Month: December 2025

International Students: The Path to an American Collegiate Experience

By Andrew Danielson

A student wants to build microcontrollers in Silicon Valley.

Another wants to travel back to India and provide counseling to troubled young people.

A third student wants to specialize in bio-technologies.

These are just a few of the stories behind some of the students who participated in PFW’s Global Student Celebration.

Held Friday evening on November 21, the Global Student Celebration is a fun occasion that caps a week of festivities at PFW, as international students share a snapshot of their culture with their fellow Dons through food, music, and dance.

Students Ajinkya Naik, from India, Gustavo Corsi da Silva, from Brazil, and Alan Chen-Trejo, from Venezuela

But this week of celebrating international studies and students at PFW is actually part of a broader movement called “International Education Week.”

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education, International Education Week is held annually. According to the department of educations’ website, the event holds dual purposes.

First, the week is part of the department’s efforts to prepare Americans for studying abroad. It also serves as a method to educate the future leaders of other nations who are studying in the United States.

In other words, International Education Week is an opportunity for the US to engage in scholastic diplomacy with potential long-term benefits for both the United States and for countries around the globe.

How the process works for an international student to come and study in America is a fascinating and sometimes arduous process.

Coming to Study in America

Like any American college student, an international student must first decide on a college to attend. Name recognition can go a long way toward influencing where an international student decides to apply and study.

For Ajinkya Naik, an international student from India, going to college and getting an education has been a goal since his youth.

“From childhood, I always wanted to get a good quality education in college,” Naik said.

Naik explained that it was Purdue’s good name and reputation that drew him to enroll in the computer science program at PFW.

“In hindsight, it was a great decision,” Naika said with a smile.

But for students like Naika, enrolling at an American university typically requires more than just the normal college-enrollment paperwork.

International students wishing to pursue their academic studies in the United States must first obtain an F-1 category visa. They can only apply to study at universities which have received a Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification.

Besides paperwork, another challenge international students must navigate includes culture shock as they enter the American collegiate system.

John LaMaster, senior instructor of Mathematics at PFW, has observed some of that culture shock in his international undergraduate and graduate students.

“In other countries, those in higher education are much more select,” LaMaster said. “It isn’t an education for all in other countries.”

He explained that, in other countries, only a select group of students usually get the opportunity to study at a university.

 When an international student comes to study at an American university, that student is already highly motivated to perform at a very high academic level. That means that, most likely, an international student would find it unthinkable to sign up or register for a class and never attend, since even one class is an invaluable resource and opportunity.

But it’s not just the academic system that’s a culture shock to international students.

Farah Combs, director of Honors and Experiential Learning at PFW, shared her story of coming to the United States as an immigrant.

Combs explained she and her family emigrated to the United States from Kuwait shortly before Combs was about to enter college.

One of the culture shocks Combs experienced was the level of free speech Americans enjoyed.

“I would say one of the major ones [culture shocks] is honestly … how much freedom of speech people have in regards to talking about the government,” Combs said. “That is not happening back home.”

Beyond culture shock and college applications, international students face another hurdle after graduation: staying in the United States to live and work.

After completing their degrees, international students have limited options for employment in the U.S. These range from working under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program to obtaining a green card. Many of these pathways are highly competitive and often temporary, lasting only a few years and requiring renewal processes that must work their way through government bureaucracy and red tape.  

Graduate Student Teresa Nabangala, from Kenya

Advantages International Students Bring to the United States and the Globe

Although there are challenges to coming to the United States for academic study, international students bring a host of benefits to America and the global community.

Maureen Linvill, director of International Education at PFW, explained that many international students will, upon graduation, return to their home countries and start implementing their academic knowledge in their professional lives.

“A lot go home to share what they’ve learned,” Linvill said.

Other international students, including those coming to PFW, hope to stay in the United States and contribute to American society.

For computer science major Ajinkya Naik, career goals include continuing his higher education in the United States and using his computer science degree to improve the bio-technology and health care fields.

International students at U.S. universities and colleges contribute $42.9 billion to America’s economy according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators. For every three international students, one job in the United States is either created or supported.

International Students in the United States
In the 2024/2025 academic year, international students helped support over 355,000 jobs.
The top five countries of origin for international students are China, India, South Korea, Canada, and Vietnam.
The 1.1 million international students represent 6% of U.S. enrollments as of 2024.

Locally, international students help improve the PFW community by introducing their colleagues at student housing to new experiences.

Shelby Mansfield, assistant director for International Student Services at PFW, explained how international and domestic students living in the same student housing help encourage each other to try new things.

“They get each other to do something new,” Mansfield said.

Trying something new and sharing a global perspective is part of what helps broaden domestic PFW students’ perspectives.

Director Combs mentioned that, for American and international college students, getting to study together in a university setting like PFW is a life experience that students can take with them into their future careers.

“When you go to the workforce, you don’t know what you’re going to be talking to in the business,” Combs said. “It [studying with international students] makes you a better person because you have better understanding.”

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International Education Week Celebrates Culture and Cuisine at Purdue Fort Wayne

By Hannah Arnold and Maddi Sims

International Education Week at Purdue Fort Wayne is an annual celebration of the university’s international student community. The week features a variety of activities, highlighted by the Global Student Celebration.

The event brought together students, families and friends to watch international students perform cultural traditions and to enjoy food from around the world.

“We want to share culture and traditions and to help promote that sense of belonging here on campus,” said Shelby Mansfield, assistant director for International Students Services.

There are 269 international students currently enrolled at PFW. The Global Student Celebration provides a space for them to share their cultures and connect with the broader campus community, with food serving as a central way to do so.

Attendees sampled a wide range of dishes, and the menu reflected cuisines from around the world. Indian Kitchen provided veg dum biryani, a dish made with layered rice and mixed vegetables. Pho Indy served banh mi, a Vietnamese sandwich on a baguette. True Kimchi offered veggie kimpab, a Korean seaweed rice roll filled with vegetables.

Giordano’s supplied caprese skewers: a rotating pattern of tomato and mozzarella with a drizzle of balsamic glaze provided patrons with a lighter option to snack on. Nutri Packs provided egusi soup with pounded yam, a traditional Nigerian dish that is a rich, savory soup served with a dough-like yam. For dessert, Shatila’s bakery offered baklava, a flaky pastry made with cashews and honey. Horchata from Salsa Grille, a sweet drink made with milk, rice and cinnamon, represented Hispanic culture.

Most participant restaurants are located in the Fort Wayne area, with Shatila’s bakery based in Michigan.

For Maureen Linvill, director of International Education, food allows someone to experience a piece of culture immediately.

“When students taste dishes from around the world, they’re not just trying new flavors,” Linvill said. “They are experiencing a piece of someone’s heritage, family traditions, and identity.”

The variety of options provided the event’s attendees the opportunity to experience cultural dishes that are different from their own. Additionally, it fosters a learning environment as you connect foods to different cultural groups and taste the assortment of ingredients.

“Food brings out the best in many,” assistant director Mansfield stated.

As a commonly known way to break the ice and spark the beginning of a conversation, food plays an important role when sharing culture. At the Global Student Celebration, attendees such as graduate student Teresa Nabangala connected over their shared likeness of a dish and their curiosity to understand where it originated.

“Food is a universal language, and when different cultural dishes are offered in one space, it encourages curiosity, conversation, and appreciation for each other’s traditions,” said Nabangala, who is from Kenya. “Trying new foods opens the door for people to learn about the history, stories, and identities behind those dishes.”

Through events like International Education Week, PFW continues to highlight and celebrate the cultures that students bring to campus.

International students are proud of their cultures, and the Global Student Celebration offered a chance to showcase their heritage. And when words cannot describe, food surely can.

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Dances of the World At Purdue Fort Wayne

By Rachel Steinbacher

International Education Week took place during the week of Nov. 17, bringing a campus-wide celebration of cultures throughout the world.

The highlight of the week was the Global Student Celebration, an evening dedicated to unity and cultural expression. Students showcased their backgrounds through singing, dancing, and cuisine from around the world – including an interesting remix of Travis Scott’s hit song “FE!N.”

What began as a quiet room, quickly transformed into one of the most energetic student celebrations on campus this semester. 

Shelby Mansfield, assistant director for International Student Services, explained the performances change every year and the students take time to perfect them.

“We have had anything from fashion shows to cooking demonstrations,” she said. “This year, students were leaning towards singing, dances, and bands.”

 Mansfield said the students prepare for their performances very thoroughly and even have a rehearsal the night before. There are bands practicing, friends talking, and a full run through of the whole night.

Lucia Coeslier, a student from France, said that they were putting in an insane amount of effort to perfect the final performance.

“I am most nervous/excited for my performance,” she said. “It is a classic French song.”

Watching the performances is a great way to end the night after eating international food. Mansfield said eating before the performances allows attendees to come together and enjoy a meal. Some of the food served included bahn mi, egosi soup, and baklava as well as drinks like horchata. Most of the food was made locally in Fort Wayne but the school even reached out to a company in Michigan to help celebrate.

Each dance, song, and food represented something uniquely meaningful from the performers’ culture. Colombian student Catalina Vigoya Ruiz explained how the song she chose has been sung in her family for decades.

While she was performing, there were students from Colombia in the crowd dancing along. Another thing you see a lot at this celebration: students coming together.

Dancing is symbolistic for many countries around the world and a way of communication. India, which has the leading number of international students at PFW, has a popular dance called Bharatanatyam which is known for its expressive gestures, storytelling and intricate footwork.

“When I’m dancing, I feel back home again for a moment,” said student performer Lisha Choudhary, from India. “The performance is a mix of traditional Indian dance and American pop culture.”

As the celebration wrapped up, performers were greeted with applause, hugs, and questions from students who wanted to learn more about the dances and songs they saw.

Some stayed long after the final performance ended, taking photos with their friends and continuing conversations about culture, identity, and what it means to be part of a diverse campus.

For those who attended, the Global Student Celebration marked more than just the end of a themed week. It was a reminder of the power the community holds and the diversity international students bring to Purdue Fort Wayne.

And for those few hours on Friday night, campus felt a little smaller and the world felt a little closer.

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Building Global Connections at Purdue Fort Wayne

By Cincade Drudge

As campuses across the country recognized International Education Week (IEW), Purdue Fort Wayne used the Nov. 17-21 celebration not just to highlight global cultures for a few days, but to showcase a growing community of international and multicultural students who enrich campus life year-round.

PFW has been participating in the week-long event for over a decade. According to Shelby Mansfield, assistant director for International Student Services, IEW has been part of U.S. higher education since 2001.

Mansfield explained that International Education Week began as a joint initiative between the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Education.

“So it was a collaborative effort to really highlight the value of international education and also exchange opportunities for U.S. students going abroad and the value of having exchange students come to the U.S.,” she said.

For PFW, the centerpiece of the week is the Global Student Celebration, a Friday-night event featuring cultural food, performances, and the annual Parade of Nations.

“The International Ballroom is typically full, sometimes standing room only at the sides,” Mansfield said. “It’s an awesome opportunity to exchange culture through food and performance.”

One of her favorite moments each year is the parade. “Students come on stage, and they say something [typically a greeting] in their native language,” she said. “It gives me goosebumps because it might sound like a really simple idea, but it’s just awesome when you’re in a room when that happens.”

This year’s events also included international bingo and trivia events hosted by the Office of International Education. Mansfield spoke on how the events are connected to international education.

Students Enjoying International Bingo
Indian Student Association Performance at the Global Student Celebration

“Not necessarily each prize, but each round of bingo will have something international attached to it,” Mansfield stated. Trivia night, she added, is a campus favorite: “It’s super fun because we have a couple of student workers that help create this trivia … We all try to see how well we did at the international-themed trivia.”

The purpose of all these events is to shed light on and provide a sense of community for the international students. PFW currently enrolls 269 international students, with representation from more than 50 countries. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Ghana are among the most represented.

Mansfield emphasized that affordability and the Purdue name continue to attract international students to come to PFW from their home countries.

 “The Purdue degree, the reputation behind what that means when they’re getting a job, and searching for a job after graduation, but also affordability,” she explained.

International students arrive through a mix of recruitment strategies. PFW’s admissions staff physically visits countries to recruit students. They also host virtual fairs that high school students or current college students can attend.

But Mansfield stressed that the support for these students goes far beyond recruitment. Her office assists with everything from immigration advising and how to avoid scams to simply helping students adjust to their new environment.

For many students, the Global Student Celebration is a rare opportunity to publicly represent where they come from.

International Foods at the Global Student Celebration
Bangladesh’s Appearance at The Parade of Nations

Nishad Parulekar, an engineering student from India, said he chose PFW for its close-knit campus feel and supportive faculty. But adjusting to life in the United States came with challenges.

“Being away from family was the hardest part,” he said. “But events like this help you interact with people.”

Nishad performed at this year’s celebration, sharing a piece of his culture with the campus community. He said International Education Week personally represents a time to “meet people, share traditions, and understand what other students have experienced.”

His dream is to work in robotics, hopefully in Germany, a place he believes offers strong opportunities for engineers. But for now, PFW has provided a sense of belonging for him.

Not all students who participated in the celebration are international; some are domestic students with multicultural backgrounds who use the event to express identities that often go unnoticed.

Milayi, who grew up in Fort Wayne but whose family is from Myanmar, performed a dance she choreographed for the Water Festival, her ethnic group’s New Year celebration. Many people assume she is Burmese, she said, but she is actually part of a minority ethnic group within Myanmar.

“Not many people know who we are,” Milayi said. “So it’s meaningful to represent my culture here.”

She added that IEW gives students a chance to learn how many cultures exist on campus, cultures that might not be visible in everyday classroom interactions.

Tips from the Office of International Education

While IEW is designed with internationally connected students in mind, domestic students are also engaging with global cultures on campus.

Siddharth Vemparala, a domestic student who attended the international-themed bingo night because he heard about it from friends, said events like these broaden student perspectives.

“I’ve learned that people grow up with completely different experiences,” he said. “When you meet students from other countries, you gain a lot of perspective. It changes how you see the world.”

He recalled friendships with former dorm neighbors who shared meals from their home countries with him. “It’s really fun to learn from each other and try their local dishes,” he said. “PFW does a good job mixing students in classes and housing, so you interact naturally.”

While International Education Week is a highlight, assistant director Mansfield emphasized that its true purpose extends beyond the celebration itself.

“Every institution has its own spin on it,” she said. “So the main goals of it would be to share, I would say, share culture and traditions, and to help promote that sense of belonging on your own campus.”

As PFW’s international community continues to grow, IEW offers a window into the friendships, challenges, and cultural exchanges that shape campus life, not just in a single week, but year-round.

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Climate Change Is Transforming Midwestern Winters     

As climate change continues to shape weather patterns across the globe, some of its most visible effects are emerging not in blistering summer heat waves or devastating hurricane seasons, as one might expect from the effects of global warming, but in the quiet months of winter. Across the Midwest and northern states, including Indiana, winters are shifting in ways that are unexpected and contrary to popular understandings.  

While climate change is widely associated with warming temperatures, its influence on winter weather is far more complex. It actually intensifies weather extremes, scrambling weather patterns, and fueling heavier storms. Atmospheric patterns become more volatile, producing sudden temperature swings. Snowfall decreases overall, yet the snowstorms that do occur can be stronger than before.  

Much of the confusion stems from a common misconception: the belief that if cold days or snowstorms still occur, climate change must not be real. This conflation of weather and climate, short-term conditions versus long-term trends, remains one of the biggest barriers to public understanding. Even as the planet warms, individual winters can and will still deliver bursts of frigid weather. In fact, some of the most intense winter storms are now fueled by a warmer, wetter atmosphere. 

These changes are increasingly clear across Indiana, where winter is now a season defined by unpredictability. Indiana’s Thanksgiving weekend storm this year is a clear example of how this new weather pattern works. Even though average winters are warming, the storm delivered heavy snow, sudden temperature drops, and pockets of freezing rain. 

But behind these day-to-day variations lies a broader pattern: midwestern winters are warming, destabilizing, and becoming less reliable. 

Across Indiana, winter temperatures have risen steadily over the past several decades. Extremely cold days are less common, and winter nights are warmer than they were for previous generations. On the surface, this might sound appealing to those who hate cold weather, but the consequences ripple out in ways that touch ecosystems, infrastructure, and public safety. 

Warmer air means precipitation increasingly falls as rain rather than snow. Winter rainstorms, once rare, now commonly bring flash flooding and icy roads. 

Another growing challenge is the sudden back-and-forth swings between freezing and thawing. Instead of long stretches of consistent cold, Indiana now sees rapid temperature shifts, sometimes within a single day. These cycles damage roads and bridges, destabilize ice on rivers and lakes, stress plants, and create dangerous conditions for anyone spending time outdoors. 

These new winter patterns are reshaping not only the human world, but the natural world just as dramatically. 

Animals that rely on predictable cold seasons are struggling. Species that hibernate, such as bears, groundhogs, and bats, can emerge too early during warm spells, burning through precious energy reserves long before spring food is available. Small mammals like rabbits and mice lose their protective blanket of snow, leaving them exposed to predators and harsh cold snaps. 

Plants and vegetation are equally vulnerable. Early thaws can trigger out-of-season growth, only for sudden freezes to destroy these new shoots. Herbivores such as deer and moose then face food shortages, while heavy winter rains can wash away stored plant matter or disrupt food caches.  

Amphibians that wait out the winter in mud or under ice are especially vulnerable: repeated freeze–thaw cycles caused by erratic winter temperatures can stress or even kill them. 

Migratory species, mainly birds, are feeling the effects too. Unpredictable seasonal cues cause early or delayed migrations, leading to mismatches between arrival times and food availability. 

The weather changes, and ecological shifts are only part of the story. Warmer, wetter winters create substantial challenges for communities across Indiana. 

Rain replacing snow increases flood risk by producing immediate runoff instead of slow snowmelt. Cities are already seeing more burden on storm drains, bridges, and roads. Agriculture suffers when soils repeatedly freeze and thaw, damaging crops and disrupting planting cycles. Infrastructure takes a hard hit as well: potholes, frost heaving, and water damage drive up maintenance costs. 

Winter-based recreation is also changing. Winter sports like skiing, ice skating, and snowmobiling depend on consistent cold that the Midwest and northern states increasingly lack. While Indiana is not as dependent on winter tourism as northern states, snow-based recreation remains a nostalgic and formative part of childhood. Losing reliable snow means losing opportunities for outdoor play that many Hoosiers grew up with. 

The winter as we know it, in all its harshness and joy, is slipping away. If we continue on our present path, many of the defining features of Midwestern winters may disappear entirely. Preserving the season we know will require recognizing the changes already underway and taking meaningful action before they accelerate further. 

Cincade Drudge is a student journalist at Purdue University Fort Wayne and a Waterfield Environmental Intern at the Environmental Resources Center on campus. 

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