Students from 29 different countries gathered for the first ever International Student Conference at UW-Whitewater last Friday and Saturday.
The conference “exceeded expectations” according to UW-Whitewater senior Noa Lidan, who helped organize the event.
“You could see how interesting it was being around a bunch of kids from different countries and with so many different personalities,” Lidan said.
Organized by the International Student Association, the conference acted as a way for international students in the UW System to come together and share experiences.
James Summers, Dan Davies and Choton Basu held workshops on Saturday.
Davies, an office productivity trainer in Madison, instructed the foreign students on how to create a resume that would appeal to American businessmen.
Summers, founder of a business development consultancy in Indiana, compared the American workplace to those of different countries.
Basu, a UW-Whitewater associate professor of information technology, focused on business innovation.
Human communication specialist Don Khoury gave the closing speech, explaining the importance of body language.
Khoury was “very impressed” by the Whitewater community and the audience at the conference.
“I’m pleasantly surprised,” Khoury said. “You don’t know what you have until you’ve gone someplace else, and I think the community here is incredible.”
During the conference, students were able to interact with one another as well as attend workshops. There were also performances from the band Exmoor and Iranian UW-Whitewater graduate Nima Salami.
“What’s important to me is creating a global community of like-minded college students,” Lidan said. “I want this to get the exposure that it deserves.”
Sara Amiri, who arranged the conference along with David Quintero, said she felt the conference helped connect international students from the six UW System schools that attended.
“The network built during the conference was very beneficial for the region and its pursuit of globalization,” Amiri said. “I am eager to see the network grow year after year and include many more institutions and businesses.”
