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International Student Mentors Make a Difference
By Stephen M. Silver, Director, International Office
Your student has traveled thousands of miles to attend Dartmouth. The International Office is there to help him or her get off to a strong start. Orientation for international students begins before the school year even starts, with e-mail correspondence from one of ten International Student Mentors who will each mentor half a dozen new international undergraduates throughout the year.
International Student Mentors are trained to address many of the questions and concerns you and your student may have before you even begin to make travel plans to New Hampshire. Mentors have corresponded with newly accepted international undergraduates on topics ranging from food to financial aid. They have helped put new students' minds at ease on everything from choosing classes to living in rural northern New England. When the term begins, two mentors spend two full days at Boston's Logan International Airport welcoming new international students who fly to the United States via Boston. Mentors are also on hand to greet new international students in Hanover. Tired travelers are usually relieved to see an upperclass Dartmouth student awaiting their arrival at the bus stop in front of the Hanover Inn. The mentors have keys to new students' rooms, and they help heft heavy suitcases to their new homes in the campus residence halls.
Mentor involvement accelerates during the on-campus International Student Orientation. Student Mentors participate in most orientation sessions, serving at meals, leading a shopping trip to Wal-Mart, hosting a "Mentor-Mentee bonding night," or role-playing for a critical session on Dartmouth's academic honor code. The energy and spirit of the mentors, as well as their perspective of "I had that problem—this is how I solved it" provides crucial reassurance for new internationals who have traveled from around the world to study at Dartmouth.
Once classes begin, mentors continue their formal involvement with their advisees throughout the fall and winter terms. Get-togethers include spontaneous shared meals and more formally planned events encompassing larger numbers of mentors and their advisees, funded by the International Office. We encourage you as international parents and grandparents to remind your students to take advantage of the International Student Mentor program. No doubt they already have!