we learn from each other about our different cultures every day, through the way we talk, work and learn, to the things we eat when we cook hall dinners for each other — which really makes our floor feel like a home.”
The idea for the program came from alumnus Joel Cohen, who provided LeBow with a generous donation to help it come to life. His vision was for a sort-of model United Nations community that would produce adaptable graduates who can easily cross borders to conduct multinational commerce. Cohen is an active alumnus who decided to give back by volunteering his spare time to promote higher education. He’s an active member of Drexel’s Alumni Association and the dean’s advisory boards of both Drexel LeBow and the College of Engineering. He’s the president of a company he started, Allflex Packaging Products, Inc.
Cohen says that not enough people are currently working to promote global understanding. “We have discovery and invention — two words that keep America going. We want to pass that on to emerging markets,” which we can do by inspiring international students who may return to these countries.
He also wants all participating students to understand the multitude of opportunities that will arise globally during the next decade, pointing to a McKinsley Global Institute study that shows emerging markets’ share of Fortune 500 companies are expected to rise from 5 percent in 2000 to more than 45 percent by 2025.
He envisions trips to see the United Nations General Assembly in action in New York, to see Congress in action in Washington, D.C., and to attract “global leaders to tell the students about global opportunities worldwide.” This vision will come to life this spring when the students take a four-day trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with policymakers from around the world and visit organizations such as the World Bank, The International Monetary Fund and foreign embassies.
Liu, who is currently a sophomore, will get to attend these events, too. Privy to Liu’s experience as an overwhelmed international student who found a home in her learning community, McCurdy asked her to serve as a LeBow Peer Leader to the Global Classroom students. Liu says she is excited to be part of the program because she wants to help other students adjust to life here as quickly as possible and to reap all the benefits that come with multicultural understanding.
