Wolfville International Student Support Program

In September, the Town of Wolfville will launch the Wolfville International Student Support Program to ensure International students in their first year of study at Acadia University enjoy community connections.

The program will match groups of two students with a volunteer in the community who will provide informal, social supports.

Together, the matched groups will share social activities, enjoy cultural exchange opportunities and the resident volunteers will also act as support persons as the students navigate life in a new community.

The groups of three will be matched based on interests like arts and culture, sightseeing, outdoor activities or sharing food. Larger group activities or field trips with all the program participants will also be organized through the academic year.

Background

In December of 2022 Town Council directed staff to start an engagement cycle to gather feedback from the community regarding intentional actions that the Town and the community could support to build feelings of inclusion. An international student from Acadia was hired on a ten-week contract to support staff in the engagement work.

Feedback indicated a need to remove barriers that exist between the on and off-campus communities and it was also noted that International students were facing additional challenges in the community ranging in scope from vulnerabilities in housing to barriers accessing culturally significant foods.

During the engagement cycle, the Host Family Program that had been previously operated by the Wong Centre at Acadia was often mentioned. The program had matched international students with buddies or host families in the community. The fondly remembered program had not operated for a number of years.

Based on this program’s historic success, a proposal was put forward to look at re-launching it. In January of 2024, an international student was hired on another short contact to run a feasibility cycle, and to assist with program development of a new Host Family Project.

Pilot Program

The Wolfville International Student Support Program, a re-imagined version of the former Host Family Program, will launch as a pilot in September, with a goal of completing intake for 20 first-year International students. These students will be matched with 10 volunteer community support persons. The pilot program will be operated by the Town of Wolfville and will employ an International student for six hours a week as a coordinator.

The coordinator will work with Town staff and flow information from participants to staff as a means of monitoring and evaluating program success. The coordinator will make sure that students and community support persons are participating well and working to achieve the desired outcomes of the program. The coordinator will also provide activity suggestions and connections as needed.

Call for Volunteers

Want to become a volunteer community support person? Click the sidebar link!