Alyssa Braun with the WSA logo – Photo by Dina Selviana
By Dina Selviana
WSA stands for World Student Association. It was established in the fall semester of 2015 at Waldorf University, when students had an initiative to bridge the gap between international and American students. WSA helps create an inclusive and globally diverse organized environment. WSA is also open to all international and domestic students as it is dedicated to promote and enhance international awareness, cooperation, cultural diversity and dialogue among students of different nations and America that are attending Waldorf University.
WSA meets once every two weeks on Thursday at 7:30 PM in the Breen classroom. So far, WSA has over 40 members representing 21 countries from around the globe outside the United States including: Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Ghana, Haiti, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Malaysia, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Spain, Scotland, Turkmenistan, the UK and Ukraine.
Alyssa Braun, the International Student Coordinator and WSA advisor, stated that WSA has made good progress since its formation. “Last year during the fall semester, we organized a Mexican night. We danced, we played games, and we did other fun activities, it was a really great night,” Braun said. Another WSA event held during the last semester was ‘Tastes of The World,’ where students represented their cultures using traditional foods, dancing and singing. “This fall semester, we organized an open Ice Cream meeting to introduce WSA club and attract more students, and now we are looking to do something more interesting, like a Brazilian night, which is next on our agenda,” Braun said.
Currently, the biggest challenge WSA faces is attracting more domestic students to come to club meetings. Some domestic students may still think that WSA is only for international students, when actually, domestic students play a big role of WSA. It has always been emphasized that everyone is welcome. Senior Isa Rabel, the President of WSA, believes that other than encouraging and promoting goodwill among international students to increase awareness and appreciation of other cultures, WSA was also created to provide an opportunity to develop lifelong friendships. “In today’s society, it is impossible not to meet people from different countries because we are so integrated, andwith WSA we have a good platform to get to know people from different cultures, learn and experience a diverse environment,” Rabel said.