Students learn about venturing abroad

Robert Solomon / Contributing Writer

Students learn about international education opportunities at the International Student and Scholar Affairs’ own annual “Venture Abroad” fair. This year, the event, which took place on Tuesday, Nov. 17 in Panther Square, was right in the middle of the International Education Week.

“The Venture Abroad fair is about raising awareness among students about global cultures and global learning as a well to show the international options available to them which gives students an idea about what is out there so that they can venture abroad,” said Andre Dawson, the main coordinator of International Student and Scholar Affairs at the FIU-BBC office.

This event is wholly funded by the Student Government Association and coordinated by the ISSS.

“It’s a great resource that students will have if they come and stop by and there will be a lot of things available for students at the event,” said Dawson. These “things” included T-Shirt giveaways, which were designed by Fernando Ottati, a Campus Life and Comics Club Advisor and the Graphic Artist for the FIU Comics Club, “Taco Tuesday” where students could obtain tacos provided by Lime by collecting stamps and signatures from the booths and “Tai Chi and Chai Tea” which provided a Chai Tea instructor who made tea to give to students.

Food and entertainment were provided for students during the event, although it was a bit confusing for some to redeem Tacos. “I hope that next year, someone would tell you that you need signatures for each stamp on the passport food voucher,” expressed Rebecca Joseph, a biological sciences junior.

“The event was really informative because they had information about global learning, which is required for all students, housing information and the international student exchange program,” said Joseph. “I liked the diversity of it, it had so many elements in it and it focused on study abroad opportunities and since summer is coming up, preparation for that would have to be now.”

Similarly, another student, Lacero Alsina, a senior in psychology, unaware that the event was taking place until he stumbled upon it in Panther Square said, “I liked how the event provided information about how college life would be in addition to its Venture Abroad opportunities.”

“We need to start broadening out education and our understanding of what’s going on because one area of the world is affecting other parts of the world,” said Harry Mellow, the Graduate Assistant for ISSS who helped coordinate vendors. “The fair is called venture abroad because we want students to not only think about FIU, but think about going places outside of FIU. My biggest regret as an undergrad is not venturing abroad,” said Mellow

One of the booths at the event, the Japan Exchange & Teaching Program, talked about “educational opportunities to study in Japan and cultural events that we have in the state of Florida,” said  Lauren Sorondo, the Cultural and Educational Affairs assistant at the consulate general of Japan in Miami.

Photo Credit: Jasmine Romero / Multimedia Director