Northwest international students participate in educational day at state capitol

Thirty international students attending Northwest Missouri State University received a glimpse into state government Wednesday when they traveled to Jefferson City for the annual International Education Day at the capitol building.

Sponsored by the Study Missouri consortium, the event offers international students a chance to meet peers attending other schools throughout the state. More than 150 students from nine Missouri colleges and universities participated this year.

In addition to networking opportunities, students listened to presentations and toured the Capitol. The Northwest delegation met with Sen. Rusty Black, who represents the district encompassing Nodaway County, and stopped for ice cream at Central Dairy in Jefferson City.

“Whenever I accompany a group of students to this special event, what I find most rewarding is witnessing them connect with fellow students from their home country who are attending other Missouri institutions of higher education,” Thomas Merlot, the director of international involvement at Northwest, said. “The sense of relief on their faces upon realizing they are not alone is priceless. Although they may only see each other on this day, the conversations they share leave a lasting impression, etched in their memories.”

Kentaro Onishi, a junior from Japan who is majoring in political science with an emphasis in global affairs, participated in the event to further explore his career interest in politics.

“I had an opportunity to ask questions to one of the state senators about how he gathers the voices of constituents,” Onishi said. “I learned how he values community engagement in the political process.”

Onishi said he was attracted to Northwest by its location in the center of the United States, and transferred from another university in Japan.

“The experience here is so nice so far,” he said. “Since I am a very talkative person, I love how people are friendly.”

Similarly, Joey Van der Linden, a multimedia journalism major from the Netherlands, was interested in hearing the stories of other international students.

“As a mass media student and visual storyteller, I’m always intrigued by the many adventures and tales of other students,” Van der Linden said. “International Education Day was a hive of travelers around the world, pursuing their dream, and I wanted to discover more about their journey.”

Van der Linden is studying at Northwest as part of an exchange program and will return to his home in the Netherlands in May. He will continue his studies for the next year with plans to embark on a career in creative video and photography.

“Northwest was one of the three options I had for choosing a minor to study abroad as a Dutch exchange student and was in hindsight the best choice I could have made,” he said. “Northwest gave me the opportunity to grow as an adult, learn valuable knowledge and travel to beautiful places, which would have never happened if I stayed at my home institution.”

According to Study Missouri, the state ranks 12th in the nation in its ability to attract international students and has the seventh lowest cost of living.

Further, Northwest is among the top destinations in the United States for international students seeking higher education, according to the 2024 Open Doors Report, a leading benchmark for international educational exchange in the U.S. that ranked the University at No. 14 among the nation’s master’s colleges and universities.

The University’s international student population represents 8 percent of the student body and hails from 47 other countries with most of those students coming from India, Nepal, Nigeria, Morocco South Africa.