The Honors College held the first annual Embassy Fair Thursday to celebrate International Student Day. Various booths were set up to showcase the different countries represented at ETSU.
The Embassy Fair was part of International Education Week, a national event declared by the U.S. Department of Education and Department of State to “recognize the global exchange environment between the United States and other countries.”
ETSU has about 300 international students who represent about 50 different countries says International Student Advisor Meghan Lane. She says this new event gives students the ability to “celebrate different cultures represented at ETSU.”
According to Lane, China is the most largely represented country at ETSU followed by India and France. She says these numbers are similar at other universities around the U.S.
Genique Kemp is an international student from the Bahamas. She is a senior majoring in Survey and Mapping Science and has been at ETSU for four years. Kemp misses the small island back home where everyone knows each other, but has loved her time here at ETSU. Although many Americans consider Kemp’s home country as a vacation spot, she has been coming to the U.S. for summer vacations her entire life.
To Kemp, events like the Embassy Fair “makes campus more aware of other cultures that they may have been misinformed about.” Kemp offers “first-hand information” to anyone that may have a misconception about the culture she grew up in.
Tedra Bennett is from Jamaica and has been in the states for a year. She is a sophomore majoring in Fashion Merchandizing and is the third in her family to attend ETSU.
Bennett thinks that hosting events such as the Embassy Fair is important because it “gets people aware of what goes on in other countries.” Bennett wants students to realize that there are other cultures out there besides the one we experience here in America.
Xavier Laurent is a business management student from southern France who is looking forward to graduation in just a few short weeks.
Laurent enjoys opportunities where he can meet people from other countries because he is “always interested to learn about other cultures” and likes making connections for future job opportunities.
Laurent has been in the United States for a year and half as part of a partnership with an international program in France. Planning to stay in the U.S. after graduation, Laurent hopes to secure an internship and then find a job in international business.
Medical doctors Sandhya Tagaram and Archene Nayani are both visiting friends and family from India who are currently attending ETSU. They volunteered to help at the Embassy Fair and brought in a lot of their colorful hand stitched clothing and purses to put on display. Since arriving in the states, Tagarm has “never felt homesick.

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