Hello! My name is Snow Zheng and I am a junior at JSerra. As an international student from China, JSerra provides me tons of chances to experience and adapt into American culture. The International Department especially Lion Ambassadors organize services, clubs, and banquets to help international students get familiar with American values: equal opportunity, activity, practicality and success. JSerra welcomes students from all over the world, and currently has students from China, Vietnam, Brazil, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Italy, Mexico and Norway. In order to support international students to achieve academic success, JSerra offers after school subject tutoring, one-on-one National Honor Society tutoring and individualized counseling. Many international students enroll in universities all across the United States. From all academic, extracurricular, and cultural events, I select three main JSerra activities that are enjoyed by international students.
First, holiday banquets. Holiday banquets or parties enable international students understand American values, provide them a natural transition to foreign culture, and make them feel welcome and secure. JSerra has parties and banquets for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, St. Partick’s Day, Easter and many more. JSerra offers special activities according to the tradition for that holiday, for example, make a pumpkin lantern on Halloween, or decorate a gingerbread house on Christmas. Students also bring food and drink for the party.
Second, JSerra cultural events. International students actively engage in school events such as the winter formal dance, art presentation, and orchestra. By providing all kinds of cultural events, JSerra allows international students to quickly adapt into the school as well as the broad American society; by taking courses in theater, choir and joining magnet programs, students develop their potential abilities and keep a high spirit toward new things. Moreover, cultural events build a bridge between domestic students and international students, thus creating a healthy, harmonious environment at school.
Last but not least, community service. Community service is indispensable for students to have a healthy maturation process. It makes students independent, selfless, and honest. The International Department holds car washes, beach cleanings; food drives and partakes in the hunger walk during school year. JSerra focuses not only on students’ study environment, but also their spiritual upbringing.
First, holiday banquets. Holiday banquets or parties enable international students understand American values, provide them a natural transition to foreign culture, and make them feel welcome and secure. JSerra has parties and banquets for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, St. Partick’s Day, Easter and many more. JSerra offers special activities according to the tradition for that holiday, for example, make a pumpkin lantern on Halloween, or decorate a gingerbread house on Christmas. Students also bring food and drink for the party.
Second, JSerra cultural events. International students actively engage in school events such as the winter formal dance, art presentation, and orchestra. By providing all kinds of cultural events, JSerra allows international students to quickly adapt into the school as well as the broad American society; by taking courses in theater, choir and joining magnet programs, students develop their potential abilities and keep a high spirit toward new things. Moreover, cultural events build a bridge between domestic students and international students, thus creating a healthy, harmonious environment at school.
Last but not least, community service. Community service is indispensable for students to have a healthy maturation process. It makes students independent, selfless, and honest. The International Department holds car washes, beach cleanings; food drives and partakes in the hunger walk during school year. JSerra focuses not only on students’ study environment, but also their spiritual upbringing.