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Appalachian joins global organization |
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Thursday, 05 April 2007 |
by JULIA HARR
News Reporter
Appalachian State University joined the world’s largest student-based organization, AIESEC, this school year.
“This organization exists in over 90 countries and 800 universities,” Sarah C. Green, junior accounting major and AIESEC president, said. “There is only one other chapter in North Carolina, at [University of North Carolina at] Chapel Hill.”
Last semester, the group joined with Walker College of Business and university clubs. Since its start, the club has gained between 30 and 40 members, Green said.
“In
the beginning, we just set up contact tables and were part of the club
expo,” Green said. “We would like to get international programs
involved, too.”
According to the organization’s Web site, AIESEC has 20,000 members globally.
The new club meets once a week on Tuesdays in Thelma C. Raley Hall room
4020 at 8 p.m. Everyone is invited and encouraged to attend meetings
regardless of major or class.
At each meeting, the group discusses various global issues including global warming and human trafficking.
“Outside of our weekly meetings we try to plan various campus events,”
Jim W. Cleary Jr., a senior English, secondary education major and
AIESEC events team leader, said. “Right now we are trying to show a
movie that deals with South African issues.”
Other events in the works include a global, round-table discussion
where various topics about globalization will be presented and
discussed.
The club plans on having a booth at the Diversity Celebration. Cleary
also hopes the group can organize a 5K run in the near future.
AIESEC currently is selling T-shirts for $10, and all proceeds go toward helping Appalachian students be successful abroad.
A major goal for the club is to get the community involved by seeking
local businesses to grant internships to international students, Green
said.
“Provided that AIESEC gets the necessary funding, they plan to send
Appalachian students on a program called Salaam, which promotes
peaceful Middle Eastern relationships,” Green said. “Students will
travel to destinations like Afghanistan and Beirut to complete
internships.”
“One cool thing about AIESEC is that they help you get used to the
culture,” Green said. “If an international AIESEC member came to
Appalachian, we would help them get used to it over here.”
“AIESEC (pronounced ‘eye-sek’) is a French acronym that stands for
Association Internationale des Etudiants en Sciences Economiques et
Commerciales, or International Association of Students in Economic and
Commercial Sciences,” according to the Web site. “However, our focus
has grown to encompass a much wider range of disciplines.”
To find out more about the organization, visit www.aiesecus.org. For more information regarding club events, contact Sarah Green at
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