Community Friends of International Students

International Place of The Claremont Colleges, 390 East 9th Street, Claremont, CA 91711 -5905

Spring 2015 http://iplace.claremont.edu Vol. 38, No. 2

International Festival—April 11, 2015

President’s Message International Festival is Saturday, April 11, 2015, 12:00-4:00 p.m.

For around three decades, one of the most popular events in Claremont has been the International Festival. Each year in the spring hundreds of people attend this event held on the CMC campus and sponsored by I-Place with support from Community Friends. The attendees come for the wonderful food provided by the international students, great entertainment, and a variety of other booths where they can purchase home-made bakery products, trinkets and treasures, and drinks, or where kids can listen to stories, have their faces painted, dress up in international costumes, etc. This event provides a wonderful opportunity to bring together: international students, American students, and people from Claremont and surrounding communities.

From the very beginning Community Friends of International Students has been an integral part of this event. There are several members of our organization who have worked at the Festival for over 20 years. Some have been helping since the inception of this event. Members of Community Friends have maintained their involvement over the years because it is such a rewarding experience to be a part of an event that brings the colleges and community together in such a joyous way. Community Friends would very much like to continue our traditional involvement with the Festival.

However, if we want to maintain a vibrant Festival for the future, it is going to be very important for our organization, and for the Festival itself, to recruit new volunteers to help. We need a new generation of Community Friends who will lend a hand once a year and become part of the Festival. We need people to sell tickets, help operate booths and take on other Festival responsibilities that have been the domain of Community Friends for so many years.

Many of you have experienced how wonderful it is to be a host family for an international student. You will see what a rewarding experience it can also be to help once a year as part of the team that makes the Festival such a wonderful event. This year’s Festival is Saturday, April 11, 2015, from 12:00 – 4:00 p.m., with set-up beginning at 8:00 a.m., rain or shine. If you can’t be there that day, please offer to bake in advance, freeze the goodies, and deliver them to one of our members.

If you would like to help out or get more information, contact Donald Delgado, I-Place Director, at 909-607-7868, email at: [email protected]

David Bedell President, Community Friends of International Students

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Members of the Board 2014-2015

CFIS / UPS

Officers COMPUTER GRANTS President: David Bedell Co-Vice-Presidents:

Maureen McCluney & Neva Barker Do You Know a Student Who Could Secretary: Renuka Balakrishnan Benefit from our Grant Program? Treasurer: Susan Brinkama Nominating Chair: Claudia Lennear

Community Friends of International Directors & Coordinators Students, with support from the UPS Foundation, have re-opened the grant Host Family: John Tarin application process for 2014-15. Funds Co-Membership: Linda Scott, Tamara Lindvall Newsletter Co-Editors: from the UPS Foundation, combined with Barbara Rugeley, Helen Young an allocation from the CFIS Board, have allowed this Special Events: worthwhile endeavor to continue. These grants will Joan Gerard, Linda Heilpern, Mitra Nag continue to be need-based and are designed for degree Support Council: Neil Gerard candidates. The computer/peripheral grants are limited Conversation Partners: to $400 and the Cultural Enrichment grants to $250. Katya Fairbanks This year’s application process will be made simpler Electronic Communications: for students using on-line technology. Applications Catherine & Frank D’Emilio will be received and reviewed so long as we have Members-at-Large funds available. For additional information, please contact Prof. Peter Saeta at [email protected]. Aleta Wenger, Rita Wodinsky

Community Support Council

SAVE THE DATE Sandra Baldonado, Donna Bedell, Norma Blissett- Jacoob, Laura Bollinger, Virginia Bower, Tina CFIS ANNUAL MEETING Brooks, Deb and John Corey, Barbara and Vasu Dev, and DINNER John Faranda, Emily and Michael Fay, Sandra Flores, Carol Gil, Helaine and Steve Goldwater, Betty with Hagelbarger, Brenda & John Hill, Anita Hughes, Sue Honored Speaker Keith, Pat Lightfoot, John Mark Lindvall, Susan Lominska, Charlene Martin, Marc Massoud, Dean McHenry, Swapan Nag, Deede and Larry Olson, Hiram E. Chodosh, President Claire Oxtoby, Dee Pawley, Lissa Petersen, Diann Claremont McKenna College Ring, Marguerite Royse, Linda and Peter Saeta, Herb Scott, Greg Shapton, Judith and David Tanenbaum, SUNDAY, MAY 31st, 2015, 5:30 p.m. Ellen and Marshall Taylor, Cindy Walkenbach, Edie Location to be announced Young

International Place Staff

Director: Donald Delgado Electronic News Assistant Director: Marsha Habib Administrative Assistant: Sue Kerns You may view the CFIS newsletter on the Program Coordinator: Chrystal Orozco I-Place website at http://iplace.claremont.edu. Click on the link for "Community Friends of Contact Information International Students.” I-Place Office: (909) 607-4571 If you want to receive the newsletter in print, Website: iplace.claremont.edu or prefer not to receive the newsletter at all, please E-mail: [email protected] let us know by sending a message to Fax: (909) 621-8549 [email protected] or phone us at 909-607-4571.

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International Festival 2015 Volunteer Opportunities

Your help is needed!

Saturday, April 11, 2015, 12-4. Set up begins at 8am, rain or shine.

Join other Community Friends and spend 1-2 hours on Saturday, April 11, 2015, between 12:00 and 4:00, at the International Festival, a major Claremont event. The Festival is located on the CMC quad, between 8th St. and 9th St. at Amherst. To volunteer for activities below, contact Donald Delgado, I-Place Director, at 909-607-7868, or [email protected].

Leader Activity Donald Delgado General help; teen and other volun- teers; publicity; setup and cleanup; paper goods. Donna Bedell & Baked Goods: bake in advance and Joan Gerard freeze! Rita Wodinsky International Crafts: face-painting, origami Jessica Alampay Ticket Sales

Jayne Sjodin Trinkets and Treasures: donate or sell used items Edie Young Used Books: donate or sell used items

TO VOLUNTEER at the International Festival

contact Donald Delgado, I-Place Director at 909-607-7868, or [email protected].

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Holiday Party at President Freund’s Home

This year’s Holiday Party was a festive celebration with a terrific turnout! Many students, their families, and Community Friends mem- bers enjoyed an afternoon of holiday music, refreshments, and a visit from Santa on Sunday, December 7, 2014. The children were delighted to meet Santa and received holiday gifts while the adults enjoyed refreshments and good conversation.

Our thanks go to President Freund who opened her home to our international community and hosted a wonderful Holiday Party. We also thank the Claremont Shades, a five-college a cappella group who entertained us, sharing holiday music and current selections. As always, we are indebted to the many Community Friends who provided food and helped to organize this event.

International Gala—November 2014

The Gala at Big Bridges on November 22, 2014, replaced the traditional International Banquet and allowed an expanded audience of 557 people. It showcased 15 student performances of talent in music, dance, and song. The audience included 362 students, 127 community members, 24 staff, and 44 “others.” Perhaps this will become the new traditional fall event?

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Host Families Needed for Coming Year

As readers know, our organization, Community Host Host Students Friends of International Students (CFIS), regularly Fall Families Families Not Placed provides family hosting for international students who Requested Found arrive in Claremont before the colleges or dorms open. These stays can last up to 5 nights, while 2010 120 120 0 students attend Orientation, sign up for bank accounts 2011 131 131 0 etc., or if graduate students, search for housing. The 2012 139 139 0 visits can be informal, where the student is provided 2013 133 133 0 meals but is gone most of the day – or they can be 2014 152 122 30 more time-intensive on the host family’s part, when transportation is provided, or the student is included in meals out or in family events.

These student-family relationships can continue on From Host to Hosted into the semester or even after graduation. Having a In 2005 Karen and Michael Rosenthal hosted Sandra host family can give a student a break before plunging Burckhardt, a student from the University of Landau into campus life, and also a feeling that he or she has in Germany, who was studying at Pitzer for a an off-campus friend to call on if needed. semester. Sandra returned to Claremont two years Statistics show that this past year – for the first time later on her honeymoon with Ingo Willoh. Sandra in years – there were more students requesting a host and Ingo have lived and worked in Berlin since then. family than there were families to host: 30 students Michael and Sandra have skyped frequently were not placed. Having a host family has become especially after Sandra’s son, Julius, was born two a feature in I-Place’s program for entering students, years ago. In October 2014, the Rosenthals spent ten and CFIS members have heard from students over the days in Berlin visiting Sandra and her family with a years (who were not able to be placed with a family) three-day side trip to Prague. Ingo worked for a that they wished they had had that contact. member of the Bundestag (German Parliament) and We hope to boost our participating host family the Rosenthals were treated to a private tour of the numbers this year. We hope members who have new Reichstag buildings. Ingo now works for a large hosted in the past, as well as members who have agricultural business consortium. Sandra works for a never hosted, will be open to this wonderful public relations firm that promotes German opportunity for fall, 2015. And previous hosting businesses. families – we hope you will recommend the Among many excursions they visited the Berlin Zoo, program to your friends! a sister zoo to the Los Angeles Zoo. They stayed in a hotel near the center of town just one block from the new Apple store on Kurfurstendamm, the main shopping thoroughfare of Berlin. This was a favorite hangout! It was a wonderful combination of art, culture, shopping history, food, and friends.

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Thank you to CFIS Members! Membership donations for 2014-2015

Membership donations Joan and Neil Gerard Claire and David Oxtoby for 2014-15 as of March Katie and Bob Gerecke Dee Pawley 2, 2015. Thank you for Carolyne and Terry Lissa and Dan Petersen joining or renewing. We Givens Joan and John Phillips greatly appreciate your Sue Gozansky Rhonda and Randy Prout support! Manfred Grellert Pat and Tom Radi Patricia and Klaus Diann and Robert Ring Georgeann and Bill Guenther-Gleason Karen and Michael Andrus Henry Hayden Rosenthal Anne Bages Linda Heilpern Marie Ross Renuka Balakrishnan Bonnie Busenberg and Marguerite Royse Sandy Baldonado Tom Helliwell Greg Shapton and Donna and David Bedell Brenda and John Hill Barbara Rugeley In Memoriam Louise Bell Janice and Larry Nancy Ruyter Kenneth Benesh Hoffmann Linda and Peter Saeta Robert Goldstein and Gwen Hoyt Marilee Scaff Dan & Peggy Rhoades Amy Bernstein Anita Hughes Jill and Warren Martha McCoy Mel Boynton Ardys and Ken Hunter Schimpff Lore Dormer Christine and Tom Ilgen Diane and Joe Marilyn Brunger Elizabeth Palmer Dorothy Jenkins Schreiber Laura and Chuck Burt Shirley McDowell Nora and Mel Butler Stew Johnson Linda and Herb Scott Ellen Litney Mary and Chris Helen and John Kaufman Yasuko and Hallam Caenepeel Sue and Jim Keith Shorrock Rathin Biswas Barbara Coates Jeanne L. Kennedy Daryl Smith Jean and John Cobb Leanne and Charles Robert Smith We wish to convey our Betsey Coffman Kerchner Janet Spaulding condolences to their families Deb and John Corey Pat Lightfoot Judith and David and to acknowledge their Lynne Curry Tamara and John Mark Tanenbaum contribution to Preethi de Silva Lindvall John Tarin Lisa Marin Ellen and Marshall Community Friends of Sonia DeMello International Students. Frank and Catherine Litha and Stephen Marks Taylor D’Emilio Charlene Martin Ann Stromberg and Candida Neal and Marc Massoud Rudi Volti Brian Desatnik Maureen and Bill Cindy Walkenbach Barbara and Vasu Dev McCluney Marisa and Josh Walter Carol-Lee Marshall and Jackie and Dean McHenry Ahlene and David Welsh Ben Dewald Georgia McManigal Myra White Jane and Gordon Barbara Mensendiek Davetta Williams Douglass Susan Lominska and Rita Wodinsky Gail and Thomas Duggan Jack Mills Edie Young Enid Eckert Glen Miya Helen Young Mary Helen Ellis Lynda Mulhall John Faranda Barbara Musselman Emily and Michael Fay Mitra and Swapan Nag Janet (Jan) Wright and Alice Oglesby Roy Genger Deede Olson

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Neepa and Amit Chowdhury and the Thursday Lunch and Conversation Program by Tamara Lindvall

Neepa was a fixture in the Community Friends from the fabulous Bengali food and great very early days, in 1978. I became involved with company. In fact we called it International Place through the Chowdurys and their many Neepa's School of Art and Life. friends, such as John and Margaret Regan, Susan Seymour, Ratna and Rothin Biswas, Madhuri Bhattacharya, Mitra and Charlene had heard from interna- Swapan Nag, Katya Fairbanks and Shomo Chakravarti, tional graduate students that they Charlene Martin, Diann Ring, Barbara and Vasu Dev, Betty felt they were not being heard on Hagelbarger, and many others. She and Amit now live in campus; they wanted to have a Calcutta, but are greatly missed here. program to talk about the issues that moved them. They started a Both Neepa and Amit made huge, vital contributions to the small Sunday Seminar in the Thursday Lunch and Conversation Program. It is impossible living room of a house on Tenth to count how many meals Neepa cooked for that program, Street across from CGU. It was Neepa Chowdhury the Banquet and the Festival. She was fearless in the cozy and informal, and very and Community Friend Ken kitchen. As the second oldest girl in a family of twelve conducive to an intimate conver- Hunter children, she grew up learning from her mother to do the sation. Neepa offered to help daily cooking for all the family and to cook lavish meals for cook. Usually it would be 30 to 40 people, an easy task for guests who would come to celebrate the big Hindu festivals. such an accomplished cook.

While most people will remember her as the one who In the 1980s, I-Place and Community Friends moved to its cooked for us, she was SO much more. She hosted countless current location. About 50-60 students and community students every year for 30 years and went on many of friends would crowd into the I-Place lounge for lunch and I-Place trips and tours. She brought a wonderful perspective conversation. Neepa wasn't fazed when Charlene moved us to all our programs. She was a vital part of our community. to McKenna Auditorium and told us to be ready for 100, then 200 and sometimes 300 people for lunch. Other Neepa, a Bengali Indian, is a painter and artist. She earned Community Friends helped chop, stir, serve, and tidy. Bachelor’s degrees from Government Art College in Calcut- Neepa supervised us all and taught us to be fearless too. ta and Pitzer College, and a Master’s degree from CGU. When she heard about Claremont from a Pomona College When Amit came to Claremont for his quarterly visit, student visiting Calcutta in 1959, she decided to move here Charlene often asked him to speak. He spoke about when she got the chance. repressive regimes in the Philippines and in India under Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, about the huge financial growth of In the early 1960s, Amit was already an influential the Asian Tigers, about his heroine Aung San Syu Kii and journalist in Calcutta when he received the Ramon his hopes of freedom for the long-suffering Burmese Magsaysay Award, a very prestigious honor for excellence people. in all of Asia. Amit was recognized for “journalism in the national language that has championed the cause of the Neepa and Amit had an unending stream of amazing common man, his liberty and his right to live a decent life.” visitors, who became our VIP Guest Speakers, such as He gave voice to all Bengalis who wanted their leaders to author Amitav Ghosh and poet Maurya Simon. They were make the most of their new found independence. all very “au courant,” which helped make the Thursday Lunch Program very timely and important. We learned Neepa and Amit lived in the Philippines from 1965 to 1978. about the world, one good thing at a time, up close and During that time, they entertained all the movers-and- personal, from Neepa, her husband, their children, and their shakers who were making their countries part of a rising, friends and relatives. growing, developing and dynamic Asia. With the political climate souring because of President Ferdinand Marcos, Amit doesn’t get to globe trot like he used to. He is quiet in Amit decided to go to Hong Kong to start a financial Calcutta. Neepa misses her very active life in Claremont journal. That gave Neepa the chance to move to Claremont and her many friends here, and the role she played in wel- to raise their two boys. Amit would visit about every three coming international people to this town. And we miss her, months while she held court at her house, which was really a too. Salon with many fascinating people invited to share her

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Meet Your New CFIS Board Members

MAUREEN McCLUNEY – Co-Vice-President

Hello. Ciao. Hola. Bonjour. Anyoung haseyo.

My name is Maureen McCluney and I am currently serving as a Co-Vice-President on the Community Friends of International Students Board. I have been a resident of Claremont for the past 22 years, raised 4 sons here, and was an employee of both Pomona and Scripps Colleges. I have also been a teacher, both at the high school and grade school levels, and now get to use those skills again as a volunteer in CLASP, the Claremont after-school tutoring program. I have recently retired and also get to spend time with the creative arts I love…quilting, knitting, embroidery, etc. Throw in bicycling, time with my grandchildren, Kyoto, Japan—March 2015 and reading and you have an idea why I find retirement so much fun. And, there’s always travel – which is what lead me to working with I-Place and CFIS.

I became aware of the CFIS Host Family Program during my employment at The Claremont Colleges. In my position as Assistant to the Dean of Faculty at Scripps College I was the liaison with the four International Language Assistants visiting Scripps each academic year on F-1 visas. I knew these students arrived before the residence halls were open, so my husband Bill and I volunteered to be a host family for two of them. We have hosted eight students over the years – and loved each experience.

This year I became involved with the Conversation Partner Program, and have met once a week with a graduate student enrolled at CGU who wishes to improve his English speaking skills. We meet just for an hour each week, but have such a good time. It feels to me that I get more of the rewards from our meetings. We learn about each other’s culture, life, hopes, and somewhere along the way, we became friends.

As a CFIS board member, I assist in the planning of programs and events designed to help make international students’ visits to The Claremont Colleges fun, interesting, and full of the feeling that we are happy they are here.

CLAUDIA LENNEAR - Nominating Chair

Claudia Lennear, our Nominating Chair, came to Southern California as a teenager from Providence, Rhode Island. She graduated from Pitzer at a “non-traditional age” because she first enjoyed a successful career in show business as a singer- dancer. She was recently featured in the 2013 Academy Award-winning 20 Feet from Stardom, about backup singers to some of the greats. Claudia sang with Ike and Tina Turner, Joe Cocker, Leon Russell, George Harrison, Ricky Nelson, and Yvonne Elliman, as well as the Rolling Stones. In film, you can hear her sing the title song for Klute, as Linda Blair’s voice during the exorcism in The Exorcist, and as part of the background sound in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

At eight, Claudia began studying French, which influenced her career. She traveled to Europe and now teaches college-level French and Spanish, as well as tutoring English writing. Wanting to ‘give back,’ she has hosted international students, first at University of La Verne, then with I-Place and Pitzer College. Each summer, Claudia serves as a docent at the Millard Sheets Gallery at the Los Angeles County Fair.

Claudia has two grown daughters and a college-age granddaughter. She is generous in her offers to share her talents, and her contacts, with the Community Friends.

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Meet Your New CFIS Board wanted her to come enjoy it. She has also been a host mother many times. Members continued…. In 2005, she became the director of the CGU Writing KATYA FAIRBANKS – Coordinator for Center and was thus involved in the I-Place orientation Conversation Partners for international CGU students every semester. She continued to teach the graduate writing and presenting Katya’s interest in other countries, other peoples, and course for international students and would also urge travelling began when she went with her family by ship her students to go to I-Place to ask for a “conversation to India in 1955. There her father helped develop the partner” so they could meet an American and get a first linguistics department at an Indian university at the chance to practice their speaking skills. Seeing this as Deccan College in Pune. an invaluable experience for international students at the Colleges, she volunteered to coordinate the Conver- She went on to major in South Asian Studies at Cornell sation Partners program when she retired from CGU. University and for her semester abroad, she travelled overland from Luxembourg to India with a classmate. They took the train to Istanbul, Turkey, and then went What is a Conversation Partner? This is a CFIS sponsored program in which interna- by local buses across the rest of Turkey, Iran, Af- tional students at the Claremont Colleges sign up at I ghanistan, Pakistan, and finally by train from the border -Place to be paired with a member in the community of Pakistan to Delhi. She studied at Banaras Hindu Uni- to practice speaking English, one-on-one. The versity for the semester and returned to finish her BA coordinator of the program matches a student with a at Cornell. member of the community who has volunteered to After college, Katya taught ESL and then traveled spend 1 to 2 hours/week meeting the student. The through the other side of Asia. She taught ESL in Japan community “partner” and the student arrange where for 2 ½ years and then travelled through Southeast Asia they will meet every week and how they will get to India once more. There she studied at a college in there – usually a coffee shop, the Honnold Library Agra and discovered an interest in Medieval Hindi café, I-Place, or somewhere else convenient to both. poetry. She returned to the US to complete an MA in The idea behind this program is that students will Hindi Language and Literature. However, seeing little improve their English fluency, grammar, vocabulary, job potential in this field, she looked back to her ex- pronunciation, and ability to understand spoken perience in teaching ESL for greater opportunities and English the more they practice speaking with a stayed on at the University of Minnesota to complete an native English speaker. These are not "teaching" MA in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Lan- sessions as such, but just conversations. However, guage). She has taught English in Xian, China, in Cal- this also gives the students a chance to learn about cutta, India, and at a UNHCR camp for Cambodian and American culture by asking questions about their Vietnamese refugees in Pulau Galang, Indonesia. observations of interactions in class, on campus, or After coming to Claremont in 1987, she taught ESL at on TV programs. The "partner" can also learn much Pitzer and writing courses for international students at about parts of the world they may not know by CGU. She has also taught in the PACE program at asking the students about their country and culture. Pitzer, the summer intensive International Fellows Although the students are attending college here, program for CGU students, as well as the short pro- some do not have many opportunities to converse grams for Japanese students at Pitzer in the summer and with an American. This practice can make a huge spring. difference over time – a semester, a year, or more – in their spoken English and in their adjustment to During much of this time, Katya was involved with life in a new culture. If you are interested in I-Place and its events and always felt very much a part volunteering, please contact Katya Fairbanks at: of it. She encouraged her students to get involved, to [email protected] go to the “Thursday Lunch & Conversations,” to the International Festival, or to hang out at I-Place and Some possible discussion topics meet other international students. Soon her students Student’s classes and adjustment to school and Claremont Student’s family life, holiday celebrations were inviting her to I-Place events such as the Classes, recreational activities, or possible local /LA trips International Banquet because they would be Student’s interests—food, music, books, travel, sports performing or cooking or waiting on tables and they

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International Place of The Claremont Colleges

International Students at The Claremont Colleges 2014 - 2015

Students holding nonimmigrant status (10/15/2014)

Visa Students from 86 Countries* Albania 1 Guatemala 2 Oman 1 Argentina 3 Hungary 1 Pakistan 10 Australia 10 Iceland 1 Panama 1 Austria 3 India 145 Peru 1 Azerbaijan 2 Indonesia 18 Philippines 5 Bahamas 1 Iran 12 Poland 1 Bahrain 2 Iraq 1 Qatar 1 Bangladesh 1 Israel 1 Russia 5 Belgium 1 Italy 4 Rwanda 2 Botswana 1 Ivory Coast 1 Saudi Arabia 80 Brazil 10 Jamaica 3 Serbia 1 Bulgaria 2 Japan 33 Singapore 28 Canada 40 Jordan 1 South Africa 2 Chile 1 Kazakhstan 1 South Korea 113 China 324 Kenya 3 Spain 4 China 15 Kuwait 2 Sudan 1 (Hong Kong) Colombia 3 Lebanon 1 Sweden 4 Congo 1 Libya 3 Switzerland 2 Costa Rica 1 Luxembourg 1 Taiwan 32 Denmark 1 Malawi 1 Tanzania 1 Ecuador 2 Malaysia 5 Thailand 35 Egypt 2 Mauritius 1 Turkey 14 El Salvador 1 Mexico 14 Ukraine 2 Ethiopia 3 Montenegro 1 United Arab 7 Emirates Finland 2 Myanmar 2 United Kingdom 19 France 10 Nepal 3 Venezuela 6 Germany 9 Netherlands 6 Vietnam 7 Ghana 5 New Zealand 3 Zimbabwe 4 Greece 2 Nigeria 4 TOTAL 1122

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Community Friends of International Students 390 East 9th Street Claremont, CA 91711-5905

International Festival

Experience cultural performances and cuisine from around the world

Saturday, April 11th 12:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Located on the CMC quadrangle between 8th St. and 9th St. at Amherst

International Place of The Claremont Colleges

Phone (909) 607-3910 or (909) 607-4571 E-mail: [email protected] I-Place office at 390 East 9th Street, Claremont

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