While the number of international students attending Saint Louis University continues to rise, departments across campus are making adjustments to help make college life easier for these traveling scholars, and to welcome them to the SLU community.
This year, the Department of Campus Recreation is doing its part by establishing an International Students Intramural League.
This initiative is being helmed by Sam Kelner, the Club and Intramural Sports Coordinator for Campus Recreation. He hopes that the league will provide an opportunity for this growing population to become more involved outside of the classroom.
“I want everyone to feel welcome and have fun while at Saint Louis University, and I don’t think there is a better way to do that than to be part of a team,” Kelner said.
Kelner decided to form the league after noticing international students failed to express a strong interest campus recreation.
Last spring, the Department of Campus Recreation hosted a welcome party for all new international students at the Simon Recreation Center’s outdoor pool area, SLUruba.
Since roughly 75 percent of SLU international students are Chinese, the Simon Recreation Center also started a weekend program that cleared off several of its basketball courts to allow for badminton tournaments, a popular sport in China.
“Kids showed up and had fun, but it wasn’t quite the numbers that we would have liked,” Kelner said. And, as far as intramurals were concerned, “They didn’t care for some of the sports we offered, like flag-football or softball.”
With the help of Aleah Fulton, one of SLU’s International Admission Counselors, and a small group of international students, Kelner has formed this new intramural league.
The league will offer five sports-basketball, table tennis, soccer, badminton and volleyball/sand volleyball-all hand-picked by the group of students working with Kelner. The league will coincide with the regular intramural leagues. There will be two sessions each semester, the first beginning on
Sept. 7.
Kelner said the league is a temporary solution. Once an interest in the campus recreation’s services is strengthened, there will no longer be a need for the separate league.
Instead, it will simply be a part of the regular intramural lineups.
Because a majority of the 275 new international undergraduate students who will be attending SLU this fall are Chinese, Kelner has decided to name the league Asian Connection; however, Kelner stresses that the league is open to all. Any student at SLU can join he says, the only stipulation is that there must be an international student on the roster. He is also quick to point out that the league is not about separation. “I’m all about integration . I just want to give [the international students] the opportunity to be involved.”
Fulton agrees that this involvement is important for the students, “Just as with American students, international students are much more likely to be happy and successful at SLU if they are involved in campus life.? Intramural sports offer students a chance to stay active both physically and socially.”
Fulton believes that an intramural league specifically catered to SLU’s international students will help bridge the cultural gaps that they may encounter. “I think it’s important to note that integration isn’t one sided – this isn’t just about pulling our international students into American campus life, but it is also about the entire SLU campus welcoming our international students,” Fulton said, “. and all the people at [Campus Recreation] have been wonderful at reaching out to our students and truly making them feel welcome.”
