International Women’s Coffee Hour starts up again for semester.
Bringing women together of all backgrounds has always been a goal for the Women’s Center.
In its “International Women’s Coffee Hour,” the center aims to gather international women to discuss and share their experiences with each other, said Sarah Jenkins, program coordinator of the LGBT and Women’s centers.
“It’s just a great opportunity to give ... international women, regardless of whether they’re students here themselves or their spouse is a student here or they’re just a community member, the chance to just mingle and be in a community space that’s open and welcoming where they can feel comfortable and hopefully meet other international women and start creating their own community here as well,” Jenkins said.
The coffee hour will start at 4 p.m. on Wednesday and coffee and tea will be provided. Jenkins said she hopes having the events on Wednesdays will allow for more women to attend, a problem the center has had in the past.
Susanne Dietzel, director of the Women’s Center, as someone who hasn’t always lived in the United States, said it’s important to bring the community of women together.
“I think that our international women, whether they are students or whether they are spouses are isolated, and we try to provide an opportunity for them to engage with each other and with domestic women,” Dietzel said.
Jenkins said she enjoys hearing the experiences and stories from women in past coffee hours. For Dietzel she said it’s important to set aside time and talk about heritage.
“I think we’re an incredibly rich community and sometimes we get so busy in our day to day lives that we don’t take the time to appreciate it, and just having coffee with someone once from a different culture makes you appreciate our community even more,” Dietzel said.
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