Racing Toward Internationalization

A landmark event at TRU brings Canadian and international students together

Every fall, a unique event takes place on and around the campus of Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia. It began in September 2005, when more than a dozen four-person teams raced through Kamloops, running, taxiing, and even riding tricycles to get from one destination to the next.

These teams were guided by clues, which took them to local businesses, restaurants, and parks to complete such diverse challenges as bowling backwards, dancing, gobbling chicken wings, shooting hoops, and binding their legs together to hop awkwardly along. They were the student participants in Thompson Rivers University’s (TRU) version of the popular TV reality show, The Amazing Race.

Each race team features two Canadian students and two international students who joined forces to finish the wacky course through Kamloops. In the end, everyone emerges victorious (if tired!), after spending the day getting to know each other, interacting with the Kamloops community, and participating in a meaningful experience of campus life in Canada.

The Amazing Race is one of dozens of recreational activities organized every year by TRU’s International Student Activity Program. “We know from student feedback that our international students are here not only because of academic considerations, but social and cultural ones as well,” says ISAP Coordinator Kari Pavlovich. “They rate ‘making friends and meeting Canadians’ as a top goal for their experience at TRU. So we try to help them make that happen.”

For more on ISAP and the Amazing Race, including a mini-documentary video, please visit http://j.mp/be9fRO