Nineteen foreign students will attend Pierce this year through the Northwest Community College Initiative (NWCCI), an exchange program where participants live in the U.S. for one year with the potential for earning certificates in their respective fields of study.

The NWCCI program is supported by Pierce, Edmonds, Whatcom, and Bellingham community colleges in Washington. The US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs website states that the outcomes of this program result in participants returning home “with new skills and expertise to help them contribute to the economic growth and development of their country.”

The students attending Pierce this year are selected from 13 different countries, including India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Columbia, Bangladesh, Egypt and Yemen. These students will not only be participating in their own classes, but they are considered ambassadors of a sort, and are required to give a formal presentation once a quarter, which may include visiting other classes and relaying information about their own countries.

Student Eshra Hassan is majoring in media at Pierce and Politics, Philosophy and Economics (P.P.E.) in her home country of Bangladesh.

“America is completely different from Bangladesh,” says Hassan. “From waking up to going to sleep, each and every thing is new for me. If I start making comparisons then it is going to take a while. But I would like to share one major difference and that is that people here follow traffic rules and cross roads on crossovers. In my country, we do not have any organized traffic rules like that.  We do not have lanes and we just cross the road from where ever we want to.”

After her three quarters at Pierce, Hassan plans to return to Bangladesh and continue her four-year undergraduate program.  She currently has no plans to return to America later, though she may consider it as part of her master’s degree.

“The American education system, the classroom, the people; everything is new to me,” said Hassan about her early experiences at Pierce.  “[I]n the first week of the quarter I struggled with my assignments, but my Professors and classmates were very helpful. They understood that I am not someone who is from a similar environment or education system.”

Overall, she believes that, “Pierce College is an international student friendly place. If you need help here, you just have to create a sentence in your mind and ask.”

When it comes to the needs of multicultural students, including those in the NWCCI program,  Ryan Jackson, senator of student and cultural affairs, is all ears.  Although he isn’t directly involved with the program, NWCCI students fall under the same umbrella as all multicultural students.

Jackson says that it is not only his job to make Pierce comfortable for these visiting students, but it is every student’s job to do the same.  Jackson specifically encourages students to get involved in the conversation partners program, where students talk to each other to gain experience conversing in a new language. He recognizes that many people think that getting involved with a multicultural student is a burden.

“It’s really not a burden whatsoever,” said Jackson.

“I’ve realized a lot of things about myself…and how I interact with other cultures; the things I do well and the things I do wrong. It’s learning from and improving on those things I do wrong and highlighting those things I do good and really allowing them to see that and share that with me,” said Jackson on his experience with the international students.

To the foreign students, Jackson says,“We are all here to support you, one hundred percent.  Every single student that is here is in the exact same position that you are in.  We’re trying to get our own education, we’re trying to learn, and each one of us has our own mountains to fight, but we’re going to do this together.  This school, Pierce College, is all about unity, and we are here to support you, and any opportunity made available to use is also made available to you.”