Students from China spend first week at Smith

On Tuesday, August 30, Director of International Advancement, Kim Albright '72, welcomed new students from China to Smith.

For the past week, the International Students’ Preorientation program has been a whirlwind of activities for incoming Smithies.

On Tuesday, new students from China gathered at the Alumnae House to meet International Advancement staff and Trustee Mona Sinha ’88. Over lunch, the new students were welcomed to the Smith community.  Mona, who spent time living in Hong Kong, introduced the students to the Smith network by saying “once a Smithie, always a Smithie!” and encouraging them to get involved in the college in a variety of ways.

The new students were excited to be on campus and shared their enthusiasm about things they wanted to experience during their college education.  Many students were looking forward to making new friends from around the world, participating in study abroad programs, and exploring the wide variety of classes offered at Smith.  In addition, several already bilingual students expressed a desire in learning one of the 13 languages offered at Smith.

Attendees of the luncheon were also eager to share information about China that would be helpful in future visits by Smith staff and faculty and offered their assistance with everything from translation services to recruiting additional students from China.  As one student said, “I’m just a student now, but I can be a great student [at Smith].  When people see me, they’ll want to know which college I’m from and they will think that Smith is a great college.”