CASS Re-Entry Program: A Handbook for College Coordinators

This process can be a time of great joy for those returning to their families and loved ones after an extended absence, tasting favorite foods again, and hearing, seeing and smelling those things that remind one of "home." However, it can also be a trying time of confusion, frustration, and adjustment to the personal changes that have inevitably occurred as a result of the intercultural experience as well as acclimation to possible changes in one's family, community, and/or country. The re-entry of CASS participants into their home countries upon completion of their program is a transitional event that can begin well before a student actually sets foot on their home territory. In many cases, students will begin to feel anxious, frustrated, confused and emotional just thinking about going home while still in the United States. Some of the anticipated adjustments and challenges include a changed physical environment, returning to a different standard of living, the absence of loved ones who have passed away, communicating the experience to others and its personal significance, and the pressures of finding a job, among many others. The CASS re-entry program aims to alleviate this anxiety by addressing the prevalent issues of re-entry and allowing students to identify their personal issues in order to begin to work through them. The program should prepare students for the differences and challenges they will face upon their return home. It is essential to remember that while each student will confront different situations, every one of them will encounter some sort of challenge associated with re-assimilating themselves into their home culture, environment, and/or socio-economic conditions. CASS students may not expect to encounter problems with re-entry, as they have conquered the unknown, adapted to a new culture, a new way of life, successfully and happily lived with a family in the United States, made friends from all over the world, learned to communicate in English, studied, and for most, completed technical degrees in the English language. However, they are returning as changed individuals, and they may only understand the degree to which they have changed by processing the experience in their home countries. Additionally, students must realize that their families, friends, and communities are not as they left them two years ago. They have also changed and grown. The initial return home is usually a happy occasion, filled with reunions, getting caught up with the people, places, and things that have seemed worlds away for quite a long time. Yet this period is short-lived, ending when students begin to miss their friends, host families, the campus, and a way of life that had become "normal," comfortable, yet still exciting and adventurous. Distancing themselves from this unique experience is a painful process of letting go and finding a new role for a more mature individual, and of transitioning from having one's principle identification being "CASS student" to an identity yet to be determined. Some students will encounter changes that they had no control over, or "external" changes. A community in which a student lives may have undergone construction, been affected by natural disasters, or it may have grown or declined. For some, families have moved and they will have to adjust to a new community. For others, they will return to a smaller household, family unit, and/or social circle if there has been a death. This can be traumatic even if the student traveled home during their scholarship to grieve with family and loved-ones. The student will now have to confront everyday life without the deceased loved-one there to provide support, love, and friendship. Personal or "internal" changes are a fact of life with CASS students. Their perceptions of themselves, their values, goals, and life in general have been affected by their experience in the United States. They have gained additional self-confidence and maturity through a difficult process of adjustment to a new language, culture, environment, friends, and way of life. They have overcome and triumphed over what was probably considered frightening and impossible to them just before their departure for the United States. This renewed sense of self and accomplishment will be carried with them their whole lives, but not without some adjustment during the re-entry process. Students will have new goals and objectives for themselves and their careers that will need constant refining from the time they arrive. While they may believe that they know exactly what they want to do and where, their options and opportunities may change and therefore their goals and objectives will be challenged. Even if they find the "perfect" career, they will understand that professional goals will still need to be adjusted and upgraded to their countries' reality. The needs and priorities in the students' communities and countries are always changing and therefore they must recognize the skills that they have acquired, be flexible, and use them as needed. Finding a job will be a full-time job itself and students will face a new life without the structure of campus life. They must be self-motivated, assertive, and flexible in