International students, far from home, grateful for harvest dinner on campus

InterVarsity hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for international students in the AC Hub on Oct. 11, creating a warm, welcoming atmosphere to celebrate a Canadian cultural experience.

Carmen Hurst, 61, is a volunteer at the college and a former teacher in the nursing program.

“They are international students who are far from home and so having a traditional meal…(and) Thanksgiving tradition is just exciting,” said Hurst.

InterVarsity held a contest to see which student was farthest from home. Some students from Hong Kong were 12,400 kilometers from home.

“We had lots of fun. Awesome. It’s a good place to make friends. It was a great dinner,” said CiCi Ruan, 36, a construction engineering student.

Christy Dagenais, 41, is a campus minister with InterVarsity, a non-profit organization that is a faith community on campus. It’s an official club that is student-led and gets involved through the Spiritual Centre with college departments.

InterVarsity is active on campus and provides creative prayer and discussions on faith that allows for dialogue and shared opinions. They also provide a traditional Bible study.

“Intervarsity is both active for students that are practising the Christian faith and those that are also curious about faith and want a safe place to talk about it,” said Dagenais.

Thanksgiving is a time to be grateful and students sat in a gratitude circle to share what they were thankful for.

“Family, because they were always there for me and I was there for them,” said Mohamed Taous, 23, a student in the web design program.

Students who are far from home expressed their gratitude for the event.

“I think events like this are important for the international community. It’s like a door that opens into this new country… it’s like a hug,” said Abigail Soto, a computer system technician programming student.

They also held a pie-making contest with prizes for the best looking and best tasting pie. This was hilarious as some rushed to make their pie only to realize they had 15 minutes to make it. The crowd was boisterous as they drummed on the tabletops waiting for the announcement of who won. There were prizes of Tim Horton gift cards.

The event was a huge success, and some participants even got to leave with a pumpkin pie at the end of the evening.