Students in the residence halls, learning communities and greek system will soon be able to experience cultures from all over the world right where they live.

Judy Dolphin, director of the YWCA, said international undergraduate students are currently applying for jobs to share their cultures and traditions with ISU students through a program called “Building Bridges.”

The YWCA and Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS) came up with the idea for “Building Bridges” to help American students appreciate the diversity within other regions of the world, Dolphin said.

“[The program] will really help break down barriers between international and American students,” said Ingrid Roseborough, program assistant for the YWCA.

“There is still less than hoped for interaction between college students from America and college students from other countries [on this campus],” Dolphin said. “There’s some cross-over, but nothing pervasive.”

Another aspect of campus life that helped define her plans for the program was the large number of programs offered at ISU, Dolphin said.

“Offering a program and expecting people to come to it is unrealistic,” Dolphin said.

“Building Bridges” will be brought to where students live at a time that is convenient, she said.

“It will be a place where [students] aren’t preached at, just where they can have a good time for an hour,” Dolphin said. “We want students to have fun.”

“Building Bridges” will not be a lecture, Roseborough said.

“Students [will] get together, interact and experience traditions and cultures, not just hear about them,” Roseborough said.

Instead of a lecture presentation format, the program will be made up of international facilitators initiating games, stories and discussion that raise awareness of their cultures and traditions.

Angela Woon, cultural coordinator for the YWCA, said “Building Bridges” is currently looking for African-American and Latin-American undergraduate students to become facilitators for the program.

To facilitate the program, 12 undergraduate students from Asia, Africa and Latin America will be hired, said Woon, senior in journalism and mass communication.

The students will be paid for the time it takes to plan, organize and give the presentations, Woon said.

The students do not have to have a program planned before they apply to become facilitators, Dolphin said.

The “Building Bridges” program was modeled after Weekend Voyagers, a similar program for Ames and Story County school-aged children, Dolphin said.

“People brought really little children, grandparents, older sisters and brothers,” she said. “Adults were dancing, talking with people from other countries and in some cases getting more out of it [than the children].”

International undergraduates from Africa and Latin America who are interested in applying for the “Building Bridges” program can call the YWCA at 294-1663, e-mail [email protected] or pick up an application in Room 15 of Alumni Hall.