International forum is planned Thursday at CLC
International students at Central Lakes College will present a free public forum on the Brainerd campus Thursday in celebration of International Student Week.
The panel of 11 CLC students will discuss the government, education and their future plans.
The event, sponsored by the Gordon Rosenmeier Center for State and Local Government, will start at noon in the cafeteria. Included are free samples of international foods related to the cultures of the students.
Panelists are Kamonchat Chatpaitoon "Poon," Kitdipong Seangwanakul "Kitty," and Kiattiyos Towan "New" from Thailand; Ivo Wunderlich from Germany; Felipe Castro from Brazil, Wei Guan "Ivy" from China; Ling-yu Yu "Emily" from Taiwan, Jun Shin and Eo Jin Kim "Jinny" from South Korea; Georgi Geirgiev from Bulgaria; and Juan Colindres "Gabe" from Honduras.
International students who will be among those presenting the Rosenmeier Forum Thursday at Central Lakes College in Brainerd are Kamonchat Chatpaitoon (front left), Thailand; Ivo Wunderlich, Germany; Ivy Guan, China; and Kitty Seangwanakul (back left), Thailand; Jun Shin, South Korea; and Emily Yu, Taiwan.
"From a political perspective, each of the panelists will have an opportunity to explain their education upbringing related to their country's government expectations," said Larry Kellerman, director of the Rosenmeier Center. "They will then make their connection to coming to the United States, to the Brainerd area and to Central Lakes College. They will finish by expressing their plans for the future."
As part of the forum presentation, there will be free samples of international foods relating to each of their cultures.
"One of the missions of the Rosenmeier Center is to serve to inform, educate and encourage citizens of central Minnesota to participate in effective governance," Kellerman said. "The center has tentatively scheduled another forum on Dec. 18 to discuss national security with guest speaker Paul McCabe, communications director for the FBI."
Tax-free donations to fund programming, research and scholarship for the Rosenmeier Center can be made through the Central Lakes College Foundation. Kellerman noted that the college provides facilities and some staffing support, but all donations go to programming.