Facilitator Corner: Anya Raj

 

Anya, a student from the United Kingdom, discusses her personal relationship with FIUTS and the ways she views her role as a facilitator.

FIUTS Camp: Fall 2014

FIUTS Facilitators are student leaders from all over the world who welcome new international visitors, help to organize events, and lead activities for hundreds of students each quarter. Read on to find out more about the FIUTS facilitator experience from Anya!

Name: Anya Raj
Country: United Kingdom
Major: Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering
Class: Sophomore
FIUTS Facilitator Since: Summer 2014

Anya was born and raised in Manchester, with parents who are South Indian. Anya has family living on every continent except Antarctica. Oh, and her name is Russian. Anya loves everything to do with flight and space, which is why she is studying aeronautics and astronautics. Her international experience in Seattle has led her to minor in International Studies, in addition to her Music minor.

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What does it mean to be a FIUTS facilitator?

I first came into contact with FIUTS as a freshman. I had barely arrived in Seattle when I was thrown into FIUTS orientation, which has undoubtedly been one of my favourite experiences at the UW so far. FIUTS has really shaped the path of my first year at UW through the friends I’ve made, cultural experiences I have shared, opportunities I have taken advantage of and the confidence I have gained from pushing myself to meet new people during FIUTS orientation.
I became a facilitator this summer so I could give back to FIUTS what I got out of it, and its been one of the best decisions I’ve made at college so far. Facilitating orientation was in its own way even more fun than participating in it! Being a facilitator has given me a lot more confidence, made me more able to think on my feet and has helped me be able to interact with all types of people. Every challenge I’ve faced such as overcoming a language barrier has been entirely worth it. I’ve learnt an incredible amount about other cultures and people in the past few months alone and cant wait to keep learning more.
What I value most about being a facilitator is knowing how much of an impact the small things you do have on someone else. Striking up a conversation with someone who is nervous about their English skills, asking a group of people to get lunch or showing an interest in a person’s culture and language can give people starting out in a new country an invaluable confidence boost. FIUTS reaches out to a lot of different people, and hearing what FIUTS means to others has made me truly proud to be involved with such a great organization.

Favorite FIUTS anecdote as a facilitator

This summer, I facilitated an orientation event called FIUTS camp, where new international students get to experience an American style camp for a weekend. Camp involves something called ‘Campetition’, where cabins of campers are pitted against each other, and through a series of very silly games a Campetition champion is decided. Two of my (very competitive) housemates were also facilitators at FIUTS camp and we were all on different teams. Campetition quickly turned into a roommate competition, and the extra competitive edge caused each of us to go all out with our team spirit. Our silliness had a positive outcome for the campers, however, as the enthusiasm we showed spilled over into the students in our teams. It was great to see relative strangers gradually become more comfortable with being vocal, talking to each other and really getting into the general daftness of Campetition. Funnily enough, none of our teams ended up winning, but we all had a lot of fun and met some amazing people!!

Tips/comments for peer facilitators

Tip 1: Go to every event that you can make it to. FIUTS offers some amazing opportunities to get out and explore. As a student, it is very easy not to leave the U-district for weeks. Getting involved with FIUTS allows you to do some great things with your time that other people will really appreciate. No two events are the same, the people you meet, places you go and things you do are always different and exciting!
Tip 2: Talk to everybody you can. Taking the initiative to begin conversation is really beneficial for the people you’re talking too who may be nervous about starting conversation themselves. Make the extra effort to talk to the quietest people as it’s always a rewarding experience. You may learn amazing things from the people you reach out to and you could even make some great new friends.
Tip 3: Bring a friend (or 10)! Being a FIUTS facilitator has been an amazing opportunity for me to meet new people from around the world, be they facilitators, staff or students, but it has also allowed me to get to know many of my friends who became FIUTS facilitators with me (including my 8 housemates) a lot better. Being with your friends helps with the initial confidence needed for talking to new people and its always more appealing to sign up for events when you’re first starting out if you know at least one other person. My experience as a facilitator has definitely been made even more amazing by having support from my friends. Around the campfire at FIUTS camp the staff taught us a traditional American campfire song which compares new friends to silver and old friends to gold. As cliché as it may sound, there’s definitely a lot to be said for that.

 
FIUTS Front Desk