The many tongues of Pounce

Homecoming is a week-long celebration that welcomes back alumni to the school. It’s an American tradition. However, for international students, homecoming might be something new.

In celebration of this year’s homecoming, Spotlight Programs Board brings awareness to the school’s diverse student body in their segment called “The Many Tongues of Pounce.” The segment allows Georgia State students from different backgrounds give their perspective on the school’s diversity.

A few students shared their reasons why they think the schools’ diversity was beneficial to them.

From listening to interacting – Yue Yin – China

Yue Yin is a graduate student spending her first time studying abroad in the West at Georgia State. A Chinese native, Yin lives in a small coastal town in the city of Qidong. So how did she find Georgia State?

“I chose Georgia State because I heard they were very helpful to international students,” Yin said. “I wanted to do something different but still feel welcomed.”

Yin has never attended a school that had a homecoming week or anything similar. She said all her ideas about American traditions came from movies and television shows which are completely different from what she has experienced in person.

“Everyone here is very expressive but not as dramatic as the shows I watched,” Yin said. “The situations in the movies were too extreme. Everyone is very friendly in real life.”

Even though she’s only been here for a short time, Yin has been trying to dive into Georgia State’s on-campus clubs and activities as best she can. Although she hasn’t done a lot of work, she seeks to be involved more with Campus Events, the Multicultural Center and ISAC.

“What I really like about this school is that there is so much diversity here,” she said. “I can fit in anywhere and people are very welcoming.”

Yin said she would like to do anything where she can meet and interact with new people.

“I’ll volunteer for any activity,” Yin said. “I would like to talk with different people and learn more about them because I can’t do that back home.”

In these past two months Yin has noticed the difference in the way that people interact with each other in America than how they interact in China.

“When I go to class I can actually share my opinion and hear other people’s opinions,” said Yin. “At home there is no discussion. You just take notes.”

The freedom to share opinions in and outside of classrooms is one of the qualities of Georgia State that Yin said really made her feel welcomed.

“People actually listen to you here. They don’t really do that back home,” Yin said. “I love that the school takes time to listen to everyone no matter how they look.”

The best of both worlds – Nathaly Echeverri – Colombia

Nathaly Echeverri was born in Colombia and has been living in Georgia for the past eight years. This means Echeverri, a junior, has been able to experience both American and Colombian cultural and educational styles.

For this year’s homecoming, Echeverri enjoyed talking about the benefits of the school’s diverse student body in a promotional video for Spotlight. In the video, Echeverri shared her thoughts on why being a diverse school is good for the students and the community.

“I wanted to go to State because it was so diverse,”Echeverri said. “I feel that if you don’t go to a diverse school you don’t really get to grow up because you don’t know about all the differences in the world.”

One of her favorite moments of any homecoming week is usually the powder puff games. The powder puff games are football games that allow girls to participate in a match of touch-football.

“I don’t plan on participating in the game, but I do like to watch it,” said Echeverri, “I look forward to those every year because it’s nice to see the different students coming together just to have fun even if they aren’t good.”

Echeverri noticed that in Colombia there aren’t games like the powder puff game nor are there many big school celebration events. She said she feels that celebratory events in Colombia are more festive than in America.

“There’s always a reason to celebrate. Americans are really passionate but there’s a lot more dancing and more music in Colombia,” said Echeverri.

A new experience in the same place – Karen Hernandez – Mexico/America

Unlike the other girls, freshman Karen Hernandez said that she was unable to compare American-style events to anything else.

“My parents are from Mexico, but I’ve lived here my whole life,” said Hernandez. “Even though I’ve gone to school in Georgia I really have no idea what homecoming is.”

Despite her American citizenship, Hernandez has never really celebrated a homecoming event. Even today her idea of what homecoming really is has not fully been established.

“I thought homecoming had something to do about football, but then my friend told me that it was for alumni. I’m not really sure,” said Hernandez.

Although Hernandez doesn’t really understand what the meaning behind homecoming is, she has plans on learning more by attending the homecoming dance, taking place Wednesday at the Fox Theater.

“I’m really excited for the dance because I never really went to one back in high school,” Hernandez said. “So I kind of expect it to be formal like a high school dance but I’m still not sure.”

Hernandez likes the fact that students of different backgrounds are able to come together during homecoming events like the dance. Although she doesn’t know what’s going to happen at the dance, Hernandez said that if she was the one creating the dance she would make sure that all ethnic groups were represented.

“I would throw a cultural ball where the students can dress up in their ethnic clothing and there would be music from each person’s region and everyone could share their country’s dance,” Hernandez said.

Regardless, Hernandez feels that the school is doing a great job by providing students of different cultural backgrounds with many opportunities to be a part of the campus community.

“There is seriously a group for every different race which is a great thing to have,” Hernandez said. “I’m involved with the LASSO Association which is an on-campus Latin American organization.”

Having a large variety of cultural organizations to choose from was one of the reasons why Hernandez wanted to attend Georgia State.

“I honestly didn’t know much about GSU except the fact that it was very diverse. I wanted to attend a diverse school, it was very important to me to broaden my horizons,” Hernandez said.

Overall, Hernandez said that the school has given her the diversity that she was looking for and that she enjoys the open-minded attitude that many of the students seem to have.

“No one just assumes who you are, they actually ask you about yourself and consider your opinions,” Echeverri said. “I feel very comfortable here knowing there are others who look like me and that I’m free to get to know people who don’t.”