International students wind up their time at Bloomfield College

According to Joseph Caporale, director of the American Language Center, “Thirteen countries were represented on campus this summer during the international students programs. Faculty and students came from Brazil, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Korea, Peru, Uruguay, Thailand, and Romania.”

Mr. Caporale was introducing the completion ceremony for the international students who have spent many months at the Bloomfield College campus for a variety of programs. “Summers at most colleges find empty campuses; but at Bloomfield College we offered six different international programs for high school and college students as well as visiting faculty,” he explained. “And we are expecting 20 or more professors from China in a few weeks!”

The completion ceremony, which is an annual event, conferred certificates to the scores of young nursing students from Korea who came to the United States in order to observe nursing practices in American health care systems and to perfect their English language skills through intensive immersion courses. Richard Levao, president of the college, noted that international involvement is becoming essential in order to solve global issues such as environmental, financial, and fair trade. “By working and learning together we celebrate our global diversity,” he said. “One way to understanding other cultures is through higher education. Bloomfield College is a part of trying to move the United States towards greater understanding of cultural diversity and we are glad you have participated in this.”

Featured speakers were Dr. Young Mee Kim, professor of nursing at the Red Cross College of Nursing in Korea; visiting nursing students Ji Hye Kim and Kwangmee Jung, and Dr. Peter Jeong, vice president for Technology and Professional Studies. The common themes of all the speakers were the wonderful experiences of traveling to and learning in another country and meeting new people who will be lifelong friends. Dr. Kim noted that more than 320 Korean nursing students have successfully completed the program through Bloomfield College and thanked the college for influencing the students to dream globally. Ji Hye Kim said that through learning English she learned about a new culture and discovered that she now has the tools to learn to live in a strange place. “At first I had a hard time communicating with the patients at the hospital,” she says, “but through the help of the nurses, I learned to open my mind to them. I thank Bloomfield College, the nurses at Morristown Memorial Hospital and the faculty who taught me to respect patients as individuals.” Kwangmee Jung reiterated her experiences and noted that she discovered many commonalities of nursing practices between Korea and the United States. “Dare to be the best you can be,” she advised her fellow students. “Then do it!”

While the ceremony focused on the Korean nursing students, special guests were the high school students from Italy who are on campus attending an English language camp. Using the karaoke videos on YouTube, the students performed to JayZ and Alicia Keys Empire State of Mind and New York Jokers.