International event brings campus and community together

by Alexander Scott

The Kiwanis Club of East Lansing, Visiting International Professional Program (VIPP), and the Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS) hosted a reception for the international students of MSU on Wednesday, October 10.

More than 100 students attended the event, as well as dozens of faculty, American students, volunteers and others. The event celebrate the international community at MSU and East Lansing as a whole.

While the large buffet and dessert table were certainly popular, the guest speakers eclipsed the chocolate-covered strawberries and punch. East Lansing Mayor Sam Singh spoke at the event and said that as a son of immigrants, he had a special affinity with the students and encouraged them to strive for success in the United States and in their home countries.

MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon also attended the event and heralded the reception as evidence of the Boldness by Design initiative she has launched to transform MSU from a land-grant institution to a “world grant” university. Simon said that while technology was making business and learning more conducive to international cooperation, the international students’ physical presence at MSU was more important. In an increasingly electronic and politically hectic world, Simon said that face-to-face “handshake diplomacy” is more important now than ever before.

After their comments, Simon and Singh posed for pictures with the excited students.

The reception concluded with a raffle for prizes ranging from gift certificates for local restaurants to an iPod Nano. In one last surprise, Sparty himself showed up and drew the names of the winners, though he required a volunteer to say the names.