Spring is an amazing time of year. New opportunities, new life, and new optimism are in the air, alongside some trends that don’t quite make sense to me as an international student.  Coming from Ireland, I arrived in the United States in order to pursue my academic and athletic careers in better weather than the Emerald Isle is infamous for, or so I thought. It doesn’t quite make sense to me how one day there can be a tornado warning and the next day the weather can so nonchalantly switch to clear skies and sunshine. I have come to realize...

By Liam Shaw • April 17, 2025 • Funnies

The annual Goshen College International Student Club Coffeehouse is set to happen this Saturday. The event will take place in the Church-Chapel Fellowship Hall, and will include both a community potluck and performances. This is the second year where the International Student Club has combined both the potluck meal with the performances, and will look to have an evening full of culture, celebration and community. Joyce Daliya, a junior biology major and ISC leader, said that the event “is sort of a talent show, where students represent their countries and perform either as dances, songs or even presentations and acts...

By Caoimhe Farrell • March 13, 2025 • Arts

Goshen College’s cross-country and track and field teams have had the presence of Kenyan athletes for the past three decades, since the team was unter the tutelage of Rick Clark.  Now, under the current leadership of Rustin Nyce, the director of track and field and cross country, this tradition remains. Currently, there are five Kenyan student-athletes between the men’s and the women’s teams.  Nyce mentions how communication plays a crucial role in order for this legacy to endure. “It’s all about their word of mouth. When you come to another country you want to come to a place that you...

By Igor Sapucaia • February 13, 2025 • Sports

Of the 114 international students attending Goshen this fall, 11 stay with host families. According to Dan Koop Liechty, international student adviser, Goshen College has moved away from host families in the last few years. Koop Liechty noted, “generally speaking, students who are now living off campus with families are related to them or had a relationship prior to arrival.” This was true in the case of sisters Senper and Shalom Solomon. The sisters’ father and Paul Shetler, son of Jan Bender Shetler, former director of global education, had a connection. Through their familial relationship with Bender Shetler and her...

By Phil Witmer-Rich • January 16, 2025 • Features

Silas Immanuel can write a script, set up lighting, shoot a scene, edit the sound, layer in captions, produce a documentary and fill an auditorium. He can also keep the balance sheet, tracking income, expenses and, hopefully, rising assets. Immanuel is a 23-year-old senior film production and accounting double major from New Delhi, India. He works at ITS Media and FiveCore Media and helps lead the International Student Club. Immanuel has  worked on various video productions over the past few years, most notably his award-winning documentary “Goshen: A Sundown Town’s Transformation,” which won first place for Best Documentary from Collegiate...

By Gavin Johnson • November 14, 2024 • Features

It’s Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, and the Latino Student Union  wants to share about the upcoming month and how to get involved in the club’s activities and goals. LSU, advised by Christobal Garza Gonzalez and Raquel Montanez Gonzalez, is an affinity group that centers around Hispanic experiences. It is available to any student who desires an opportunity to socialize, engage with the community and, most importantly, become comfortable with getting involved on campus. “We create events and celebrate the diversity of Latin American culture and countries,” said Angelica Garcia-Ponce, sophomore social work major a LSU...

By Cheyenne Flanagan • September 19, 2024 • Features

Goshen College is entering the third year of its Hispanic Serving Institution designation and with that experience comes a more developed sense of what it means to be an HSI.  As far as change goes, much of what the college has been able to achieve is thanks to a Title V federal grant for Developing Hispanic Serving Institution (DSHI) programs. Gilberto Pérez Jr., vice president for student life and Hispanic serving initiatives, as well as dean of students, explained that GC received $3 million to serve Hispanic students, as well as others who have been historically underserved. Jan Kauffman, assistant...

By Kate Bodiker • September 19, 2024 • News

Of the 88 international students at Goshen College, 65 of them are student-athletes. For international athletes who are searching for a spot on a college roster in the U.S., the application process varied greatly. According to Matija Margetic, a sophomore from Croatia on the tennis team, his most important step in being recognized was getting into contact with an international sports agent. “I ended up hiring an agent because I had already seen an agent work with some of my friends, which was really, really helpful,” he said. “Okay, I cannot get any responses [alone], let me do that. …...

By Charlie Aldrich • October 12, 2023 • Sports

“Noah’s Ark” is gone. The woman in blue with a bowl of fruit balanced delicately on her head is gone. The white moon, too, is missing.  The Haitian paintings that added bursts of color to the Hunsberger Commons have been relocated for a year while the Union serves as a temporary cafeteria for Goshen College. The bursts of color now come from an array of national flags. “I think the flags are cool,” said Silas Immanuel, an international student majoring in accounting and film production. “It was great to see that there are around 86 international students at the college...

By Ryan Carrillo • September 28, 2023 • News

Goshen College’s International Student Club (ISC) will present its annual Coffeehouse show this Saturday in Sauder Concert Hall.  Before the concert, a potluck meal will take place in the College Mennonite Church Fellowship Hall.  A portion of the proceeds from the dinner and show will be used to support Mennonite Central Committee’s earthquake relief efforts in Syria and Turkey. Goshen’s international student population includes 73 people from 32 different countries.  One student, Silas Immanuel, an accounting and film studies double major from India, is part of the ISC leadership team of five who plan the event every year.   “Coffeehouse is...

By Olivia Koop • March 30, 2023 • Arts

Thirty-nine flags, 30 performers, 12 acts, three hosts, and what one performer called a “flamboyant” audience of over 320 people marked the return of the International Student Club (ISC) Coffeehouse. After two years of cancellations and restrictions due to COVID-19, Goshen College’s international students showcased the best of their countries’ music, clothing, dance and culture on Saturday. This year’s theme was an exploration of different identities, with the hosts referring the night’s program as their “map.” The set list included six songs, three dance numbers, two presentations and a poetry reading. The Ukraine crisis was a key focus for the...

By Caleb Shenk • March 25, 2022 • News

With over 70 international students from 32 countries, the “spot in Indiana where the leafy maple grows” is a gathering spot for students from around the world.  For two Maple Leafs, it fostered an unexpected connection.   Brynja Hjartardottir and Karitas Arnardottir both came to Goshen from Iceland to play on the women’s soccer team. Though the first-years did not know each other back home, they ended up next to each other on the plane ride to the United States and soon formed a bond.    “We talked a bit on Instagram when we knew we had both signed for Goshen and...

By Sarah Miller • February 17, 2022 • Features

Kevin Bollmann, a sophomore recruit from Switzerland, took action as the No. 1 singles player for the men’s tennis team this fall. Bollmann grew up in Reinach, Switzerland – a municipality within Basel-Country that is home to just under 20,000 people. He graduated from Gymnasium Münchenstein High School in 2020 and set his mind towards playing collegiate tennis nearly 5,000 miles away from home. This is Bollmann’s second year playing collegiate tennis in the United States, but only his first playing for Goshen College. His freshman year, he attended Lawrence Technical University (LTU) in Southfield, Michigan. “In my home country,...

By Meaghan Godzisz • November 4, 2021 • Sports

The odds of Syanne Mohamed, a 21-year-old Polish basketball player, landing in Goshen were very unlikely. And yet, here she is, a center for the Maple Leafs, standing at 6 feet, 3 inches in the Gunden Gymnasium.  Syanne Mohamed was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe before moving to the United States at age 2 when her family relocated to New Hampshire.  At age 9, Mohamed moved to Poland, where her grandmother introduced her to league basketball. She began playing for the Baystate Jaguars. When it came to her college decision, Mohamed chose Goshen for two reasons: the small class sizes and...

By Sadre’a Rougeau • November 4, 2021 • Sports

With COVID-19 vaccines available and travel restrictions easing this year, Goshen College reported an 18 percent increase in international students from a year ago. This fall, the college enrolled 73 international students from 32 countries, according to Dan Koop Liechty, the international student adviser at GC and director of alumni engagement. That compares with 62 students from 25 countries last year.   Koop Liechty credits Goshen College’s athletic coaches for the influx in international students.  “A good year would be 20 new students,” he said, “and we have nearly 30 this year.” The countries with the highest representation on campus are...

By Cormac Koop Liechty • October 7, 2021 • News