Studying abroad is a subject that is not new to Goshen College students. Many members of the Goshen community have had the opportunity to spend a semester or more in countries such as Nicaragua, Peru, China, Tanzania and many others. However, we don’t always look at study abroad from perspective of students from other countries—for many of them, the United States is a study abroad location. As a result, we have an increasing number of international students on campus here at Goshen College. Katerina Polanska is one such student. She is a graduate student from the Czech Republic and is...

By Annie Agutu • January 29, 2015 • Features

First year student Aritha Weerasinghe made his mark on the tennis team this year, sending his team to the semifinals where he played 3rd, 4th and 5th positions.  His passion for tennis is evident with his exclusive remarks about the sport. Born and raised in Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka, Weerasinghe attended Asian International School, a British system school that he graduated from a year ago. Shortly after graduation, he was recruited by the Goshen College tennis head coach, Stan King.   Weerasinghe had attended an all-boys school and was nervous about attending a co-ed institution. “The special thing at...

By Annie Agutu • January 15, 2015 • Features

This Christmas break, juniors Prashansa Dickson and Dechen Tshering will return home for the first time in two and a half years. To get there, they will have to take three or four flights, experience a ten-hour time change and travel for at least twenty-four hours. Tshering and Dickson first met through Woodstock, an international school located just outside New Delhi, India. Tshering’s family lives in Nepal, an hour-and-a-half from New Delhi, but she plans to spend three or four days in India before finally heading home. Although the travel will be long, Dickson and Tshering are more worried about...

By Christina Hofer • December 3, 2014 • Features

First-year student Annie Agutu made her mark on Goshen College early in the school year, receiving third place at Kick-Off for her powerful poetry. But there is more to Agutu than just her poetry. Born and raised in the small town of Kisumu, Kenya, a seven-hour drive from Kenya’s captial, Nairobi, Agutu attended a British system school and graduated two years ago. Shortly after graduation, her classmate’s parents wanted her to move to the United States with them; she agreed and moved to Richmond, Ind., where she attended and graduated from the local high school within a year. She chose...

By Maddie Birky • November 6, 2014 • Features

During the first Saturday of fall break, 16 students, mostly international students and American friends, took the South Shore train to Chicago for a day trip to spend time exploring the city. The students split into groups after taking pictures at the famous “Cloud Gate” monument (nicknamed “The Bean”), and picked from many different activities around the city in order to explore the rich, vibrant life of Chicago. “We got to go get Chicago-style, deep-dish pizza and really just get to see more of the States than the city of Goshen,” Chris Moon, a sophomore, said. “It was awesome to...

By Hayley Mann • October 22, 2014 • Features

I am one of the participants who experience six minutes of terror every morning of San Fermín, a festival that honors the saint of the region in my hometown of Pamplona, Spain. San Fermín takes place annually from July 6 to 14. Around two million people visit Pamplona during this week to participate in the most popular event of the week, the Running of the Bulls. In Spain, we call them encierros. I always felt impressed by the beauty of the bulls running with the mozos.  Once I was old enough to run and keep up, I immediately took that...

By Luis Pérez Lerchundi • April 2, 2014 • Sports

Vinicius Campos was born in Santo Andre, Brazil 18 years ago. Santo Andre is a big municipality in the region of Sao Paulo, which has a high population of middle class people in Brazil. Campos grew up in this Brazilian city attending school at Ete Julio de Mesquita. Growing up, he used to try different sports, and when he was five years old he started to play the most popular sport in Brazil: soccer. Campos always turned on the television to watch some of his idols play on the best teams around the world.  When he was seven years old,...

By Luis Pérez Lerchundi • March 19, 2014 • Sports

Jon Kaasa is an international student at Goshen College, in his second year of studies. Kaasa comes from Norway, where the Norwegian newspaper Varden considers his mother “one of the five most powerful women in the country”. His mother, Gunn Marit Helgesen is the president of KS, the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities. This is an organization for municipalities, counties and local public enterprises in Norway that tries to contribute to alternative organization models and work methods that promote quality, efficiency and citizen participation. Kaasa said that he is really proud of his mother because the organization that...

By Luis Pérez Lerchundi • January 15, 2014 • Features

Plagiarism is serious business not only in academic and professional fields, but also in children's literature, as Paraguay has shown in the past few days. "The country is going mental, and I am going to try and make sure the rest of the world knows what's going on," said Benjie Aguilera Brown, a junior. Three years ago, Aguilera Brown said, his father was sued for plagiarizing a children's book written by María Eugenia Garay entitled, "El Tunél de Tiempo." As of Monday morning, Aguilera Brown's father, Nelson Aguilera, was convicted and sentenced to two and a half years in prison...

By Logan Miller • November 8, 2013 • News

Joel Pepala is a junior mathematics major from Zambia.     What inspired you to come to the U.S. and study at Goshen College? The opportunity of a better education, the challenge of adapting to a new culture and the possibility of receiving scholarships for soccer and possibly playing professional soccer after college, if opportunities will allow. What do you miss the most about Zambia? I really miss my friends from Zambia, although I have friends here in the U.S.A. The interaction with friends from Zambia is different because of the culture we have grown up in.     Tell...

By Ezra O’Michael • April 3, 2013 • Features

Prashansa Dickson is a first year psychology and sociology double major from India. Here, she reflects on how she ended up studying at Goshen College and her culture. How did you end up studying at GC? I was introduced to GC because there have been many Woodstock School alumni [a high school in India] who have come here over the years. There are also several faculty that have worked both at Goshen and Woodstock. Tell us about yourself and your family background. My parents are missionaries from the south of India from the state Tamil Nadu. Due to the nature...

By Ezra Ocubamichael • March 7, 2013 • Features

International students representing more than 30 countries will present an evening of international food, student presentations and a multicultural show at the annual ISC Coffeehouse fundraising event this Saturday. Hosted by the Goshen College International Student Club (ISC), the event includes a show that features dancing, singing, poetry reading and rapping. Yohaan Varghese, a sophomore from India, is one of six student leaders in the club this year. Although Varghese was a member  as a freshman, he says he is now beginning to realize the significance of the annual ISC Coffeehouse event and how important it is for students, faculty and...

By Christina Hofer • March 7, 2013 • Arts

Alejandro Davalos is a senior business major from Peru, the third largest country in South America. Peru has a large indigenous population and contains the famous Incan ruins of Macchu Picchu.     What inspired you to come to the U.S.? I came to GC when I got a tennis scholarship. But in my second year I changed to soccer, as it is really my favorite sport. It was a great opportunity for me to come to the United States and experience life in a first-world country. What do you miss the most about Peru?   Friends, family and going...

By Ezra O’Michael • February 21, 2013 • Features

Yumi Otsuka is a sophomore nursing student. She came from Japan to the U.S. at age 15 to attend Bethany Christian High School. She says the experience helped her to brave life’s challenges. Tell us about traditional Japanese clothing. For ladies, there are traditional clothes named yukata and kimono. Yukata is something we would wear during summer, and kimono is another cloth for winter and fall. I personally own both of them. Traditional clothes in Japan are very expensive. Sometimes, those traditional clothes are passed down to the younger generation. That is how I got my traditional cloth. What is...

By Ezra Ocubamichael • February 7, 2013 • Features

Yuli Whiteman, a first-year music education major, has a unique attachment to three continents. Whiteman was born in Colombia, grew up in Australia and came to Goshen College from India.     Tell me a little bit about your background. I am 19 years old and was born in Colombia. I was adopted when I was 3 months old, and grew up in Australia. But three years ago, I moved to India with my parents. Now, I consider myself Australian and Colombian. My brother and I are both adopted, but we are not biologically related. In Australia I lived about...

By Ezra O’Michael • January 30, 2013 • Features