By: Natasha Winston Clarke
Montgomery, Alabama, November 19, 2019
The National Student Exchange (NSE) Program hosted its first meet and greet on the campus of Alabama State University!
For those of you who may not have heard of the NSE Program, it’s a study away program in which students can exchange to other educational institutions within the United States, Canada, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Dr. Linwood Whitten has been the NSE Coordinator for Alabama State University (ASU) since 2017. 2019 was his first year hosting exchange students.
This semester, Alabama State University has four exchange students from three different schools: Amané Loguerre (Florida International University), Anajaé Weste (Florida International University), Natasha Rice (University of Minnesota Twin Cities), and myself, Natasha Winston Clarke (SUNY Plattsburgh).
Natasha Rice is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Anajaé Weste is from Orlando, Florida. Amané Loguerre is from Miami, Florida. I am from Brooklyn, New York. Us moving from major cities to Montgomery, Alabama was a significant change in our daily lives. However, the people and school culture shaped our experience being at ASU.
“I would tell all my outgoing and incoming NSE students to really soak up this experience and find meaning and purpose in the opportunity to learn, explore, engage, and make friends. YOLO.”
One thing about being an exchange student is a large number of ASU students not knowing that the NSE program existed. What was more alarming was students neither knew where the Diversity of International Affairs (DIA) office was located nor who the NSE coordinator was.
With that being said, I thought why not create a meet and greet informational to create more awareness about the NSE program? Why not share with ASU students the other educational opportunities they can participate in? Both he and the other exchange students were on board with the idea.
Before we went forward with the event, I made a poll on Twitter to see how many people would be interested in learning more about the National Student Exchange Program. Surprisingly, many people answered about wanting to know more about the program. The questions and results are provided in the links below.
Fast forward to the event, it was highly successful and informative to the student body. The exchange students opened up the discussion with where we were from, our majors, classification, the NSE process, and why we chose Alabama State University as our host campus.
Dr. Whitten fired off the conversation with a few questions: “How was coming from Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) to an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) different? What did you expect coming to an HBCU? How has being at ASU shaped your NSE experience?”
One similarity between all of us exchange students is that we come from Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). We agreed that being at an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) was unanimously a culture shock. From the educational and social aspects to the way people go about doing daily tasks, it was a lot to take in.
Natasha Rice specifically spoke on her choice coming to an HBCU because “[she] has never been in a predominantly black education environment. Therefore, I did not expect anything except black excellence.” Amané then built off Natasha’s point by adding that “[she] was able to see students just like her.”
When Anajaé Weste expressed her thoughts on the questions, she pointed out that “[she] didn’t realize how privileged [she] was until [she] got [there].” Being at ASU gave us a safe and diverse space where we felt a sense of inclusion, but also made us realize the gap between our PWIs and this HBCU.
As the event concluded, many students walked out with more knowledge on the National Student Exchange Program. Tristen Cousin, junior, stated, “The NSE meet and greet is a discussion that needs to happen frequently because not enough people on campus know about DIA or NSE.”
Dr. Whitten was also excited to share his experience as an NSE Coordinator and gave advice to future incoming and outgoing NSE students: “Being an NSE Coordinator is a rewarding experience because … you help to facilitate your NSE Student’s academic and social development that leads to self-discovery and lasting relationships."
He went on to add, “I would tell all my outgoing and incoming NSE students to really soak up this experience and find meaning and purpose in the opportunity to learn, explore, engage, and make friends. YOLO.”
NSE is an enriching and rewarding program to be a part of. Students can gain exposure and expand their perspectives when it comes to academic learning and cultural engagement. It’s an amazing opportunity that students should take advantage of in their college career at some point.
To find out more information about NSE, visit the website here.
A little bit about the writer, Natasha Winston Clarke
Hello! If you've watched the video above, then some of this you've already heard. If not, I'm Natasha Winston Clarke! I'm from Brooklyn, NY and I'm an exchange student here at Alabama State University. I'm a Public Relations major minoring in Web Design and Programming. Some of interests including dancing, skydiving, and laughing/having fun.