A small group of SMU students, including those from othercountries and states is staying on campus this Thanksgivingholiday. Their reasons are all different. The trip is either toofar away or too expensive for the short, four-day vacation; forother students, Thanksgiving is not celebrated within theirfamily.
This is why SMU and the surrounding community is offeringalternatives to a holiday spent at home.
International students can register for the InternationalFriendship Program, sponsored by the International Office andHighland Park Presbyterian Church.
“We work with the International Friendship Program to pairup international students with American families,” saidMichael Clark, director of admissions and relations for theInternational Office. “They then get to celebrateThanksgiving with that family.”
Patricia Bradley moderates the program at Highland ParkPresbyterian Church.
She said that there are about 40 students registered from SMUthis year.
“The main idea of the program is to exchange cultural andfriendship ideas,” Bradley said.
The Catholic Campus Ministry is having neighborhood familieshost students as well.
“We asked families interested in hosting a student forThanksgiving to sign up,” said Michelle Freeman, thecampus’ Catholic minister. “Students staying over thebreak signed up and we just paired them off with eachfamily,” she said.
For students who live on campus, Umphrey Lee will be open until2 p.m. on Thursday and throughout the break.
“It will be a scaled down Thanksgiving because we had anelaborate Thanksgiving dinner last Thursday,” said Tim West,marketing manager for SMU Dining Services. West also said thatstudents can pre-order a box lunch for Thursday night but they mustpick it up before 2 p.m.
Junior journalism major Naomi Nicholas is an internationalstudent from St. Lucia. She said leaving Umphrey Lee open over thebreak is nice for students who will not be going home.
“I think it’s a good idea because students that liveon campus will have somewhere to go and eat, especially since it isfree,” Nicholas said.
