The recently revived International Student Resource Centre will celebrate re-opening their doors as a student-run, peer support centre for international students with the first ever International Student Awards on Saturday, Nov. 14.

Although the centre was created in 1982, it had lapsed to the point that it was shuttered for two years. Fortunately, this past February, a student from Zimbabwe took the initiative to not only remount the centre, but to also launch an award ceremony to recognize and award international student achievement on and off campus. She also ran elections for a new operating committee and now serves as committee president.

"From a personal point of view, I wanted to get the centre up and running again so that the international students who had been meeting in their own individual groups could get together and not just interact with each other but with Canadian students as well,” said Danai Kusikwenyu, International Student Resource Centre president and fourth year English major.

On Nov. 14, students from countries from around the globe will be honoured with awards such as Student of the Year, Academic Excellence, Exceptional Volunteerism, a “Sunshine” award and a People’s Choice Award carried out via an electronic web vote.

The event will take place in the Health Sciences Centre's main auditorium at 6 p.m., with a reception to follow. A major feature of the awards is the presentation of a scholarship to a student who has displayed exceptional service, leadership and achievement on behalf of and in aid of international students on campus.

Kusikwenyu hopes the activity and raised profile of the International Student Resource Centre will encourage greater international student involvement on campus and to unite international students within a single collective by encouraging the community to interact together. Mostly though, she hopes the award ceremony will create a university tradition that each international student community can identify with, participate in and benefit from in the years to come.

“There are so many great things about working and studying in Canada, the most being that you can keep your identity because everyone here is so welcoming. Memorial is a fantastic place to be,” said Ms. Kusikwenyu.

The International Student Resource Centre (ISC) is a support centre for international students and their families. It advocates on behalf of international student issues, creates greater international student awareness on and off campus, promotes multiculturalism with events and programming while all the while envisioning greater integration between international students and the greater university community.