Taya Drummer-Chaney
MC Feature Writing
Jackson State University is a school that moves forward with its mission of producing technologically-advanced, diverse, ethical, global leaders who think critically, addresses societal problems and compete effectively. For years it has become the
home to thousands of international students who help further the internationalization of Mississippi’s one and only urban university in Jackson, MS.
Sadia Nowshin had the opportunity to receive her F-1 visa to attend college in the states. To obtain an F-1 visa international students must go through a lengthy interview process. Students are asked a series of questions about what their plans are for traveling outside of the country as a student. Although it may seem simple it is not as easy being that some applications can be denied for studying in the United States. Sadia was accepted at other schools, but she chose to study at Thee Jackson State University after receiving a full ride scholarship.
“I am currently on the F1 visa which is for the students, but let’s say if I was under the Dreamers Act I would technically be considered a citizen,” Sadia notes.
The Dreamers Act was a bill in Congress that would have granted legal status to certain undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and also attended school in the states. Sadia recalls her parents having the opportunity to move to the U.S. when she was much younger allowing her to be in the states under the Dreamers Act. The climate of immigration laws in 2018 may have impacted her right to education and career opportunities in her young adult life.
She struggled her first year trying to figure out where she belonged on campus. It is normal for someone from Bangladesh, Southeast Asia to feel out of place in a southern area like Jackson, Ms. After years of interacting with people in her classes and finding the right group of friends everything started to improve in her social life. “The international student community here at Jackson state are really helpful along with the JSU Global Department,” she said.
Although it took her some time to adjust in Mississippi, it was ultimately a good change for her future.
“Life is better here. There is a lot of freedom in the United States and so many social differences compared to where I am from,” Sadia says with a happy look in her eyes.
Bangladesh, Southeast Asia home to six hundred and forty-four million people is comparable to the city of New York crowded and noisy; once the home to Sadia is not where she can freely be open to do what she wants. “I consider the culture back home to be some level of misogynistic only because it’s a social stigma that young girls are not supposed to be out by themselves,” she explains,” and I believe women have more freedom here in the U.S.” as she sat straight forward in her black desk chair. Here at Jackson State University she is free to study and roam around late nights on the plaza for fresh air, but doing such activities is considered a luxury being that women aimlessly roaming around the streets late night in Bangladesh is frowned upon.
As she sat in room, full of colors and creative decor, she talked about more than just her journey from her homeland to the states but also how far she has come with adjusting to her new environment over the years that hadn’t been easy. She appreciated all of the new opportunities moving to the states has offered her one could see it through her eyes and up beat gestures. She was excited discussing it, you can see in her eyes how happy she was to have the freedom to be who she wanted in this melting pot we refer to as America.
While Sadia focuses on adjusting along with thousands of international students who attend Jackson State University yearly, the JSU Global Department faculty and staff provides foreign students with cultural support and programs that benefit their future endeavors.
“One of the biggest struggles that international students face based off of my knowledge is the challenges of receiving a visa application,” Dr. Ying Liu says. The JSU Global Assistant Director in Charge of English (ESL Program) as a Second Language Institute and current instructor.
Dr. Ying Liu sat behind her desk willing to share her expert opinion on the struggles that international students face not only at Jackson State, but all around the country.
“The reality for our ESL program is that students from Latin America countries are luckier to get visas rather than those from the Middle East or Asia, but no one can explain why that is,” she says with a doleful sound in her tone.
Challenges are something that international students deal with all too often. Students in the ESL programs at Jackson State University have to make sure that they come to the United States with enough funds while they are in school or the support of their family like Sadia. Dr. Ying Liu shares that sometimes students arrive with not enough money to support themselves. She believes that it prevents added stress, possibly finding illegal jobs or missing classes if they prepare before they enroll.
“International students are permitted to work for twenty hours like domestic students, but they must get approval first through JSU Global,” says Dr. Ying Liu.
As an instructor and assistant director of ESL, Dr. Ying Liu hopes that international students are open-minded, whole-hearted to the various cultural differences when they arrive on campus. Students should integrate themselves within the community and mingle with students other than their own culture. She realizes the United States is a country of multi-cultural diversity with people from different cultures bringing their cultural legacy. “Every culture should be respected,” she says.
Sadia enjoys when other students are intrigued from where she comes from. It gives her a chance to open up about her culture and what practices are similar or different from her country. Traylin Dandridge an Aurora, Ill native is open to the differences and similarities that she shares with her roommate.
“This is my first time being roommates with someone who was not considered to be African-American. I was really open to getting to know who she was being that I have friends of different ethnicities back home and after living with each other this semester I have realized that we share the same taste in music,” Traylin shares.
One could see how close they have grown over the months living in the same space. Two different cultural backgrounds, beliefs and customs could have two people look at each other oddly in confusion. It was refreshing to witness two drastically different people come together and make their personal space work as one.
Jackson State University a place where students from diverse backgrounds is a part of challenging minds and changing the lives of their students for years to come.
“I hope that incoming international students will be open to accepting others despite the differences it is the best way to overcome stress, conflicts and having a healthy social life,” Sadia said. “I have no regrets.”
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