Laura Bradley Park went global last weekend thanks to the Peoria Area Friends of International Students picnic. Food from across the world was laid out as locals and international students mingled.
“Yearly, we organize different activities and events with and for the students,” Helja Antola Crowe, a PAFIS board member, said. “We’re here to make the students feel welcomed and at home and to connect them to the resources of this community and country.”
Many of the local PAFIS members have an international background, according to Antola Crowe.
“I’ve been in Peoria for 23 years, now but I was originally from Finland,” Antola Crowe said. “I know what it feels like to be an outsider coming in, and I bring that experience to the organization.”
Antola Crowe said she was focusing on encouraging relationships between Bradley students and international students.
“I have had very few interactions with any of the natives of the United States,” Avinash Mandalapu, a graduate student, said. “I mostly interact with my fellow graduate students, who are also Indian, and my professors.”
In addition to hosting events like the picnic, PAFIS runs the Friendship Partner program.
The program directly matches international students with local residents, according to the PAFIS website. The residents invite the students to family gatherings and assist them in whatever way they can.
Friendship Partner coordinator Randy Mogler said he has built many strong relationships through the program.
“Several years ago, I met a Bradley graduate student from Ghana, a real cool dude, and we really connected,” Mogler said.
Mogler said their friendship has endured throughout the years and has been filled with many interesting and meaningful moments.
“My wife and I drove him to Chicago to pick up his wife from the airport,” Mogler said. “I expected him to give her a big Hollywood-style kiss when he was finally reunited with her, but instead he kneeled down and tied her shoe, and then he kissed her. About a year later, we were invited to a special Ghanaian naming ceremony for his first child.”
Mogler said he has really “relished” his time with PAFIS.
“PAFIS offers the opportunity to act globally on a one-on-one basis,” Mogler said. “Typically what happens is that you build a relationship with one person and that relationship deepens and cascades into more and more interaction with more and more people. And in the end you feel like you’ve made a difference with your life.”
At the end of the picnic, application forms for the Marjorie Woods Reynolds Memorial Scholarship for International Students were passed out. The scholarship is named after a former PAFIS board member and designed specifically for international students involved in PAFIS.
The recipients of the scholarship will be announced during PAFIS’ annual Harvest Day Dinner Nov. 15.
For more information about PAFIS, students can visit www.pafis.org.
