It has been over forty years since the value of diversity was pursued at SSFS; however, the interactive atmosphere around foreign students and American students in the community has been around for only five years.

“When I was at SSFS, I do not remember any sort of American and foreign students mingling together; there was not as much interaction as I observe now,” said Hannah Kerr, a memeber of the SSFS Class of 1995.

Bim Schauffler, the current director of the ISP Program, started teaching here in 2000. Bim has strived to develop ideas that build a bridge between domestic and foreign students.

“I guess the period of time when the international students became really involved in activities and ISP events traces back to the time when a huge group of Chinese students started to form at SSFS around in 2005. To be honest, when I first came, Koreans dominated the whole ISP group and tended to be more exclusive. I think that it is just part of Korean tradition and custom. As a lot of Chinese students came to SSFS and the group became diverse, the Chinese group took the initiative. They were willing to share their culture and traditions, creating the first ethnic club called Chinese Culture Club,” said Schauffler.

Since then, Shauffler feels that ISP events have steadily improved. There has been more efforts, more participation, and more interest from the community outside of the ISP Program.

Students also have been willing to take initiative in planning events. International students run and organize the events and learn how to cooperate with American students. They spend their own time practicing their performances for events such as the ISP potluck dinner and fashion show, and they cook food to serve guests and are always willing to share their cultures.

A lot of parents of American students and American students themselves noticed that in the potluck there was interesting food and greater participation taken by both International and American students. For instance, about 130 to 150 people attended the ISP potluck last year.

The fashion show as well has also gotten more creative through the years. As the attention to such ISP events grows larger, more improvements are expected.

“I would like to see more innovation in the fashion show. Since the theme is pretty much the same each year, it would be fantastic to hear folk songs, folk dances of different countries or even performances of martial arts as Kyung showed,” said Eduardo Pol?n, one of the co-coordinators of the ISP assembly.

For some International students, like senior You-Mee Jo, the program has had a huge impact on their lives, and makes schooling at SSFS special.

“I feel very proud of events of organized by the ISP Program and I find the school unique because of it. I cannot imagine how it would have been like without the program. The school would have been just monotonous and depressing; I even might have forgotten and have been forgotten myself as a part of this community. It is just great that I have been able to enjoy unique experiences that I could have missed outside of this community,” said Jo.

Cindy Back, the recording clerk for the ISP program, agreed with Jo in that SSFS introduced her to different cultures.

“By coming to SSFS and joining the ISP program, I have gained a lot of benefits; it has enabled me to create a bond among people form different nationalities, which is fascinating. As we prepare food for the ISP potluck, I would like to see students from different nationalities cook food together, instead of students from the same country cook their own cuisine. Also, I anticipate improvements to be made in terms of progress preparing for the international fashion show. The clerk of the committee ought to start ahead coordinating the performances,” said Back. “Furthermore, I hope some American students engage in organizing international events so that they become more aware of what it is like to be like the international students. Also, it will be a great help for ISP program to be more active and to draw more attention from the outside.”

The ISP Potluck will take place in the cafeteria three times this year and the ISP Fashion Show will happen in March, as well as newly planned events such as International Film night, a celebration of Chinese and Korean New Year, and fundraising for third world countries. The events are to be coordinated and organized by the ISP international club committee and the dates for the events will be posted around school.