The Mentor Program sponsored by Macalester International Student Programs selects returning U.S. and international students to serve as mentors to incoming international students and domestic Ametrica participants. Students will meet their mentors during pre-orientation and will consult with them regularly throughout the semester. Mentors provide a student’s perspective on both academic and personal life at Macalester. Their job is to help international students feel comfortable at Macalester and answer their questions about policies and procedures related to life in the residence halls, campus facilities, registration and academic procedures, as well as questions about U.S. culture and off-campus opportunities in the Twin Cities Metro community.
Where have the ISP mentors been all summer? Check out the 2019 Where in the World Video to find out!
Jessica(Wenyang) Ding (Class of 2022) is a senior from Shenzhen, China. She is a Psychology major and planning to minor in Dance. She is fond of traveling while shooting vlogs. She loves k-pop music and is willing to learn new languages. All of her friends regard her as an athletic person.
Shea Husband (Class of 2022) is a rising senior and returning mentor from a suburb of Los Angeles, California. He studies Linguistics and has an immense passion for learning languages. In his free time, besides learning languages, Shea enjoys cooking, learning about food, singing, and reading while enjoying a nice cup of tea. At Mac, Shea serves on the board of the Macalester Korean Culture Organization (MacKCO) and works in the Macalester Linguistics department in addition to ISP. He can’t wait to meet you all in the fall!
Alexander Hopkins (Class of 2022) is a rising senior and returning mentor. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts but has lived in Johannesburg, South Africa since 2010. He is an Economics major and Computer Science minor. He enjoys watching and talking about sports, playing board games, and spending time with friends. He is also the captain of the Men’s Rugby team at Macalester. He is really looking forward to being a mentor and excited to meet you all in the fall.
Rita Liu (Class fo 2022) is a senior and is born and raised in China. She is double majoring in Applied Math and Statistics and Economic. During her free time, she enjoys watching comedies or romantic TV series, reading novels, and trying different restaurants. She also started to
learn cooking this summer. She is very excited to be an ISP mentor and meet new
people around the world!
Healeam Jung (Class of 2022) is a senior majoring in Chemistry with an emphasis in Biochemistry and a minor in Biology. She is from Incheon, South Korea, but when she was in 5th grade she went to an international school in India. She enjoys playing a variety of sports for fun, eating good food, having bubble tea, playing the piano, bowling, and spending time with her friends. At Macalester, she serves in the board of Koreans at Macalester (MacKCO). She can’t wait to meet you guys all!
Fengyuan (Andrea) Liu, (Class of 2022) is originally from China and lived in the Chicago area for three years prior to Macalester. As a senior, she majors in Asian Studies with a concentration in literature, and she also enjoys creative writing. She loves reading, swimming, eating, and being goofy with her friends. Andrea started working at ISP in the spring of 2019. She is thrilled about being a mentor and meeting everyone in the fall!
Uditi Chandrashekhar (class of 2024) is from a few different places in India. She is planning on majoring in physics and psychology (and perhaps a minor in Ed. Studies). She loves to travel, read, listen to music and have intense conversations and is excited for all the opportunities Mac offers.
Lily Cooper, Program Assistant, (Class of 2023) is from Madison, Wisconsin. When she was in high school she moved to Oaxaca, Mexico for a year with her family. At Mac, Lily’s involved in MJO and chorale. She loves going on long camping and canoeing trips in the Boundary Waters and Canada, too! Lily took a leave of absence to work on a Chestnut farm last semester, but is excited to be back at Macalester, working for ISP and studying Anthropology, Religious Studies and Latin American Studies.
Erik Borgehammar (Class of 2023) is a rising junior from Naperville, Illinois. He has spent significant time with family in both the Philippines and Sweden, and can speak Swedish in addition to English. He is majoring in Computer Science and Chemistry. He is part of the Filipinos at Mac club and is active in the Intramural and pick-up soccer communities. In his free time, Erik enjoys climbing, walking, running, playing tennis, and longboarding. He looks forward to welcoming students from all over the world to the Macalester community!
Nam Nguyen (class of 2023) is a rising junior raised in Sai Gon, Viet Nam. He is an English and Computer Science double major, with a minor in Japanese. He enjoys doing fun activities with his friends, whether it’s watching a series, playing board games, or chilling with frisbee/disc golf. He’d love to chat about fantasy fiction, food, or anything my mentees find exciting. He is super excited to meet you all in person this year!
Aalyan Arif (Class of 2024) is a rising sophomore from Pakistan. He is planning on an Economics and Computer Science double major. He is always hyped and full of energy, which is why you may notice he always ends sentences in exclamation marks! It’s his way of enjoying every moment of life. His interests, in one word, can be described as primarily nerdy. He enjoys video games a lot, discussing comics and playing around with Math. It’s more fun than it sounds! On the other side of the spectrum, he really enjoys sightseeing and visiting waterfalls, hiking etc. He would love to meet you all and plan a trip to the many amazing sights around the college! He looks forward to meeting you all in the fall and to helping you start this amazing journey!
Johan Azambou (Class of 2024) is a rising sophomore from Buea, Cameroon. He can speak French, German and his mother tounge in addition to English. He is planning to double major in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science and minor in Philosophy. At Mac, Ihe is part of Lives of Commitment and an active member of the pick-up soccer community. During his free time, he enjoys watching and playing football (soccer), taking walks, listening to music, and meeting new people. He can’t wait to meet y’all in the Fall. He is excited to assist you transition into the Macalester community!
Jarita Chen (Class of 2022) is a senior majoring in Political Science and Environmental Studies. She was born and raised in Shanghai, China on her mom’s side and is a Taiwanese citizen of Hoklo-settler descent through her dad. Knitting, percussion, Japanese music, Korean crime dramas, and learning languages are some of her longtime interests, and she loves cats and bubble tea. She spent the last year at a part-time study away (home?) in Hualien, Taiwan. Since returning to St Paul, she’s really looking forward to meeting everyone!
Mateo Useche Rosania (Class of 2024) was born in Quito, Ecuador. He has also lived in Lexington, MA for some time. His intended major is Economics. I am part of the XC and Track team at Mac! In his free time, he enjoys playing spikeball, soccer, and frisbee with his friends. He enjoys watching tv shows and listening to all types of music as well as cooking. He is really excited to become a mentor and help out in any way he can. You can always reach him through his phone number or email and he is always down to go on walks, runs, or go out to a coffee shop!
Ginnetho Boateng (Class of 2024) is a rising sophomore from Accra, Ghana. He is pursuing an Economics and French double major. He enjoys playing all kinds of sports, especially his favorite, soccer. He also enjoys cooking and trying out different kinds of food as well as sight-seeing. In his spare time, he likes to read, listen to music, exercise at the gym, watch soccer games and take nice long walks. He is looking forward to meeting you all on campus in the fall!
Thant Arkar (Arkar) Kyaw (Class of 2024) is a rising sophomore from Myanmar. He is planning to study Economics and Computer Science as a double major. At the moment, he is self-teaching French and Chinese with help from his friends. He is basically a geek. He loves Marvel, Anime, Gundam, Webtoons, etc!!! Fun fact, he is also working on his own Webtoon at the moment. He is in the investment club at Macalester and crazy about badminton. He loves traveling in general because this way he learns about great people, great cultures and most important of all, great food! He’s really excited to meet all of you on campus and wants to say to you all, “Live long and prosper!” *Spock with a Vulcan salute*
Aliya Nadeeva (Class of 2024) is a Russian national and UWC RCN graduate. She is interested in majoring in Computer Science and German Studies and minoring in Music. In her free time, she loves spending time with her friends, traveling, playing bass guitar and reading. She enjoys being outside and especially loves winter activities like skating and skiing.
Jingyao (Raymond) Gu (Class of 2022) is from Wuxi, China. He is a senior majoring in Computer Science and AMS. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, playing board games, and playing all kinds of sports, especially basketball, with his friends. In the summer, he has been hiking and camping in several state and national parks around Minnesota. He is looking forward to meeting everybody in the fall!
Tenzin Gyaltsen (Class of 2024) is a rising sophomore student from Tibet. He is known as Tenzin (there are many Tibetans named Tenzin) to his peers here at Macalester. He is interested in majoring in Computer Science and Economics. At Mac, he is an active member of pick-up soccer and a crazy football (the real one lol) fan. He is also engaged with mentoring Tibetan students in India aspiring to study in the US through the project called the Sontsa Initiative. He is an avid reader of global politics surrounding US and China’s role to the world. He is excited and grateful to be able to assist new international students to Macalester college this fall.
Connie Zhang (Class of 2023) is a Junior majoring in Statistics with a concentration in Community and Global Health. She is from Beijing, China, and moved to Seattle, Washington when she was twelve. In her free time, she likes to go on long runs, read, and watch movies. She also enjoys spicy food and baked goodies!
Ethan Hyslop (Class of 2023) is a Junior born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Though his home is only twenty minutes away from campus, he loves to travel and learn about new cultures! At Macalester he is majoring in Sociology and Data Science, and is involved with the student-run Program Board and X-ertion dance team in addition to being an ISP Mentor. He spends most of his free time with friends, either enjoying the excellent restaurants of the Twin Cities, taking in an art exhibition at a local museum, playing pool in the campus center, or hosting Super Smash Brothers tournaments. He is also an avid cyclist, and enjoys training in Taekwondo. Ethan can’t wait to meet the Class of 2025, especially his mentees!
Lingxiao Lou (Class of 2023) is from Zhejiang, China. He is a junior majoring in Biology and planning to minor in philosophy. In his spare time, he enjoys drawing, solving jigsaw puzzles, tinkering with electronics, and exercising. He is looking forward to meeting with you all in the fall.