Student Diversity Outreach

More than a hundred years ago, Mary Sibley founded the school I attend; Lindenwood University. She founded schools to reach out to groups of people that society left behind. She opened one of the first schools in Missouri to educate African-Americans, headed up a college for girls, and taught English to German immigrants. She showed love and compassion to all people, and shared her time and faith with them on a daily basis. Diversity is to be treasured in this country. This is the land of the free. When I found out that the new foreign students on my campus were having a very difficult time adjusting to living in America, I wanted to make a difference in their lives. A girl from Germany earnestly explained that in her extreme loneliness, I was the first American to show her kindness. So I decided to form a group to help them with English, to answer any questions they had about America, and to spend time showing them around the area. Last weekend I was able to take a group of Japanese students from my dormitory to the annual Japanese Festival downtown. I learned so much from them!