New international TA's push Wheaton to 'get globalized'
Erin Kole '12
Issue date: 9/17/08 Section: Features
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Four young adults from around the globe traversed not only oceans but cultural divides to come and contribute to Wheaton's self-proclaimed diverse community.
The question at hand is whether Wheaton is really as diverse as it projects itself and how international students feel once they have landed in Norton, Massachusetts after years abroad.
Lena Ringleb, the new TA for the German Department, will be the first to tell you that "TAs are students too."
Required to audit at least two classes, the new TAs will certainly savor a taste of the Wheaton student's experience.
Ringleb previously attended a university in Germany where she was an American Studies major with a minor in Political Science and Economics amongst 20,000 other students. Her average lectures in introductory classes drew anywhere from seventy to 500 students.
Coming to Wheaton, where her Modern American History professor warned her of the "large" 30 student lecture she would be attending, has been an exciting entry into a wildly different environment.
Fabiola Benedetti and Elena Castillo of the Spanish department are both taking a literary translation course and are enthralled in the different style of teaching, hoping to take some of what they will learn here back to their home countries.
Converging from such different cultural backgrounds on the Wheaton campus, surely these students had something to say about the levels of diversity here.
Overall, the TAs have found Wheaton to be just as diverse as it claims to be and appreciate its efforts to band the international students together through the Center for Global Education, The Davis House--where many of the TAs live--and the International Student Association.
Ringleb attended the International Pre-Orientation program and was immediatly thrust into the International community at Wheaton. Since she works in the language department, she feels constantly surrounded with all things international and admits to a bias towards finding international students on campus, seeing as she can share much common ground with them.
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