The multi-national flags fluttering in the new University Center lend more than vivid color to the stunning height of the mall area. They support a long-held goal of enriching TSU with a culturally diverse enrollment.

This year, 24-year-old Awad Alanazi of the capital city of Riadh in Saudi Arabia joined a group of about 25 students from his country to study English in TSU’s English Language Center before moving into the engineering program this fall. The intense language training, provided by TSU’s Gail Lugo, strives to prepare international students for the rigors of the American college classroom in a year.

Lugo and international coordinator Mari Williams also provided emotional and social support for the students, forging lifelong memories through trips to Pokagon State Park and Detroit, among other regional destinations. Williams’ Friendly Family Program allowed local families to establish friendship and a cultural exchange with the international students by spending American holidays with them and sharing family activities, meals, and outings.

Awad’s best memories of the year in Steuben County include trips to Pokagon, where the Saudi students entertained a journalist and his wife with music and dancing from their homeland; a trip to Detroit to experience the city’s Arabic culture; and good times with his host family, whom he presented gifts after their year together.

“His host family helped him so much,” Williams said. “They opened up to him and encouraged him to speak, even with mistakes, and he improved so much.” His American family attended TSU’s International Night and invited Awad to stay with them for the two weeks preceding summer classes.

He hopes to return to Saudi Arabia with an electrical engineering degree to improve his employment possibilities. With two years’ experience as a maintenance supervisor for a factory, he will seek “a good job with a company. With engineering, I will get a good position and salary,” he said.

He recommends study abroad. “I would tell others to engage in it, to go to a new country and have new experiences,” he said. “It’s useful for their lives.”