International Students

At Home

Posted on November 30, 2020 by Ebenezer Mensah

By Ebenezer Mensah ‘23 I walked as fast as my legs could carry me, stopping intermittently to look at my watch. I was running late; the event was scheduled to begin in less than 10 minutes, but I had still not made any progress in locating exactly where it was supposed to take place. I became apprehensive and had a burst of adrenaline. Sweat formed on my brow, and my palms ...

Taking Philosophy to the Public

Posted on November 2, 2020October 29, 2020 by Kevin Hua

By Kevin Hua ‘23 About two years ago I first encountered philosophy in an untraditional fashion over the Internet–it all began when a schoolmate of mine urged me to check out “a cool online philosophy course on death.” My high school in China did not have philosophy in its curriculum, but among the general public and high school students, the subject was considered lofty ...

My Roommate and I: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Posted on October 26, 2020October 23, 2020 by Ebenezer Mensah

By Ebenezer Mensah ‘23 On paper, my roommate and I couldn’t be more different. He was raised in Connecticut, went to high school in Maine, and, like the quintessential American child, grew up watching superhero TV series like “Ben 10.” I, on the other hand, grew up in Sepaase, a small town in Ghana, a country in West Africa, going to farm. In simple words, we grew up worlds ...

Everything Oldenborg

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Chris Meng

By Chris Meng '23 The Oldenborg Center for Modern Languages and International Relations is a handful to say, so most students just refer to it as Oldenborg or Oldie for short. Built in 1966, Oldenborg is incredibly unique to Pomona, especially because we are a small college, as it is one of the only buildings that combines an international student center and language center ...

Using Machine Learning in Patient Diagnoses

Posted on September 21, 2020September 21, 2020 by Ebenezer Mensah

By Ebenezer Mensah ‘23 When I was six years old, I remember walking with my father to the doctor’s office, which was in a clinic two towns from where we lived. When we reached the Afari clinic, the only nurse on duty recorded my vital symptoms, including my temperature, pulse, and blood pressure, and told us to wait for our turn. I was the 30th person in line to meet the...

My Father’s Dreams

Posted on August 14, 2020 by Ebenezer Mensah

By Ebenezer Mensah '23 When I read my admission letter to Pomona, the first person I thought of was my father. Born a few years before Ghana gained independence, he grew up in a society where education was seen as a tool for alienating children from their traditional values. His father refused to send him to school, but his mother enrolled him at a local school. His father a...

First-Year Reflections: What I Wish I Had Known Before Coming to Pomona

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Ebenezer Mensah

By Ebenezer Mensah ‘23 It seems like only yesterday that I moved into Mudd Hall as a first-year student, but autumn and winter have passed by, concluding my first year at Pomona. Reflecting on my first year, these are the things I wish I had known before coming to Pomona. Professors want to know you Coming from an educational system that was not easily accessible, ...

Sunrise at Pomona

Posted on June 3, 2020 by Ebenezer Mensah

By Ebenezer Mensah ‘23 Imagine this: A bright yellow sun emerging from a dark sky with soft, orange rays piercing through the windows of a small house and casting a silhouette of a young boy, sitting upright with his feet crossed, against the walls of a room in a rural town in Africa. That boy is me. I don’t remember when I started, but watching the sun rise has been an impo...

Choose Pomona and Be Ready

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Ebenezer Mensah

By Ebenezer Mensah ‘23 It has been almost a year since I gained acceptance to Pomona, but I still remember reading my acceptance letter as if it happened yesterday. I still remember the shriek of laughter from my English teacher that pierced the still night when she read the letter, my teary eyes as I stared blankly at the computer screen, and the several times I spent readi...

Need Aware Does Not Mean No Aid

Posted on March 16, 2020 by Ebenezer Mensah

By Ebenezer Mensah ‘23 On 16th February 2019, my English teacher and I huddled up around a computer in my school’s computer laboratory in Kumasi, Ghana around 1 a.m., an hour after Pomona’s admission decisions had been released. The room was dark, and the throbbing of my heart was the only sound that could be heard in the room. The internet was slow, and the portal was takin...