International school counselors visit ECU during statewide tour
High school guidance counselors from around the world got a feel for East Carolina University during a visit on July 15 as part of the North Carolina Mountains to Coast Tour.
The six counselors represented schools in Brazil, China, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and the United Kingdom. While in North Carolina, the group visited Appalachian State University, High Point University, UNC Greensboro, ECU, UNC Wilmington and UNC Charlotte.
Zaya Sanjaa is a counselor at Tolit School in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Sanjaa plans to share her ECU experience and promote the university with her students and teachers.
“I will make some presentations to our students and teachers to encourage them to consider ECU for future studies because there is so much opportunity here,” Sanjaa said. “I’m so impressed with the campus and I’m sure you will have Mongolia on the map of international students.”
The counselors began their morning at ECU by visiting the health sciences campus and learning about the clinical laboratory sciences and Farm 2 Clinic programs. After arriving at main campus, the group heard a presentation by the admissions staff and learned about international admissions and the ECU Honors College. They toured the Eakin Student Recreation Center, Greene Residence Hall, The Mall, Isley Innovation Hub and the Science and Technology Building.
The Office of Global Affairs hosted six high school guidance counselors during a statewide tour. (ECU photos by Steven Mantilla)
After a meet and greet with ECU Chancellor Philip Rogers, the group had lunch with ECU international students Gigi Otranto from Brazil and Faisal Aboulhassan from Qatar.
The visit was organized by the Office of Global Affairs. Cathy Knudson, director of international enrollment and engagement, coordinated the ECU portion of the trip.
Zaya Sanjaa, right, and Zhannura Saidmuratova tour the Wornom Makerspace in the Isley Innovation Hub.
“Last year, Study North Carolina sent out a call for member institutions to participate in hosting the inaugural tour of N.C. institutions. I knew I wanted to participate right away. I offered to co-plan the whole tour and have been conceptualizing and executing the entire tour from start to finish, including chaperoning the group throughout the entire tour.”
According to Knudson, this year was the first time ECU hosted a full tour, but not the first time that international counselors visited campus. In 2018, advisors from EducationUSA who were based in Australia, Honduras and Hungary visited ECU. The difference between that visit and this year’s is that EducationUSA advisors are impartial and can’t recommend institutions, while the counselors who visited on the North Carolina Mountain to Coast Tour work in schools and can identify students who would be a good fit for ECU and speak about their experience during their campus visit and with the global affairs team.
Knudson believes that the opportunity to have the counselors visit and experience ECU will help attract more international students.
“ECU excels at creating a sense of belonging among our international students,” she said. “Having school counselors visit our campus provides them with first-hand experience in our facilities, with our staff, and hearing from our students. They can experience some of what we have to offer and relay those experiences back to their students during their college counseling appointments.”
Duncan Lally is the head of counseling at Institut Florimont in Geneva, Switzerland. Lally was impressed by his visit to Greene Hall, saying that the facility was pleasant, clean and well-maintained. He also noticed faculty and student research posters while touring the Science and Technology Building.
“It was interesting to see the amount of research occurring in the College of Engineering and I enjoyed seeing the research posters from students and faculty along the hallways,” he said.
Lally also was intrigued when touring the Isley Innovation Hub.
“I thought the innovation center was interesting. The idea of sitting, discussing and coming up with ideas and working with people from different disciplines in the same space is pretty cool,” he said.
ECU’s commitment to first-generation students stood out to Sanjaa.
ECU Chancellor Philip Rogers speaks with Zhannura Saidmuratova in the Ledonia Wright Cultural Center.
“What impressed me the most was the number of students who are first-time students in their families, around 30%. This is almost the same as our high school,” Sanjaa said. “We’re trying to give equal opportunities to our students who are from a more rural area. Many of our students are from nomad families moving to the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, and the parents are doing everything to get their children the best education they can provide.”