THUNDER BAY - Schools in Thunder Bay are reaching out across borders to attract students from around the world to Thunder Bay.
The Lakehead Public School Board launched a new program, Lakehead Public Schools International, which aims to recruit international students. Within five years, the program is hoping to recruit 50 students.
My-Tien Nguyen, international student coordinator with the Lakehead Public School Board, will be travelling to Viet Nam and South Korea next week to take part in various international recruitment fairs.
Nguyen said it is important for the school board to travel to these countries because there is so much competition in Canada when it comes to international recruitment.
“It’s really important because there are so many school boards across the world and Canada that are already recruiting in these countries and they have so many students who want to go to school aboard already so we really want to showcase that Thunder Bay is a great place to go to,” Nguyen said.
The program began in the summer of 2015 and last year Nguyen travelled to China as part of her recruitment efforts. In the last year, the program has recruited eight students from all over the world.
Nguyen said that Thunder Bay, though small, has a lot to offer students looking to experience a new culture and a new setting.
“We are a really multicultural city but on top of that, you can get pretty much everything that a big city has to offer and there are a lot of good opportunism here and there is a growing international program for the university and college, so this can be a really good stepping stone going to high school here first,” she said.
For 16-year-old, Estela Calvo from Spain, coming to Northwestern Ontario to attend Hammarskjold for grade 11 has been a very unique experience, and sometimes it’s the little differences that she notices most.
“It’s really different,” she said. “We don’t have semesters, we have all the subjects, all the year, so that’s different. We have six classes per day, so I don’t feel like I’m in class. We don’t have lockers in Spain. It’s nice having lockers.”
Calvo said she has always loved travelling and visited Wisconsin briefly to learn English. After her sister spent an extended period of time abroad, Calvo wanted to try it herself.
Arriving in Thunder Bay in early September, Calvo said she loves all the nature and forests surrounding the city. Though she did notice an overreliance on cars.
“In my city in Spain, I don’t need to use the car or the bus, I can go walking everywhere,” she said. “Here you need a car for everything. For me that’s different.”
Tanyu Su, a 17-year-old grade 12 student at Hammarskjold from China, likes travelling to other countires to learn more about different cultures. She has been in Thunder Bay for almost a year and while she is still adjusting to some things, she really likes it.
“It’s really different,” she said. “Over here they have more festivals and Halloween, and I really like it.”
Students are placed with home stays and both Calvo and Su said their host families have really helped make the experience of travelling and living in another country much easier.
“The family I have here are super nice,” Calvo said. “They try to make you feel very comfortable. They are always asking me if I am home sick, but I tell them no. It is a great experience.”
“They are so nice to me,” Su said of her family. “They let me feel like I’m in my family.”
Nguyen said students can experience quite a bit of culture shock, everything from eating different food to how the schools work.
“It can be a big culture shock for students coming from around the world, and so we try to provide as much services and support as we can,” she said. “We are looking at growing some more programming to give them more support to connect to the community.”
Nguyen is hoping to see the program continue to grow and she is expecting another six students to study in Thunder Bay next year.
Calvo said living and studying in Thunder Bay has been an amazing experience so far and she encourages her fellow students, in Thunder Bay and around the world, to not be afraid to experience something different.
“I recommend everyone to do this,” she said. “You learn a new language, you learn new culture and it helps you a lot as a person.”
