By Olivia Gronvall—
As the fall season gradually marches on from auburn October to frostier November, you might have
heard International Education Week (IEW) mentioned as you’ve gone about your day on campus.
Perhaps you saw the title mentioned in one of Miami’s Student Life emails, or maybe a professor
encouraged you to join some sort of contest related to this week. Either way, you might be wondering
what this week is about—how is it related to education and why is it referred to as “international”?
What are these contests, and why should I be interested? To find answers to these questions, I reached
out to Karla Guinigundo, the Director of Global Partnerships at Miami, and part of the committee that
judges the IEW contest entries.
Karla first clarified that this event is not something that just happens at Miami, but nationally, as it is an
official initiative established in collaboration with the US Department of Education and the US
Department of State. According to Ms. Guinigundo, this event is designated to occur every third week of
November, and its purpose is to “draw attention to the value that international education adds to the
country, such as sending students abroad, welcoming international students to schools and campuses,
and partnering and collaborating with international universities.” 2014 was the first year Miami held an
official recognition of the week, she stated, and they’ve held specially themed events celebrating
international education every November since.
These events can vary every year, though there are a few that are mainstays in the tradition such as the
student contests, where students can submit photos, writing, or video about any personal experiences
related to international education, in the hopes of winning a variety of prizes such as scholarships, gift
cards, or swag. Although people often associate this with experiences studying abroad, Ms. Guinigundo
emphasized that this contest does not just apply to study abroad students, but to anyone who has had
interactions, encounters, and adventures with some form of learning something new about a culture
different from one’s own, even in one’s home country. She also emphasized that such encounters can
also be very down-to-earth stories versus grand tales of adventure, pointing to past contest submissions as examples, such as a story an international student shared about falling asleep on a bus and being kindly awoken by the bus driver so she would not miss her stop. “It was an everyday occurrence, but something that was very meaningful to the writer,” she stated. In short, Guinigundo stressed that the contests are “something that is open to everybody” where “a simple reflection of an intercultural interaction of any sort” is considered as an interesting story to be told.
It is because of these stories shared, in addition to the many other ways International Education Week
encourages students and faculty of various backgrounds to come together, that Guinigundo sees the
initiative as so important—not just to the faculty or students, but to the Miami and international
communities as a whole. “The overall mission [of IEW] is to draw a spotlight on the value that
international education brings to our campuses and our communities: helping students develop skills to
be able to engage and compete in a global workforce, international students adding global perspectives
to our courses and sharing their culture with the campus and local community,” she stated. “There are a
lot of benefits to both sides of it, but overall, [IEW creates] a more diverse, colorful, livelier community
as individual relationshipshelp build connections globally.” This manner of helping students creates “a
more diverse, colorful, livelier community” and also plays an important part of the contests, where the
reward is not just the prizes, but it is the opportunity to grow as a person and contribute to the diversity
of experiences and ideas of the Miami and national community.
As such, Guinigundo looks forward to viewing students’ participation in both the contests and events.
For students who are interested in knowing more about IEW, she encourages them to look over the
event calendar on the official IEW webpage. For those interested in the contest, students can carefully review each category’s specifications on the official contest webpage and look at the past winners
webpage for inspiration. Additionally, she wanted to let those involved in student organizations know
about the opportunity to submit their own events themed around IEW to be officially promoted on the
IEW calendar. Interested organizations can lobby for their event by contacting Guinigundo or Global
Initiatives assistant director Karen O’Hara, to share established events or brainstorm ideas for future
ones. As a result, they can also potentially receive support and resources from the Global Initiatives
department depending on their needs. However, there is no pressure to rush to find ideas at the last
minute: “If they can’t submit an event this year,” she emphasized, “there is always next year.” You can
reach Ms. Guinigundo at her email address, [email protected] or by phone at (513)-529-5622.
You can also reach Karen O’Hara at [email protected]. She and the Global Initiatives team are
excited to see Miam’s recognition and appreciation of diverse cultures thrive once more this year.
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