International students offer ‘rich and diverse’ perspectives

PWH Student Fellow David Kato is profiled in this article from Penn Today, which looks at how international students enrich the Penn community and the future of global higher education.

Bringing the world to Penn and Penn to the world has been the mission of Penn Global since its establishment more than 10 years ago, and a key and meaningful way that happens each year is with the presence of international students on campus.

...

David Kato, a third-year majoring in political science on a pre-med track, from Kigali, Rwanda, says he’s grown at Penn in ways he couldn’t have foreseen.

He’s the undergraduate vice chair of the International Student Advisory Board, working with Nagatani and others to “voice the experiences and problems of international students and to make sure you give the students’ perspective, and shed light on them,” he says.

He’s also a Perry World House Student Fellow and became a certified EMT, working with the student-run Medical Emergency Response Team.

“It feels like I’m actively giving back and actively inching towards my career goals at the same time,” he says. “It has been a very meaningful experience in the sense that it has given me a hands-on taste of what the career I’m aspiring to would look like.”

David Kato, a third-year majoring in political science on a pre-med track, from Kigali, Rwanda, at the International Labor Organization in Geneva, Switzerland earlier this month. Over spring break, Kato traveled to Geneva with other Perry World House Student Fellows for the Global Perspective Program. (Image: Courtesy of Noah Sylvia)

Having started at Penn thousands of miles away on Zoom at odd times of day due to the pandemic, there were times when Kato wondered if he’d ever come to campus and feel a part of the community. 

“When the on-campus transition happened, I feel like our pandemic experience made our connections even stronger, especially being a part of the student groups. You feel like you’re not just doing something for yourself; you’re doing something for Penn and the Penn community, and it creates connections and makes the experience more meaningful.”

One important part of Kato’s time at Penn was being exposed to the diversity of people’s experiences and journeys, he says.

“It might push you to grow your ideas, and, even if it doesn’t, it challenges you to understand why you hold on to looking at the world in a certain way,” he says. “I’ve had a lot of change in perspective in terms of how I can realize some of the goals I have and the potential I have to do better in the world and make a difference. I know about the vast inequalities in the world, but my eyes have also been opened on how to tackle that. I’m saying this very lightly, mostly because I have a way to go to get there, but what I take away from Penn is knowing that it’s possible and knowing where to begin the journey.”

During the last few years, especially in the wake of the pandemic, the world has seen a push toward de-globalization, with countries pulling away rather than seeing close relations with other nations as a positive, says Ezekiel Emanuel, vice provost for global initiatives. But that’s not Penn’s approach.

“We’re committed to globalization, and we believe that more global interaction is better,” he says, and student exchanges are an important part of that effort.

“Even at the height of the Cold War, the U.S. had exchanges with the Soviet Union because it was a way of understanding, not miscalculating, becoming more friendly, and developing places where you could collaborate,” Emanuel says. “We think that’s true now. It’s important to study and learn about other countries. We’re continuing our global engagement at Penn, and there’s no stopping it going forward.”

Read more on Penn Today>>