Student Organization Spotlight: International Student Mentors W&L’s International Student Mentors Program pairs new international students with upper-division students to help them navigate life on campus.

By Kelsey Goodwin
April 21, 2025

As she prepares to graduate in May, Veronika Kolosova ’25 has had many meaningful experiences to reflect on, but her most cherished experience on campus has been through the International Student Mentors Program, which pairs new international students with upper-division international students to help them navigate life on campus.

The program began in 2018 and has grown along with W&L’s international student population. There are currently 178 international students enrolled; on average, 10% of the incoming class will be international. International students arrive for an orientation facilitated by W&L’s Center for International Education a week prior to the beginning of Leading Edge, W&L’s first-year orientation experience, and Kolosova says the program is an opportunity to show newcomers to campus how welcoming W&L can be.

“That’s the first impression they get of the university,” said Kolosova, a business administration and strategic communication double major from Moscow. “We’re the first indication that they get of how people are going to treat them, and for people who are flying here from all over the world, people who’ve never been in the U.S., being the friend that they need has been the highlight of my experience here at W&L.”

Each new international student is paired with an upper-division student when they arrive on campus. Last year, Hunter Swanson, associate director of international education, worked with associate professor of sociology Linny Chin and her research lab to create an algorithm for the program’s application process based on survey data and focus groups that would help match students more effectively. The lab also helped Swanson build a Canvas course that provides training resources to new mentors as they prepare to welcome their mentees to campus.

Elena Lee ’25, a history major born and raised in Yokohama, Japan, said getting to know new people through her role as an international student mentor has been one of her favorite parts of her W&L experience. Lee’s family currently resides in Pennsylvania, but she has lived in several countries and attended a variety of international schools, an experience that motivated her to become an international student mentor.

“I absolutely love getting to hear all of the different students’ stories: where they’re from, where they’ve lived, all of the places they’ve explored and the journey to W&L,” said Lee. “I wanted to become a mentor in the program so that I could have an opportunity to meet and interact with the international students who arrived on campus, but to also serve as a point of contact for them in every way — not just as someone who could answer questions but who had gone through the culture shocks, some of the confusion and the social adjustments, just all of it. I love every cohort of international students I’ve interacted with, and it always makes me so happy when the students I mentor or mentored say hi to me or get excited to see me around campus.”

“We try to facilitate these relationships as much as possible through the mentor program and through making sure we have a lot of orientation leaders for international student orientation,” Swanson said, “more than most schools typically have. I try to have one orientation leader per three new students coming in. It’s another great opportunity for connection.” Many student orientation leaders also serve as mentors, taking their mentees out for coffee or other regular meetups throughout the academic year. Swanson encourages mentors and mentees to attend events on campus together and explore the surrounding area.

“The program also helps mentors develop more of a sense of belonging on campus by allowing them to welcome newcomers, show them around campus and share their favorite things about the university,” Swanson said.

Lee said working with Swanson has also been a highlight of the program for her.

“I love working with Hunter because his passion for what he does, both as an educator and as an adviser, is so evident in all of his interactions with the international students here on campus,” Lee said.

Zuhaira Noor ’27, a computer science major, was inspired to become a mentor by her own experience with her mentor, Hamza Zia ’26, who grew up near Noor’s hometown of Islamabad, Pakistan. The summer before arriving on campus, Zia, an engineering major, and Noor communicated frequently via text and email about what to pack and other questions she had about preparing for the school year.

“He helped me a lot, and I felt like we were friends even before I got here,” Noor said, adding that the friends she has made through the program have helped redefine her sense of community as her circle of friends has expanded to include people from all over the world.

“I absolutely love getting to hear all of the different students’ stories: where they’re from, where they’ve lived, all of the places they’ve explored and the journey to W&L.”

~ Elena Lee ’25

Hailey Minnery ’25, a neuroscience major from Stafford, Virginia, said her journey to becoming an international student mentor began her first year when she was assigned to be Kolosova’s roommate and got to know other international students through Kolosova. Swanson reached out to Minnery during International Student Orientation to help with airport transportation for incoming students prior to the beginning of her sophomore year. Shortly thereafter, Swanson invited her to apply for the mentorship program.

Minnery had studied abroad in Costa Rica and Spain prior to getting involved with the program. She said that this, combined with the relationships she had formed with international students, helped prepare her for being a mentor. She enjoyed welcoming new students to W&L by drawing from her own experiences of arriving in a new country and understanding the mix of excitement and anxiety that can happen.

“I especially love being there to pick them up from the airport,” said Minnery, who is currently studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, “because I know that feeling from their perspective. You’ve been looking forward to this for so long, and it’s also stressful.”

Mentor Adhip Adhikari ’27, an economics and mathematics double major from Kathmandu, Nepal, also emphasized the importance of using his own experiences to help new international students feel welcome, supported and capable of succeeding at W&L. He added that his “pay it forward” philosophy is prominent in W&L’s culture.

“Whenever I’m talking to other W&L people who have already graduated on networking calls,” Adhikari said, “something everyone says is, ‘Someone has helped us get here. We are trying to help you get to where you want, and we expect you guys to do the same with people coming up.’ So that’s something that inspires me. That’s what I’m trying to do in whatever capacity I can. If I can help make my mentees’ lives easier by giving them advice, helping them register for classes or getting more involved in extracurriculars, I’m more than happy to do that because alumni and seniors have helped me.”