Global Gems: Unveiling the valuable contributions of international students

Growing up in his home country of Algeria, Mohcine “Mo” Khadraoui recognized students who were viewed as “slow” or “didn’t like school,” at least those are the labels they were given. He knew there were special institutions for youth who were blind, deaf, or had other severe disabilities, but those with mild disabilities were little more than a footnote.

“There’s no such thing as special education in Algeria,” said Mo, a second-year graduate student in Special Education and Applied Disability Studies at Mercyhurst. “Here you have IEPs, benchmark testing, and all kinds of programs. I was like, ‘Wow, I’m passionate about this.’” 

Ultimately, Mo hopes to create a Special Education program in his home country, a goal that gratifies program director and professor of Special Education Dr. Phil Belfiore. 

“Students with disabilities exist in all countries while services are scarce,” Belfiore said. “Our graduate program provides expertise in pedagogy and practice that can be transferred internationally. Our international grads become experts when they return home.”

Belfiore said the university’s Special Education grad program doesn’t often get international students, but this year he’s thrilled to have five newcomers, including Irene Serwaa Agyapong , Stephen Asare, and Emmanuel Koduah Acheampong, all of Ghana; Ivana Maria Acosta Maradiaga, Honduras; and Manuela Quevedo Fonseca, Columbia. 

In addition to acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary to make a difference in their respective communities, international students have a better understanding of the cultural nuances of their home countries, which can be vital when designing and implementing new initiatives such as Mo envisions doing. They can help tailor services to meet the unique needs and cultural contexts of their communities.

For Mo, Mercyhurst is a gift that almost wasn’t. As a student at the Universite՛ Yahia Fares in Médéa, Algeria, he was accepted into the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program (Global UGRAD), which brings future leaders to the U.S. to experience higher education, gain critical professional skills, and explore new cultures and values. He was assigned to Mercyhurst where he would undertake one semester of study. But COVID hit and his departure was delayed until the fall of 2021, at which time he had already graduated from college with a degree in English and Linguistics. 

Still, he wanted to come to America.
 
His semester at Mercyhurst was a total immersion experience; he made friends, joined clubs, played sports, and discovered the Special Education graduate program and what could very well be his future. He quickly decided that one semester wasn’t enough and enrolled in the master’s degree program. 

Mercyhurst is home to 136 international students, including 22 grad students, said Courtney Olevnik, director of International Student Services. This year, the university welcomed its largest class of internationals since 2019. 

Like many of them, Mo is eager to apply his education to the needs of his home country. But that’s not all. He appreciates the reciprocal nature of the international student program that allows him to share his global perspective in classroom discussions, and to enrich the academic experience with his different viewpoints and experiences, a measure of which he shares at the Robert Benjamin Wiley Community Charter School, where he is teaching middle school students this semester.

Being foreign-born and multilingual, Mo had an instant connection with the numerous Hispanic children in his class who he said typically speak Spanish at home. Celebrating the differences among his young students and broadening their world view is highly rewarding, he said. 

One of his most satisfying experiences was staging International Day. He dressed in traditional attire of Algeria and brought with him a contingent of Mercyhurst’s international students representing Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Russia, France, Germany, Morocco, Liberia, Nicaragua, Columbia, and the Dominican Republic. They set up different stations in the school cafeteria with activities, clothes, cuisine, and items depicting their cultures. To make the experience even more appealing, students were given passports and had them stamped at each station they visited.

“The kids learned a lot,” Mo said. “I noticed how impactful it was. They even learned to write their names in different languages.”

Mo said his experience as an international student at Mercyhurst has been rewarding and, as president of the International Student Association, he hopes his contemporaries feel the same. 

PHOTO: Algerian Mohcine “Mo” Khadraoui, forefront, is joined by some of Mercyhurst’s international students at the “International Day” he organized at the Robert Benjamin Wiley Community Charter School, where he is teaching middle school students this semester.