Students share their cultures
■ The International Cultural
Services Program helps pay
students’ tuitions, with a hefty
public speaking requirement
By Diane Huber
for the Emerald
Indonesia’s political tensions
and splintered government have
left it far behind the technological
advancements of the developed
world. With no access to the Inter
net, it was pure chance that Uni
versity student Iova Margoyungan
filled out an application that a
friend’s brother had given her. She
mailed it just one month before the
deadline without knowing any
thing about the University.
“It was meant to be,” she said.
Four years later, Margoyungan
will graduate from the University
with a journalism degree. Because
of the economic tensions in In
donesia, she would have had to
leave the University after her first
year were it not for a full scholar
ship she received through the In
ternational Cultural Services Pro
gram.
Unlike other scholarships the
University offers, the ICSP requires
participants to speak to the com
munity about their culture for 80
hours a year. Last Monday, during
International Women’s Day at
Mother Kali’s Books, Margoyungan
shared what it’s like to be a minori
ty woman.
The program’s coordinator, Al
berto Albuquerque is a graduate
student who participated in the
program all four years as an under
graduate. He said participants re
ceive a yearly benefit ranging from
$6,000 to full tuition.
Admission into the program is
competitive; for the 2001-2002 ac
ademic year, only 30 students will
be accepted out of 104 applicants.
They are chosen based on their na
tive country, their level of financial
need and their public speaking
ability. Margoyungan’s unique
background is just one example of
the diversity in a program that in
cludes 28 students from countries
all over the world.
Margoyungan described her first
presentation as being a bit nerve
wracking. She was scheduled to
speak to each grade level, from
kindergarten through 12th grade,
from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.. She laughed,
remembering how worried she
was when the junior high kids
dozed off during her presentation.
Presenting about a native cul
ture is harder than it sounds. Mar
goyungan often has to research for
certain presentations about In
donesian politics or the economy.
She said it’s difficult representing
the actions and motives of an en
tire country.
On the other hand, she pointed
out that one of the most significant
benefits of the program is that she
had learned so much about her
own culture.
“You don’t really think about
your culture until you step out of
your first-person point of view,”
she said.
Through the program, Mar
goyungan has placed herself with
in the community at-large and also
within the campus community.
Because she had never traveled
outside Indonesia before attending
the University, she said the sup
port of the international office and
the other participants was very
helpful during her transition.
Albuquerque agreed that
through the program, he has found
a place in the community.
“At first you feel alienated and
you see things in a superficial
way," he said. “Someone says,
‘hey, you’re from Brazil; wow,
that’s such a beautiful country.’
But it never extends beyond that.”
He said the ICSP helps many
participants extend beyond the
day-to-day superficiality by allow
ing them to connect their culture
with that of America.
The most rewarding aspect of
the program is broadening chil
dren’s horizons by introducing
them to other cultures, Margoyun
gan said.
Leo da Silva, a Brazilian partici
pant, said many of the questions
are very naive. “The kids will ask:
‘Do you wear shoes in Brazil?’; ‘Do
you live in the jungle?’; ‘Do you
have cars?’”
Albuquerque said that the most
important aspect of the program is
breaking down these stereotypes
that are just beginning to form in
young people’s minds.
“These ideas obviously come
from somewhere,” he said. The
presentations give the kids anoth
er perspective to compare with the
stereotypes they may have heard,
he added.
As Margoyungan pointed out,
it’s important for people of all ages
to realize that “America is not the
world.”
That’s exactly why Connie Han
son, a second-grade teacher at Mt.
Vernon Elementary School, invited
one of the program’s participants
to share his culture with her class
in January.
“I think my children realize that
as they meet people from different
countries, the people have more
things alike than different,” Han
son said. “I hope that the presenta
tions will motivate them to be
more tolerant of everyone they
meet.”
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