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International Crossroads

What is the International Crossroads Project?

The International Crossroads Project sets out to match small groups of WKU international students with small groups of local residents in the Bowling Green,, Kentucky vicinity.

Why do this?

Between 70% and 80% of international students never set foot in an American home.   International Crossroads helps change that situation for WKU international students.

Short visits are easier to manage and easier to commit to. 

The interacting groups provide a safety net for peer support – both on the part of local hosts and the international students. 

The interacting groups will facilitate meaning-making on the part of both locals and international students.  Participants will inevitably compare notes and realize there are similarities and differences in both groups.

The interacting groups simply get more people meeting one another.

How it Works:

This program matches small groups of 4-6 international students at WKU with small clusters of families in the Bowling Green area – with a particular interest in rural areas. 

Typically, a group of families will host these students for a weekend.  Activities are done together, but the students spend the night in the homes of multiple families.  For example, the group goes out to a rural community on a Friday night, maybe meeting in the home of one of the participating families.  A few families come together, receive the students, and have a meal together.  At the end of the evening the students go and sleep in different homes (they could go two to a home, too).  In the morning each student wakes up with their host family, has breakfast, and then goes out to meet the other families and spend the day together (going to the lake, hiking, biking, going to a local festival, etc.).  Saturday evening, they retreat to their homes again.  Sunday morning they wake up and do whatever activities they all agree upon for that day.  Sunday night the students return to their own dorms/apartments and the experience is “over”.  The hosts and the international students may never see one another again, or they may end up lifelong friends. 

WKU’s Office of International Programs will help arrange the matches and will arrange for a first meeting between all the hosts and international students.  Once the match is complete, hosts and international students make plans together. 

Who can participate?

Anyone can be a host. 

Those being hosted must be an enrolled WKU international student.

How can you get involved?

Easy!   

Hosts just need to complete the application below and return it to oip@wku.edu .

Students will also complete an application and we will try to increase the likelihood of a good experience for everyone involved.

> Host - Brochure 1 & Brochure 2

> Host Application

> Student Application

 

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