International Partner Program connects international students with USD partners

As first-year international student Michelle Allotey walked through the Muenster University Center with a friendly smile, something stood out. She was nicely dressed compared to the usual students’ attire of jeans and sweatshirts.

“In Ghana, when you’re going to school it’s more like a fashion show,” Allotey said. “Everyone wants to wear heels and look nice.”

Allotey moved here from Ghana to attend the University of South Dakota to study business and marketing.

Fortunately, she has been able to keep in touch with her parents and three brothers by Skyping and talking on the phone since moving to Vermillion.

“I’m not so homesick because I always get to talk to them, but then I do miss some stuff,” Allotey said. “Anytime I see kids around here I wish I had my brothers around.”

Allotey said she is the kind of person who wants to travel the world, and part of the reason she came to USD was so she could see something new.

Because she is far from home, she said her partner in the International Partner Program, first-year Megan Bartels, has allowed her to make connections and adjust to school more easily.

“Anytime I see Megan around I can say hello to her and it makes me more comfortable around here,” Allotey said.

Bartels has many friends from different countries, so she said joining the International Partner Program was a no-brainer.

“I’ve always wanted to study abroad and meet new people,” Bartels said. “I’ve been attracted to that idea of breathing new air and seeing new perspectives, so the International Partner Program is a good way to get that experience from home.”

Emily Dykstra, coordinator for the International Partner Program, said this is the first year the program has existed where there is not a required number of hours for the partners to spend together each month.

Dykstra said it has seen much interest from the domestic students.

“We have the good problem of having more domestic volunteers at the moment than international students wanting to participate,” Dykstra said.

Overall, 40 students are involved with the program, and of those students, 18 are international.

Striving to get more new and incoming international students involved with the program is important, Dykstra said, because it offers many benefits for them.

“It’s to help ease them into not only campus life but also just generally life in America and life in the particular part of the country we’re living in,” Dykstra said.

Junior Amanda Kellen has also experienced culture through the International Partner Program as she is partners with a student from Japan.

“I was definitely interested just because I think it’s really cool to get to know people from different countries and different cultures and get a global experience,” Kellen said.

Kellen and her new friend find time out of their schedules to meet up for coffee dates to talk about classes and see how each other is doing.

“It’s really cool to talk to someone (from a different country) and see that they have the same interests as you,” Kellen said. “It’s very fun.”

So far, spending time with her partner has been great, Kellen said, and hearing about her partner’s life in Japan has encouraged her to study abroad.

Bartels and Allotey said they spend a lot of time together doing homework, going out to eat and hanging out, things Bartels considers perks.

“I don’t have to go do this,” Bartels said. “I get to do this.”

Allotey said coming to USD has been a good experience for her, and the partner program has made her move to America an easy transition.

“If I need to talk about anything I don’t understand over here I can just talk about it with Megan and then I can get answers to it,” Allotey said.

Sharing a few laughs together, Allotey and Bartels enjoy the time they spend with each other.

“It’s very much like a friendship,” Bartels said.

(Photo: First-year students Megan Bartels, left, and Michelle Allotey, right, are participants in the International Partner Program. Allotey is originally from Ghana, but lived in Quatar for five years before coming to the University of South Dakota. Malachi Petersen / The Volante)