CLU celebrates cultural diversity

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California Lutheran University international and Study Abroad students line up as they prepare to carry flags from 30 countries in a procession during a celebration of cultural and ethnic diversity Wednesday on the Thousand Oaks campus.

Photo: Rob Varela / Star staff

Students and faculty at California Lutheran University celebrated the academic institution's cultural and ethnic diversity in a special chapel service Wednesday to mark International Education Week.

The private university in Thousand Oaks currently has 198 international students, Juanita Hall, senior director of multicultural and international programs, told the audience at the annual International Chapel Service.

"International education is key for our future together," she said. "Listen to their stories and strengthen the bond of our mutual humanity that stretches well beyond any perceived differences we might have."

The national flags of 30 countries, representing the home countries of foreign students studying this semester at CLU, were paraded at the service, and some of the students shared their thoughts on attending the university.

Khoa Nguyen, a freshman from Vietnam, spoke about the culture shock of coming to live and study in the United States and sometimes missing "plain, simple, honest Vietnam."

"I am called international, but I am like you all," she said. "At CLU, I learn to be open, because you cannot learn when you close your mind."

Flavia May, who comes from a small village in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, first attended CLU as an undergraduate. She went on to complete her graduate thesis on post-traumatic stress disorder in war veterans at Harvard University before returning to continue her graduate studies as part of the CLU clinical psychology program.

"CLU is a very big family, actually. What I'll take from here is a very warm feeling," she said.

She told her fellow international students that "at CLU, everything is possible. If you need help, just ask for it and you will get it and follow your dreams."

Some American students who have spent a semester overseas as part of the Study Abroad program also spoke about their experiences.

Roberta Gaugert, a senior business major from Phoenix, spent 2007 traveling to 16 countries on three continents. "I've seen a lot of good things and a lot of bad things, and it's all shaped who I am," she said.

"My heart was opened," said Lisa Loberg, CLU's director of Study Abroad, "more by my time abroad than in the whole of my life beforehand. How could it not be?

"It takes a lot of courage to study abroad and it can be quite an adventure," she said. "When they travel, students gain a greater appreciation and understanding of God's creation, and they also gain greater awareness and compassion for God's people."

Kaila Hochhalter, a senior who studied in London, said being in another country with people of different backgrounds and beliefs helped her become more tolerant.

"We all find what works best to get us through this world we live in," she said.

--- Published in the Ventura County Star on Nov. 20, 2008