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While Huang never lived in I-House (shhh, don’t tell the Resi-
dence Life director!), he learned about it soon after arriving at St.
Lawrence from China in 1999 and quickly adopted it as his own.
“I-House became a home, a spot for people with diverse back-
grounds or with a need for people who could understand their
special experience (as an international student),” says Huang, a
St. Lawrence trustee. “It really captures a huge concentration of
diversity as well as American students interested in diversity.”
Even in the early 2000s, St. Lawrence had what Huang calls an
“interesting mix of students,” with a deeply rooted respect for and
interest in diversity, he says. The mix of international students at
that time included a large population of students from Bulgaria,
including his future wife, Ogniana Hristova-Huang ’02.
“St. Lawrence put a lot of resources into supporting internation-
al students,” he says. “Most would never have had an opportunity
to study in the United States without St. Lawrence’s support.”
Even with that institutional support,
however, there are times when interna-
tional students have different needs from
St. Lawrence’s domestic students. During
the holidays, for example, large numbers of
international students remain on campus,
even though the campus is essentially closed,
including the dining halls.
“I remember having to walk in the winter
to the store to buy groceries,” Huang says.
“Without a car, that’s not easy to do when
you have to walk through the snow in the
cold. People did offer to bring us places, but
we didn’t want to bother them during the
holiday season.”
I-House resident Nam Tran ’16 agrees that
the international student experience can be
vastly different from that of domestic stu-
dents. Because of this, he wanted to start an
alumni network to link international alumni
with international students.
“Only international alumni can truly un-
derstand what international students are
dealing with and what’s the best way they
can help out,” says Nam, an International
Scholar originally from Vietnam majoring in global studies
and government. “International alumni can also help interna-
tional students with steps like getting internships and helping
us with OPT (optional practical training) so we can work in
the U.S. after graduating.”
ight around 10 o’clock
every Wednesday night,
St. Lawrence University
students from an array of
cultural backgrounds be-
gin gathering in the Inter-
national House Lounge in
the 2600 wing of Sykes
Residence. They are com-
ing together for Tea Time,
a weekly event hosted by
the students who live in
“I-House” and are usually
sponsored by one of the several student cultural clubs on campus.
“Because it’s Wednesday night, which is halfway through the
week, it’s a chance for us to hang out and relax,” says Pipeloluwa
(“Pipe,” pronounced PIP-ay) Mabayoje ’15.
“Sometimes we play board games; other times
we’ll do some drumming or dance. We interact
with different people and just unwind.”
Tea Time has come to symbolize an ap-
preciation that students from all kinds of
backgrounds have for learning about and re-
specting different cultural heritages. It’s also a
chance for them to learn more about cultures
that are unlike their own.
On paper, Pipe is considered a U.S. resi-
dential student, since she moved with her
family from Nigeria to Bronx, New York, in
2006. But, she continues to identify with her
Nigerian community and feels more at ease
with the predominantly international student
population who live in I-House.
“Even though I’m not technically an inter-
national student because I live in the U.S.,
I am part of a diaspora community and can
relate to international students much better
sometimes than U.S. students,” says Pipe, a
Presidential Diversity Scholar majoring in
global studies and economics. “People who
live in and come to I-House are part of a
more open-minded community of people who will talk about
anything and everything, even really difficult topics, like racism.”
Pipe’s experiences seem to embody the sentiments of current stu-
dents and alumni alike who have taken up residence in I-House—
even if unofficially —including Zhihong “Hook” Huang ’02.
OpenHouse
International students and international alumni coalesce around St. Lawrence’s ‘I-House.’
By Ryan Deuel
R
“PeoPLE IN
I-HOUSE ARE
PART OF AN
OPEN-MINDED
COMMUNITY
WHO WILL
TALK ABOUT
DIFFICULT
TOPICS, LIKE
RACISM.”
>
PROP STYLING: SUE LAVEAN