ispThe International Student Program (ISP) at Skyline College was excited to hold their first ever virtual End-of-Year Celebration for the Academic Year 2019-2020. In attendance were the Vice President of Instruction Dr. Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza; Provost, International Education, Dr. Jing Luan; Dean of Global Learning Programs and Services Russell Waldon; Director, International Education, Diane Arguijo; transferring and graduating international students, continuing international students, staff and faculty.

The event held via Zoom opened with a slideshow of past ISP events as guests streamed in and caught up with each other via the chatbox or on-screen. It began proper with a welcome from the emcee, followed by speeches from Dr. Taylor-Mendoza and Dean Waldon. Two faculty members–Professor Soledad McCarthy, who recorded a video for the students, and Professor Felicia Mazzi also gave short speeches.

The highlight of the event was hearing from students, both transferring/graduating and continuing. ISP’s transfers are headed off to schools such as SF State, UCLA, UC Berkeley and University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Each transferring/graduating student who spoke received thunderous cheers in the form of shouts, claps, reactions and capitalized text in the chatbox. One graduating student, Barbara Campos-Reis, even joined in from Brazil. This was followed by words of appreciation from the continuing students. It was a wonderful yet emotional sharing as students shared their hopes, dreams and wishes for the future and their peers.

The event drew to a close with speeches from Dr. Luan and Director Arguijo. Once again, there were hearty congratulations for the transferring/graduating students with wishes to stay healthy and well for everyone. ISP is immensely proud of its students, especially the transferring and graduating students! Congratulations once again, you did it!

Article by Clair Yeo-Sugajski | Photo by Gordon Leung

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