San Diego State’s International Student Association recently held “Binglo,” a combination of Bingo with glow lights, this past Thursday at the International Student Center. Blingo had bingo, a DJ, neon lights, lasers and ultimate twister. This is just one example of the many events put on by the club, according to club president and fourth-year international event planning major Laurelle McVicker.
“We have bonfire nights, movie nights and we’re preparing a Halloween event as well,” McVicker said.
The organization, which meets regularly from 5 to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays, also puts on a coffee hour at 1 p.m on Fridays, giving international students and others the opportunity to share their culture. Domestic SDSU students are encouraged to come as well, and to ask questions of and interact with the international students. It’s an especially good opportunity for those who want to study abroad to get information about where they want to visit. As international business junior Myrna Farhat, the co-events coordinator in charge of planning the coffee hours, describes it, it’s for everyone. But the organization is about much more than just games and dances.
Through these events, the organization hopes to teach “skills in organizational leadership, international communication, and problem-solving,” according to the group’s website.
For a more concrete example, it has given club promoter Koray Kayhan, an international student from Turkey and a second year mechanical engineering major, a great chance to improve his public speaking in English. For those who want it, added McVicker, there are endless public speaking opportunities. It’s especially helpful for students studying degrees with an international focus.
As far as “developing skills in organizational leadership goes,” an example is given in preparations for the upcoming Binglo event.
“Members break up into committees and everybody works on a different aspect of it, including finance, promoting and advertising,” McVicker said.
The three club officers also talked about how it is interesting to discover how other people live.
“It’s nice to see how people think outside your part of the world,” Farhat said.
“I like this club because since I am foreign student, I think it’s a great opportunity to meet people all around the world and learn about their cultures,” Kayhan said.
They also talked about what a helpful teaching experience it was. Two of them shared how much they have enjoyed being active.
“One of my favorite memories was putting on the ISA pep rally at International Orientation. This was a great opportunity to hype up the students about joining the ISA and we got to play fun games and tell them what the ISA was all about,” McVicker said.
“One of my special moments with this club was talking in front of 500 new upcoming students and sharing with them my motivation about having the opportunity to study at SDSU,” Kayhan said.
Finally, with the helpful prompting of Kayhan, McVicker was asked to describe the organization in one sentence.
“The goal is building lasting relationships between domestic SDSU students and our visiting internationals.”
