All Roads Lead to Simpson

Photo by: Timea Horvath

“All Roads Lead to Simpson”

By Timea Horvath

Simpson University may be small in numbers, but it is large in diversity.

Just this year 32 nations are represented on our campus, and 10% of the whole student body is international. That is an achievement worth being proud of.

What is it like to be an international student moving to Redding?

Freshman and Business major Alfonso Del Pino Carvajal traveled all the way from Madrid, Spain to attend Simpson University and play golf competitively. The decision to leave all your friends and family behind and move to a completely new place is never easy, but Carvajal says it was worth it.

“Simpson University has been very nice to me,” he said. “I have always felt part of the university because my Admissions Advisor Sam Crawford, Antonio Dos Santos, President Hall, students, and Coach Phillips have been very good to me.”

Being an international student at Simpson is not always easy. They face many difficulties that Americans rarely think about. For many of the students, English is not their first language, which can make the simplest tasks very difficult. Constantly communicating in a foreign language can be incredibly tiring. Moreover, there are times when the feeling of homesickness hits, and you feel like you just want to go back to your home country.

“My biggest difficulty has been to plan perfectly my schedule or time management because I didn’t know there were going to be so many assignments,” said Carvajal.

Simpson University’s international admissions office offers professional help to foreign students especially during the most difficult first couple of weeks. International Admissions Counselor, Samuel Crawford, listed the main areas in which they help students.

“Currently, there are two primary campus services offered specifically for international students. The first is international advising offered by the registrar’s office. This includes assisting students in all SEVIS status related questions, CPT, and OPT,” Crawford said.

International students live in the US thanks to their student visas. They must go through a lot of paperwork to get a job on campus or be able to stay in the country after graduation.

“The second service is offered by the international admissions office to all our new international students,” he said. “Rides to campus are offered to students arriving at the Redding Airport, trips to the store to pick up items needed for their dorm move-in, assistance opening a bank account or setting up a US phone number, etc.”

There is still some room to grow. With more and more international students on campus, there is also a bigger need for help in new ways, such as a shuttle bus to go downtown. Most international students do not own a car in the US which makes it difficult for them to move around town and get groceries or other necessities. There is hope for improvement as Crawford explained that Simpson University is aiming to grow in these areas.

Simpson University’s international section keeps expanding each year. Alongside this are the new services provided to the incoming foreign students. This will hopefully convince even more internationals to choose Simpson over the more than 5,000 different colleges and universities in the US.