Due to unexpected overcrowding in the residence halls, Cheney Hall will remain open until the end of the fall semester, this creating a perfect opportunity for Southeast and Cheney Hall to play host to 11 students from five different Mexican universities.
These students will stay in Cheney from Oct. 21 to Nov. 18, through the program called the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Initiative. This is a program that partners students from Central American universities when these students to North American universities for a monthlong Intensive English language learning. The students who were selected to participate in the this program will be participating in 96 hours of English classes.
During the Sept. 25 Student Government meeting director of Residence Life Kendra Skinner presented about Cheney Hall and announced the arrival of the students.
“Cheney is the perfect opportunity, remaining open because this program requires students to live together on a dorm floor and not have any outside roommates,” Skinner said.
According to Skinner with, Cheney is still housing Southeast students, therefore the visiting students will not be excluded by staying in a empty dorm.
Breanna Walling, director of the Intensive English Program will be overseeing the group. Walling said this is the first time Southeast has been chosen to participate in the program.
“We are very excited for this opportunity to host these students and hope to be able to do this for years to come,” Walling said.
American universities also had to apply and be able to participate in a competitive planned program for these students. The universities must stay within a $3,000 budget for each student and must include include their studies, housing, meals and transportation to and from the airport.
The 11 students from Mexico will stay in five rooms at Cheney. As of the Student Government meeting on Sept. 25 27 students still remain in Cheney, of the the 42 students moved in at the beginning of the semester.
When the hall first opened just a few weeks before the semester began, the hope by Residence Life officials was to have all the students moved out and the hall closed by midterms, Skinner said.
According to Skinner students are moving out of Cheney Hall daily and those who remain are those who would like to stay with their roommate or want to live in a specific dorm.
“We respect these students and their choice of where they want to live,” Skinner said.
The students are arriving from five different universities, including the Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Universidad Politécnica de Zacatecas, Universidad de la Sierra, Universidad de Occidente.
For more information about the 100,000 Strong in the Americas initiative visit https://www.state.gov/p/wha/rt/100k/.
