Many international students at St. Thomas are going home for the upcoming J-term break for the first time since being at St. Thomas. Yet, some have felt at home at St. Thomas due to various outreach groups attempting to connect them.

This year’s class marks the largest cohort of international students ever at St. Thomas, with a total current international-student population of 507, including 237 total undergraduates. This year, the number of new undergraduate international students increased by 26% for a record number of 78 new students.

Devanshi Arora, a sophomore from India, has not seen her family since she came to Minnesota in July 2021. She plans to surprise her friends and family this winter break.

Aika Ngachu, a junior from Kenya, is going home this winter break for the first time since transferring to St. Thomas last February. Before now, Ngachu had never been away from her mother for more than two weeks.

“It feels a little weird going home after so long,” Ngachu said. “I wouldn’t say nervous–OK a little bit nervous–because things continued after I left.”

Haniz Surty, a senior from Western India, will be going home this December for the first time since summer 2021. She is looking forward to seeing her family and eating the food that she cannot get in the United States.

Like many other international students, she found the barrier of cultural difference difficult.

“My jokes are a lot funnier when I say it in my language,” Surty said.

To make the time away from home easier, the success and outreach of the Office of International Scholars has created a close-knit community for international students to rely on. Events offered by OISS allow students to hangout and talk.

“Even when you feel homesick, you know that there is other international students that you can relate to and talk about it,” Onella Nkurunziza, a junior from Rwanda, said.

Associate Director of International Admissions Ethan Olson said his team recently restructured to allow more collaboration between OISS and the international admissions team, which added “more hands on deck” and was a big help in expanding reach.

“The whole culture of the office is that we are really here to look after the students,” Olson said.

Madeline Mussay can be reached at muss3440@stthomas.edu.