The traditions of gathering around the table to break bread and share a Thanksgiving turkey and maybe some tamales will be different this year for Rio Grande Valley residents as the coronavirus pandemic continues to surge.
Those particularly affected will be international students at UTRGV who may not be able to go home due to current international travel restrictions. That’s where International Admissions and Student Services (IASS) comes in.
Every year, Director of IASS Samantha Lopez and her team organize a Thanksgiving luncheon on both UTRGV campuses. She says this year COVID-19 has changed those plans.
“Now, due to the circumstances, we’re not doing our luncheon as all the events at the university have been canceled,” Lopez said.
Instead, Lopez said they will be partnering with Baptist Student Ministry’s Global Blends and The Office of Professional Education and Workforce Development to distribute food to international students Monday from noon to 1:30 p.m.
“They will be serving the food. They will be making the food and serving the food,” Lopez said. “So they’re going to be providing lunch boxes.”
She said they are following all necessary Centers for Disease Control guidelines for the safety of students as well as the staff.
Another program that IASS hosts is a Holiday Exchange Program (HEP). The program invites faculty and staff of UTRGV to host international students at their homes for the winter break when the school is closed. This year, the program will also be altered to fit safety guidelines.
According to Lopez, there were 20 international students who signed up to be part of the program in Edinburg. Before the email could be sent out, Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurology at UTRGV’s School of Medicine Dr. Micheal Dobbs offered to sponsor them all.
“Years before, the students would go to his house to spend the evening with his family,” Lopez said. “But this time, he’s going to arrange a way for them to get the food and then they’re going to connect via Zoom so they can have some sort of an engagement.”
Lopez adds that they are also partnering with two churches in Brownsville to sponsor six international students at the Brownsville campus.
She said this year has been hard on everyone and gives words of thanks.
“We have to be thankful for this year and we are thankful for the international students for being resilient, for their hard work and we are just so blessed that we have them here at this university and we want to take care of them and we want to make them feel at home,” Lopez said.
For more on this year’s Thanksgiving holidays, visit utrgvradio.com.
For Vaquero News, I’m Justin Elizalde.
