ISSS recruiting community members to join ‘First Friends’ program for international students

An assortment of rainbow-colored hands reach towards a globe.

International Student and Scholar Services is seeking members of the Vanderbilt and greater Nashville communities for the First Friends program, which matches new international students with a local to help welcome them and ease their transition into American culture.  

Interested partners must go through a background check and attend a First Friends orientation session hosted by ISSS. Interested students also attend an orientation before meeting their partners. Qualified partners are then matched and introduced in the early fall semester.  

Students and their partners commit to connecting at least once per month throughout the academic year, and they are encouraged to take initiative to share their cultural practices with one another.  

To apply, complete the online application. Applications will be accepted through Aug. 1. 

For more details, click here or email Andrea Pietrzyk at andrea.h.pietrzyk@vanderbilt.edu.