S3E33: Seattle Colleges Conversations with! Associate Director of Global Engagement Sancha Elevado Harrison

In this our thirty third (33rd) episode of Season 3, Seattle Colleges host Evan Franulovich interviews Associate Director of Global Engagement Sancha Elevado Harrison all about what she does and how she helps students when they are here studying at Seattle Colleges!

2:00 - Meet Sancha!

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Transcript

Evan Franulovich  0:05  
Welcome to Seattle Colleges International Programs and our show 'Conversations with!', where we talk to people that help you understand how you too, can be an international student in the United States and why Seattle Colleges should be your first choice. We'll talk to students and staff and agents and government folks, all kinds of people about what you can expect when you're getting ready to apply or travel here, what you'll experience while you're with us, and how it can all lead to an amazing life. Don't forget to check out the Seattle Colleges International Programs website at intl.seattlecolleges.edu where you can find a treasure trove of information about the school, the programs here and best of all, fill out and submit your application. Again, that's intl.seattlecolleges.edu.

Hey everybody! Welcome back to Seattle Colleges 'Conversations with!' I really got to get to the other campuses, I haven't been to the other campuses much lately. But yeah, we're here at Seattle Central College. and I'm with the one, the only Sancha! Welcome Sancha!

Sancha Elevado Harrison  1:26  
Thank you. 

Evan Franulovich  1:27  
So Sancha, tell everybody who you are, what you do, or what your title is? Let's start there, because we'll get into that later. And then maybe how long you've been here. And I'm excited about this interview because Sancha, you'll probably see her when you first get here, because she does orientations, so probably one of the first people you'll meet when you get here, which is really exciting. And then you'll see her off and on after that for quite a while. But technically, you're not super involved with F-1 students. Very interesting interview, stick around. So yeah, please introduce yourself. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  2:04  
My name is Sancha Elevato Harrison. I'm the Associate Director for Global Engagement. And I actually started back in 2015 as an International Student Advisor at South Seattle College. So I did that for about five years. So I know all about the immigration regulations, It stuck in my head. So I am really familiar with them. But then I moved into my study abroad role Global Engagement back in 2018. Left international education for about three years and left the college in 2022, went to a nonprofit, but came back fall of 2023 hit the ground running with orientation. So that was really fun, really getting into it really fast. And so I'm sorry with this most recent iteration of my position, I came back Fall 23 and so it's been a really great opportunity so far, and I'm super glad to be back. 

Evan Franulovich  3:01  
Yeah, glad to have you. You bring a lot of great energy to the team. We're really excited that you're here. You should know you heard her talk about being at South, but your office is no longer at South. Where is your office? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  3:12  
So I spend most of my time at Central, mainly because we have the most students here, but I actually do travel across the campuses. So I do spend at least once a week, every other week, at each campus. So you'll see me at North, you'll see me at South, but I am primarily here at Central because most of our students are here.

Evan Franulovich  3:34  
Oh, yeah. And you're always housed within the International Programs Office area. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  3:38  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  3:39  
So if you want to meet Sancha in person other than the orientation, you can track her down. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  3:44  
Yeah, you'll see me running around when there's activities or just like other things that I'm doing. You'll see me coming in and out of the office. 

Evan Franulovich  3:50  
Very busy. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  3:51  
Yes.

Evan Franulovich  3:51  
Yeah, that's for sure. Well, um, let's go back, because honestly, you and I work together, but I actually have never really talked to you about your background, like where you come from, where you went to school, did you go to a community college? That kind of stuff.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  4:05  
Yeah. So I actually immigrated with my family from the Philippines to the US back in 1994.

Evan Franulovich  4:13  
And we need more Filipino students by the way.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  4:16  
So, I actually did grow up in Lacey, Olympia, which is about an hour south of Seattle. So Olympia, Washington is my hometown. And I went to a university in Lacey called St Martin's University. 

Evan Franulovich  4:33  
I know St Martin's University.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  4:35  
And I knew right away what I wanted to be, because I took two classes in high school for accounting, and I was like, let me be an accountant. So I knew right away, at least coming in to do my undergraduate, that I wanted to be an accountant. However, I got super involved, I was on Student Government, I was doing activities. So the job that I have now is really great, because this is essentially what drew me to this role. But I was really involved, and I myself also studied abroad. I went to the University of Westminster Business School in London. 

Evan Franulovich  5:11  
Cool, yeah. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  5:10  
And I did that for a semester. So I was there for about three and a half months, and I knew right away that I did not want to be an accountant anymore. I wanted to help students with similar backgrounds as me. I was low income, I was also a first generation immigrant, first generation US college student. I wanted to help students who had similar backgrounds as me to study abroad, that this was an opportunity that was possible. And so I finished off my degree in accounting. So I do have a bachelor's degree in accounting. I was already in my last year, and I didn't want to start over. So I have my bachelor's degree in accounting. And then I went off to go to graduate school in Chicago to get my master's of education in higher education. 

Evan Franulovich  5:54  
What school in Chicago? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  6:02  
Loyola University, Chicago. 

Evan Franulovich  6:03  
Good school!

Sancha Elevado Harrison  6:04  
So I went there, and I knew I wanted to work either in student activities as a more general job, but my passion and love. It was and it is study abroad. And so when I was looking for jobs, folks in study abroad jobs just really love it, they don't leave. And so my next best thing was international student advising. And so that's how I became an advisor, and started at South back in 2015. It was right after graduation from grad school.

Evan Franulovich  6:08  
That's really cool. But why did you go to Loyola? That's not nearby.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  6:26  
Yeah. No, I actually was about to go to Seattle U just down the road here. But after talking to some of my mentors, they said that Loyola had a more national reputation in the field that I was going into, whereas Seattle U, which I had a really great time, and I visited the campus, and I was offered a graduate assistantship, but I said to myself, you know, why not go to a different state? I'd never been out living in another state outside of Washington. So I said, If I could go study in London, in a different country I could study in another state. So I was like, let's do this. That's the reason why I chose it. But I did come back here a lot to do my internship during the summer. So Seattle is where I would had hoped to end up, and I did. And yeah, now it's my home.

Evan Franulovich  7:40  
So you did an internship here in Seattle for who?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  7:42  
University of Puget Sound. 

Evan Franulovich  7:44  
Oh, okay. In Tacoma. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  7:46  
Yeah, in Tacoma. And I did orientation there. 

Evan Franulovich  7:46  
Nice!

Sancha Elevado Harrison  7:47  
And I also did sort of like a... we didn't call an internship, but I'll call an internship, but it was with St Martin's University and their housing.

Evan Franulovich  7:57  
You know, my dad lived in that housing back in the day, when he was a high school student at St. Martin's, one of his boarding schools way back long ago.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  8:10  
Yes, when he was still a high school. 

Evan Franulovich  8:11  
In high school, long time ago. And then one of my best friend's daughters just graduated from St Martin's not too long ago. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  8:19  
Really? I mean, St Martin's is such a small, small, small community that when you when you run into someone who went there, who knows of it, you're like, 'Wait a minute, I didn't know you knew about St Martin.' So it's always really great.

Evan Franulovich  8:32  
Yeah, if you're here currently as an international student, and you're thinking about where you might want to transfer, you know, Olympia is not that far. Get on an Amtrak train, go down or find someone with a car, go check out St Martin's campus. It's really pretty.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  8:46  
It's the capital of Washington state, so lots of opportunity there for internships, if you want to do OPT.

Evan Franulovich  8:53  
Right. Yeah, yeah.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  8:55  
It's a nice medium sized city with small town feel. 

Evan Franulovich  9:01  
I agree. How many students are at St Martin's?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  9:06  
Well, when I was there, there was about 1200. 

Evan Franulovich  9:09  
Okay, yeah. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  9:09  
So I'm not sure how many students are there now, but I still think that sort of tight knit small community.

Evan Franulovich  9:16  
Yeah, it's like a big high school. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  9:17  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  9:18  
I think Roosevelt High School here in Seattle, has more students than them.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  9:23  
My high school had more than St Martin's.

Evan Franulovich  9:27  
Well, that's really cool. I want to go back just to your experience in England. You spent a semester there, what was that like?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  9:34  
Yeah. Well, let me go backtrack, because my parents were like, 'Are you sure you want to go there? What about safety?' You know? Fair. Very valid questions to ask. I was 21 at the time, so I was already in my last year of undergrad. So it was a little bit later than when usually students go to study abroad, it's usually like the third or fourth year. I went during my fourth year. So I was nervous, I lived at home with my parents, because it saved money living at home instead of in the residence halls. And so this was my first time being alone and independent, but I went with a... we call them study abroad providers, and so they really helped with communication and just making us feel welcome once we arrived on the ground in London. So I was able to take classes with other students that were at the University of Westminster, people from all over the world. So that was really great. My biggest class at St Martin's was probably like 25 people. My biggest class here at the University of Westminster was 500. 

Evan Franulovich  11:01  
Oh, big difference. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  11:02  
Yeah, so that I had to navigate sort of that academic culture shock as well, because my smallest class there was probably 100 people, and then we had lectures up and study halls essentially after that. So it was a huge academic culture shock, and just culture shock in general. I had to build up my confidence really fast. I never really rode public transportation, so using the tube was really foreign and new to me, and had to navigate that. Luckily, it's all in English, so I didn't have to learn another language to navigate anything over there. So that was really helpful. But yeah, I had to learn to be independent really fast. 

Evan Franulovich  11:55  
Yeah. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  11:58  
But you know, because of that experience, I was able to go to Chicago for school, I was able to go somewhere else, and I'm much more confident and independent in my decision making skills, and I knew I can make decisions without having to get input from someone else. And so it was really life changing experience. I know a lot of people say that about studying abroad, but it really truly is life changing. 

Evan Franulovich  12:23  
Well, this is a great segue then, because one of the things you do is study abroad. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  12:25  
Exactly, yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  12:29  
And I think a lot of our international students that are here studying don't realize that even though they're here in the States, they can also study abroad. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  12:38  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  12:38  
So can you tell us about that part of your job, what do you do for study abroad? How would you help international students that are here? Why would an international student even want to consider...? I mean, other than the great reasons you just talked about. Just get into students study abroad.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  12:56  
Yeah. Let me go back a little bit as well. Your question about if I went to a community college? So obviously the answer is no. But after the fact, I wish I went the community college, I would have saved a lot of money. It's because it's just much more affordable than a university tuition. I wish I did that. And knowing now, in my position, knowing that the study abroad opportunity is also here, I could have done it anyway. So study abroad, again, is one of my passions. And again, it's because of my own experiences. So what I do is I help students. Well actually, I do all the marketing, all the recruiting for all of our programs that we have through our consortium. And it's the Washington State Community College Consortium for Study Abroad. And it's a group of a consortium of 20 community colleges in Washington State. And so I work with that consortium with recruiting students to go to our many Study Abroad locations. And we have at least one every quarter. 

Evan Franulovich  14:19  
Every quarter? Including summer? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  14:21  
Every quarter. We have two in the summer. 

Evan Franulovich  14:23  
Oh. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  14:24  
I help students understand the process. We make sure that they meet eligibility requirements. And also talk about the fact that this is a study abroad program. This is not a vacation. You will have fun, you're going to experience a culture. But at the same time, you're there to take your classes. The classes are going to go on your transcript. Your final grade will be on your transcript. So I really need to get that mindset ready for them, because it's not a vacation. This is something that we have to make sure that students are prepared for. So as part of the process, I have that conversation, ask about their goals. Why do they actually want to study abroad? And then, once they're approved and they meet eligibility requirements. I do more behind the scenes stuff. So I make sure that the classes that we have are transferable, and I work with our deans across the three campuses to make sure that the classes that I have for that program is equivalent. 

Evan Franulovich  15:42  
Gotcha.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  15:42  
So, I just help them through the process, and then they go abroad. And then if there are any issues abroad, they typically contact the the staff on the ground at their country. But if it's something an issue that is Seattle Colleges related, then they'll contact me and I try to help out as much as possible. And then when they come back, I have a conversation see how it goes, especially if they are a recipient of one of our study abroad awards, then definitely a conversation we need to have and talk about the project that they'll be doing in order to promote study abroad. So I really walk students through, from the very beginning of the study abroad cycle and through the end, and even beyond that.

Evan Franulovich  16:32  
So many questions are coming into my head all of a sudden. First of all, cost. Because, you know, students come to a community college to save money. They're going off to, say, the University of Westminster or something. It's going to be a lot more money, right? So, do they get a special deal being at a community college?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  16:52  
Sometimes, yeah. Again, the students that I mainly work with are non F-1 students. 

Evan Franulovich  17:03  
So they're domestic students.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  17:04  
Yes, they are students here in the US, but we have had international students study abroad in the past. I'll touch first on the non F-1 students, and then I'll touch about the F-1 students who study abroad, but those who are studying abroad, non F-1 students, they typically get financial aid. So because of their financial aid, which is how I was able to study abroad, because of my financial aid, that will help cover some of the costs for study abroad. We have a lot of students who are Running Start students, so students who are in high school and they take college classes here we have a lot of those students who go study abroad as well. And then students who are who receive the Seattle Promise Scholarship. 

Evan Franulovich  17:04  
It covers it? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  17:04  
Yep. It doesn't cover everything. 

Evan Franulovich  17:43  
Pretty awesome.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  17:45  
Yeah, but separate from that, are program fees. But those program fees cover accommodations, medical insurance, a big chunk of things like excursions and as part of to help lower the cost of that, International Programs does have a study abroad award that is up to $2,000 and non F-1 students and F-1 students are eligible for that if they go on a study abroad program. So that will help offset the cost.

Evan Franulovich  18:33  
They have to apply for that money? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  18:35  
Yeah, because you have to let us know. The committee needs to read like, 'Why are you going abroad, what are your goals?' And then the second part is about the project. How are you going to help promote study abroad at Seattle Colleges? And that could range from anything of tabling or doing a blog while they're abroad. And then I will share it through our social media just to get their experience to wider audience. 

Evan Franulovich  19:05  
So cool. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  19:06  
Yeah, yeah, it's really cool. And with that being said, F-1 students though, it is still a little bit more expensive, because you pay tuition plus program fees. And unfortunately, with those tuition fees, it's still international student F-1 student fees. So whatever you're paying for tuition, you'd be paying the same thing for study abroad, plus the program fees. Essentially it's another study abroad location, because F-1 students study abroad here. So I then work with their primary advisor to ensure that any immigration requirements are met. Immigration requirements is the primary thing I work with the advisors to make sure that they are in status by the time they come back from their study abroad adventure. But it is a little bit more expensive for a quarter abroad, but since most of our students are non F-1 students, their financial aid typically covers. And then, of course, our study abroad award covers up to $2,000 if they apply for it, and the Committee sees that their application is good. And it's still expensive, but we're trying to come up with ways to to do it.

Evan Franulovich  20:39  
So you'd said that normally students do study abroad about their third year, even their fourth year, like you did. Community college you are doing your first two years of university work. So are you seeing community college students in their second year going to do these things? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  20:55  
So that's funny that you mentioned that, because I actually recommend students in their second and third quarter to study abroad. Yeah, in order to be eligible study abroad, you just need to have been at the Seattle Colleges for a quarter. And the reason why we say either the second or third quarter is probably the best time, that's because a lot of our programs have general education classes. So let's just say English 101, or English 236, which is like a creative writing class. Those are typically classes that students take within their first year, especially with STEM majors, when you get even into the second, third or even the next year to second year, they don't have room in their academic plan to take a general education class. 

Evan Franulovich  21:48  
Right.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  21:48  
So I actually recommend going as soon as their second or third quarter, and if they are in their second year, hopefully they are an Associate of Arts student who is looking to do, let's say communications, that's a little bit easier to go study abroad and have elective credits, versus someone in STEM, computer science, really hard for students to study abroad.

Evan Franulovich  22:19  
Interesting. Okay, so I'm an international student, and I'm like, 'I want to study abroad. Can I go anywhere? Do I get to choose? I'm going to go to Germany, or I want to go to Laos?'

Sancha Elevado Harrison  22:31  
Mm, hmm. So not really. So there's a couple ways you could actually study abroad. So we have our consortium, as I mentioned, WCCCSA. So that is the one I recommend the most, mainly because it's a quarter long program, or four weeks in the summer, and it fits the academic calendar the best. So that's the one I recommend the most, and those are programs we have the consortium plans, which location presets at least a year and a half in advance. 

Evan Franulovich  22:32  
Oh, wow. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  22:33  
But there is a way to do what we call independent study abroad, and that is through study abroad providers, but with that, we can't guarantee transferability, or we can't guarantee the program quality, but I still encourage students to check that out. But one thing I actually didn't mention is our exchange programs. So we actually have an exchange program with Nagasaki University of Foreign Studies, and we are able to nominate two students to go to Nagasaki University for one of the semesters and that is probably the most most affordable way to study abroad, because all the students have to pay is the tuition here, plus any accommodations and meals and everything. But because the US dollar is really strong against the Japanese Yen, it's really affordable. But if we've already filled up our two spots, students can still study at the Nagasaki University of Foreign Studies, but they would have to pay the additional international student fees that they have. So we have that program as well. 

Evan Franulovich  24:31  
So if I go to Japan, let's just say I'm a student from Costa Rica. I come to Seattle Colleges, and then all of a sudden, I'm interested in being a study abroad student I go to Nagasaki, are those classes going to be taught in English, or they got taught in Japanese? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  24:46  
They're taught in English. 

Evan Franulovich  24:47  
So don't worry about learning Japanese. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  24:49  
Yeah, all of our programs, or most of our programs in general study abroad are taught in English. And the only language learning programs that we really have beginning skills is our South Korea program. During the summer, as well as our Costa Rica program for the summer. So that's Korean and Spanish. But the other programs you don't need to be learning German or Spanish, although Barcelona program, we are doing a Spanish credit... 

Evan Franulovich  24:49  
Oh, cool.  

Sancha Elevado Harrison  25:16  
...but it is not a requirement to be able to teach or to learn or know the languages.

Evan Franulovich  25:31  
Okay, let's just say I go to Barcelona. Do I pay my tuition here and I don't have to go to the financial office at the University in Barcelona. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  25:41  
Exactly, yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  25:41  
So it's all paid for, I just show up.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  25:43  
Yeah, so you pay tuition here, and then you pay program fees through our our study abroad provider, who is helping us with making sure that the program actually happens.

Evan Franulovich  25:53  
Right, right. And you know, we go through an orientation with our students here, which we'll talk about in a minute. But do they go through an orientation when they get there?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  26:02  
They do pre-departure orientation. So I'm the lead for our Rome program for the spring, I did a pre departure orientation with the students and parents, and their family members who want to go before they depart, and then they get an orientation once they're underground in the country. 

Evan Franulovich  26:20  
Gotcha. Okay, so right now we're going into the spring quarter. What countries are available through the consortium for spring?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  26:30  
For spring right now, we have the Rome program. 

Evan Franulovich  26:32  
That's the Rome program. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  26:33  
Yeah, that's the Rome program. And typically the application process ends well before spring orientation or spring quarter, and that is usually end of January. There's a lot of planning the student has to do in order to go. It's not typical that we have students go apply the day of.

Evan Franulovich  26:59  
No, that would be crazy. Some of these students would have to get visas to go to these countries.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  27:04  
Yep, exactly. So that's why I talked to their advisor to see if there's any immigration type things that needs to happen. 

Evan Franulovich  27:12  
Right, right. So the next one would be summer. And when is the deadline to apply for study abroad summer? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  27:21  
It's June. 

Evan Franulovich  27:22  
It's in June. Okay, so you have a little time. If you're out there catching this show, you have till June. But let's really talk about fall then. So the deadline for Fall would be August?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  27:30  
Yes, might be actually July. And then those programs are Japan and Barcelona.

Evan Franulovich  27:30  
So Japan in the summer, Barcelona in the fall? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  27:35  
Japan and Barcelona in the fall. So we have two programs. 

Evan Franulovich  27:42  
Two in the hall. What's in the summer?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  27:44  
Costa Rica and South Korea. 

Evan Franulovich  27:46  
Wow, cool. So if you're interested in any of those places, or you don't even know about them, I mean, challenge yourself. Be a study abroad students, it's really cool.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  27:55  
Yeah, probably the second or third country that they're studying abroad. 

Evan Franulovich  28:00  
Right? Wow, that's so cool. So you said that they do things for you when they get back, like they run a table, or they do the blog that's required as part of the deal? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  28:14  
No. So only if they receive the Study Abroad award. 

Evan Franulovich  28:16  
Only if they get the award. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  28:17  
Yeah, exactly. 

Evan Franulovich  28:18  
Okay, so that's really cool. How many international students have taken advantage of study abroad?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  28:26  
Not many. So I started my position at 2018, and even then my tenure as a study abroad coordinator here, I haven't had any. But prior to me, there was maybe at least one every couple years or something. Yeah, it's not a lot.

Evan Franulovich  28:50  
But it should be more. So if you are a an international student coming to Seattle College, or you're already here, give it some serious thought. It's a great way to expand your horizons, for sure. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  29:03  
Even further. 

Evan Franulovich  29:05  
Even further than you already are. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  29:06  
That's exactly. 

Evan Franulovich  29:07  
Yeah, exactly. So if I had a student from Spain, why would they go back? They wouldn't go back to Barcelona. You'd come and then you just go off to Japan or something. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  29:21  
Wow, very cool. 

Evan Franulovich  29:23  
So that's a lot of information about study abroad. So where can they find out more information? I know you have a bulletin board at each school.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  29:31  
Yeah, as part of our website. So Intl.seattlecolleges.edu/studyabroad. So we do have our own website and but the most up to date things are on the bulletin board or flyers around campus, social media as well.

Evan Franulovich  29:54  
If they wanted to do it, let's say they're a little nervous about going by themselves. Can they take their buddy?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  29:59  
I mean they could, but they would also need to be eligible. They need to go through the process as well. 

Evan Franulovich  30:07  
When you were in England, did you have just international students, or were you mixed in with British students as well? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  30:15  
Yes, I was mixed in with local students and international students as well. So yeah, that's the kind of experience that I recommend to anyone. The study abroad experience that we here at Seattle Colleges and the consortium has is a little bit different. You're not integrated like that with local students. You're with other community college students that's in the consortium taught by a community college faculty abroad. But you are at study centers that have students from other programs as well. Just as an example, our Leon program for Fall 2024, they were also with other students from other universities, from Norway and I think some other US schools as well. So while not integrated or immersed in that way with my experience, they still have an opportunity to mingle with the locals and experience a culture there. 

Evan Franulovich  31:20  
So one thing I'm a little confused about, so I used to teach for British school. I taught for Oxford Brooks, Stamford, University of Sterling. And the delivery of the course material is different than we do here in the United States. So if I go to another country, on a different kind of a system, how do the grades work? They aren't gonna give an A, B, C, D, E, F whatever necessary. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  31:48  
Yeah, so for our specific programs, because it is taught by a faculty from community college here in the consortium. And when I had mentioned the cost is tuition plus program fees. The reason why they have to pay tuition fees is because they are registered here. So that's why I recommend our programs, our WCCCSA programs the most because they are able to use their tuition or their financial aid and other awards that they have because they are registered for classes here. So when they have a syllabus, just like any other faculty, and we receive the grades, we input it here. So it goes directly onto their transcript.

Evan Franulovich  32:28  
That's pretty cool, actually, because it's all kind of controlled and taking care of. That's great. You did say something about excursions, so when they're there, do they go do touristy things?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  32:41  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  32:41  
Oh, they do.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  32:42  
So I'll give two examples top of my head. So our Rome program, they have an excursion that is included with their program fees. They're going to Sorrento and Pompeii. So that's a weekend during, I think, May, so that's an example. And an example that I like to give because I just also read it for South Korea, for that program, they're doing an excursion to the DMZ, and then they're also doing excursions of K Pop events. And they are with local Korean students as well, they have a buddy conversational partner. And one more example in Japan they do in Osaka and Tokyo excursion as well. 

Evan Franulovich  33:32  
Oh, sure.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  33:33  
So that's all included in program fees. So again, they have an opportunity to go and do their own thing. But the program also has excursions that is covered.

Evan Franulovich  33:48  
Do they live in student housing? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  33:50  
Mhmm.

Evan Franulovich  33:50  
Okay. So they're not staying with host family?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  33:53  
It depends on the program. 

Evan Franulovich  33:54  
Oh, it does?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  33:55  
Most of the time they are in student housing, but other programs like Barcelona, our Leon program is our host families. 

Evan Franulovich  34:04  
Oh, cool. And then I'm guessing, if they're with a host family, their host families providing food. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  34:10  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  34:11  
If they stay in housing, do they get a meal card? What do they do for food?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  34:15  
Sometimes, yeah. So our Rome program, for example, they do receive a meal card that covers up to X amount, and then anything outside of that. And then they also have an additional extra meals if they want to purchase that. But, you know, it's sometimes just cheaper to go to a local place instead of buying meal credits. It's just probably cheaper just to do something on your own. 

Evan Franulovich  34:43  
What do you guys recommend for spending money? It's like, all this stuff's covered, but you know, they're gonna have their evenings free, maybe the weekend they'll have some free time.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  34:52  
That's a hard one, because it really depends on what they want to do. Are they buying stuff for themselves or their families? Are they spending money for the cultural aspect of things? So are they going to things like concerts, or our Berlin program, a lot of students went to concerts because they're in Berlin, why not? 

Evan Franulovich  35:12  
Why not. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  35:13  
So it really depends what they're wanting to use it for. Oftentimes it's food related, that will cost a little bit more. But for a quarter long program, I think at least 400 US dollars just to bring for personal expenses. 

Evan Franulovich  35:33  
For sure, some countries are going to be more inexpensive than others, like Costa Rica is going to be probably a better deal than, say, South Korea maybe. But yeah, check out all the programs so you can go onto the website to learn more. Go talk to Sancha, she's around. I'm sure she'd be enthusiastic. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  35:49  
Very much so. 

Evan Franulovich  35:50  
Get you involved. So, yeah, international students, we want to see a few more people in the program, so consider it. Come talk, explore. Do you do like info seminars or anything like that?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  36:01  
Once in a while. I'll do it, if I have time. As you'll find out, there are some other aspects of my job that I do, but I try to do them once in a while. 

Evan Franulovich  36:14  
So we just spent 30 some minutes just talking about study abroad. So I gotta move on to these other topics. One of the other things you do is of course, working with students specifically the orientation when they first get here. Do you want to give everybody a quick and dirty about orientation?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  36:32  
Yeah, It'll be really quick. So orientation is a time where we welcome our newly arrived F-1 students to campus. Each campus will have their own orientation. It's an all day event, so starting check in at 8:30 which is pretty early, and our orientation sessions start at nine, and it goes through three o'clock. But we do offer lunch, It's a pretty hardy lunch. So you will be fed, we have snacks, we'll have drinks. So you will unlikely be hungry. So yes, there is food. But orientation covers some of the most important parts of being a student. So I go over very briefly about culture shock. And so this might be the first time students have gone to a different country. So I sort of go over the stages of like, their feelings of culture shock, and what that means. So I want to explain it here, because you'll see it at orientation. I briefly also talk about what is safety, living in the city, what that means. We also have tips and advice from our staff that we go over. 

Evan Franulovich  36:32  
Yeah, you get to meet the staff. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  37:03  
Yeah, exactly. And then we go into our technology session, making sure that you all have your documents in our mini systems. You have access to our systems, which is really important, because without access to those systems, you can't register for classes, you can't request a vacation quarter, for example. So the technology session is really important, and then we go into academic session for Central students, and for our Seattle Colleges Institute of English we have a separate academic session. So our college level students go to another session, and our SCIE students do a separate academic session. And the difference is what are the levels that you go through, and then we they briefly do talk a little bit about college level classes, but then the college level academic session is mainly how do you register for classes? 

Evan Franulovich  39:00  
Right. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  39:00  
And what does an educational plan mean? And then we talk about our medical insurance. 

Evan Franulovich  39:09  
Super important, yeah. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  39:13  
Unfortunately, the US healthcare system is very complicated. 

Evan Franulovich  39:18  
People get hurt.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  39:18  
And so we talk about very general stuff. And then we go to the really important part session, immigration. 

Evan Franulovich  39:19  
Yes, super important.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  39:28  
What it means to make sure that you are in status, and what that means and making sure, sort of going over some regulations so you are aware. And then we end with a campus tour. 

Evan Franulovich  39:37  
Yes. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  39:39  
And so we do that at each campus one day after the other. So next week is actually for spring, April, 1 and through 3rd, is our orientation days. 

Evan Franulovich  39:58  
I will be there.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  39:59  
Yeah, it's that crept up on me. 

Evan Franulovich  40:02  
I know it's really fast. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  40:04  
So it's going to be a really busy time, but we hope that students feel welcome and students bring questions. Please bring questions. As part of that, we have our international ambassadors, who are student employees for international programs, who have been through it all, you know. They know it, they probably have some advice. You know, the one thing that we ask that you don't ask them is immigration advice, and academic advice. But things like, where do you go to get groceries. 

Evan Franulovich  40:47  
Where's a good club? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  40:46  
Yeah, maybe. How to use public transportation, you know, that kind of thing.

Evan Franulovich  40:50  
Or Is anybody hiring on campus because I really want a job, they usually know.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  40:58  
Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, it's a fun time, busy time, there's lots of happenings. But we hope that this is an opportunity for you to make new friends, meet people outside of your country of origin, because there are many examples of students who has made their best friend for life during our orientation. 

Evan Franulovich  41:26  
Yeah, it's true. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  41:27  
So, we hope that that is a good opportunity to do that. 

Evan Franulovich  41:31  
Right. I know students who have found roommates for apartments. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  41:35  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  41:37  
One thing you got to remember out there guys, is when you are accepted, and then you decide you're coming here, do your pre-arrival checklist. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  41:47  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  41:48  
Go through that carefully, because there's a lot of information in there that will help you when you come to orientation. And then when you get here, you can arrive up to 30 days in advance of your classes. So take advantage of that time, get here as early as possible, and that way you can definitely... I mean, is orientation mandatory? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  42:08  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  42:09  
It is mandatory. Some people that I don't really want to go to orientation, but I'm telling you, it's one of the best parts. There's a lot of information, so you will feel a little overwhelmed, but that's okay. Don't worry about it. We're here to help you if you forget stuff, no problem. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  42:22  
Yeah, and unfortunately, we have had students who come the day before, and so jet lag is a really big deal, having just arriving the day before jet lag happens, and you're here for a whole day that's really tiring. 

Evan Franulovich  42:37  
That's overwhelming. So try not to do that, if you can help it. Get here up to 30 days in advance, but I mean a week would even be nice. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  42:47  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  42:47  
Just so you can adjust. I mean going to class and all that's really important, of course, but meeting people, networking one of the best parts. And don't be shy, I know you're going to be a little nervous.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  42:47  
Yes, and that's expected. 

Evan Franulovich  43:01  
Of course, yeah, yeah. Were you pretty shy? You don't seem very shy. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  43:06  
Oh yes, but because of my study abroad experience, I gained confidence, then it's like, okay, I actually can do this. And yeah, I was definitely more reserved and shy before that, but now I'm much more confident. 

Evan Franulovich  43:23  
Yeah, so that's great. We want you here for orientation, that's one of the things you do. She talked about international ambassadors briefly. I want to touch on them again. We've had a number of interviews with international ambassadors, so you can listen to those podcasts. But maybe you can tell them something that we haven't heard from those international ambassadors before. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  43:43  
Yeah. I want to say our international ambassadors are just amazing students who are very hard working, especially when it comes to planning really fun events for our students. Some students might see an international ambassador job as just a job, but I like to go a little bit further than that. And so typically when, when we hire new international ambassadors, I ask them, what is your goal? What skills, what knowledge do you want to learn while you are an international ambassador? Because then that will allow me to find opportunities as an international ambassador to give them. So as an example, a lot of our international ambassadors want more public speaking experience, so one of the new things that we had for summer quarter, was I had the international ambassadors do a presentation, a session during orientation. And so actually, that's one that I did forget to mention. But yeah, the International ambassadors talk about activities and during orientation as well. So I had that because a lot of them wanted public speaking experience. Some international ambassadors, they want to work on time management. So I have one on one with them, I have one on ones with each of the International ambassadors and discuss ways the skills that they want to learn and strategies that they can use to work on that, how to challenge themselves on how to do something. So again, just as an example, a student that I met with had questions about how to ask someone they delegated. So delegation is another skill they wanted to learn, so I help students learn how to delegate. But when they're checking in on someone, how can they make it so that they're not sounding like they're nagging or annoying them, like 'Are you done with this?' So I give them strategies on how to reframe, how to ask that question and reframe their mindset of you're not nagging them. What you're doing is them is keeping themselves accountable and yourself accountable. And so a way to ask them is saying 'Hey, I'm just checking in, I have a due date, has that been completed?' If they haven't, then I also advise them to make a decision whether or not they should take on that piece, so then they can meet the deadlines for whatever they're doing. So those are the types of skills that I am hoping that they are building, because I want them to take those skills that they learned as an IA to their careers. 

Evan Franulovich  46:57  
Sure, of course.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  46:59  
It's a really fun thing that I do with IAs, and I really enjoy career advising, I enjoy mentorship, so this is part of that. And if you don't work as an IA but you are a student employee somewhere else on campus, it's unlikely they will find this same sort of mentorship in those roles, because while it's not part of my job to do so, because I like to do that, I am taking the time to help our IAs be successful in their future careers. Yeah, it's not just any old job for me, is how I think it, it's a stepping stone to their future careers, and building the skills that they should learn while they're here, before they move on to their careers. 

Evan Franulovich  47:59  
Sure, yeah. I love working with the IAs. They're here in the office, so we get to see them, and they're kind of a nice bridge between us and the rest of the student population. So if you like to work with other people, or that's something you want to be stronger at, consider becoming an IA. They graduate, so then those positions open up. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  48:22  
We have five IAs graduating in the spring, which really great for them, but really a bummer for me, because all of them have been really just phenomenal at what they do. And I will say, you know, I think some students think that being an IA means you have to be very open and extroverted, and easily talk to people. I wouldn't say that's the case. I like to bring those who are more outwardly comfortable and those who maybe are more comfortable in the background. They're more logical, or they want to do more of the communication, paperwork, like that kind of thing. But again, as part of the skills development that I want them to have, I want them to be able to have a conversation with a new student. So maybe those who are more outgoing but are not good with planning, or making a task list or something, then I also help them get a take it back a notch. 

Evan Franulovich  49:31  
Right, right. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  49:31  
So you don't need to be super outgoing because... 

Evan Franulovich  49:36  
You can develop those skills. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  49:37  
...yeah, you can develop those skills.

Evan Franulovich  49:39  
Yeah, it's really great. I've met a couple IAs who are a little shy in the beginning, and then over a few quarters, you just see them start to get out of their shells. So it's really cool. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  49:53  
With experience comes confidence. So a lot of our IAs have been an IA for a while, and that's where a lot of their confidence comes from, is because they've been doing it for a while.

Evan Franulovich  50:05  
And they know a lot of people, so it's really great. Highly encourage you to check in, always see if those positions are coming available, because we're always looking for good people, and we want to help people develop. So that's really cool. Briefly, she mentioned activities. So the IAs, they not only put on the activities, but they plan those activities too. So every quarter there's at least a few main events. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  50:05  
There's at least five.

Evan Franulovich  50:05  
Five, okay. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  50:08  
We have a big event for sure, and then campus based events. So for winter quarter, our big event was snow tubing. You can see some video on our social media. A lot of times it's the first time students have seen snow. So snow tubing, you have this thing that you sit on, and you go down a big hill. It's really fun. So that's we have at least one of those big events, where students from across the three campuses, meet at a campus, so then you could do whatever. So next quarter, it will be the Mariners game, big event.

Evan Franulovich  51:09  
What's the date?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  51:11  
May. 

Evan Franulovich  51:12  
May, what? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  51:13  
Ninth. 

Evan Franulovich  51:14  
Oh, good, yeah, I'll be there. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  51:17  
So in May is our big event. And also we have a talent night that we're doing for spring quarter. And then, of course, just the smaller campus based events, de-stress event, Valentine's Day event. 

Evan Franulovich  51:29  
Hot chocolate. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  51:30  
Yeah, hot chocolate. Again, these campus based events are for students at the campuses, it's a lot of fun. Again, the IAs work extremely hard with planning that, and they plan this as part of their training. I help them with the planning, but in terms of when you should start planning this and just being ahead of the game. But everything else is their ideas. So Olivia and I, who is our housing manager who I supervise as well. We just listen, and if they have any questions, we're there to support. But all the ideas, everything is the IAs and so, again, another skill development opportunity of just trying to be more creative with activities. So yeah, they are planning from beginning to end. 

Evan Franulovich  52:32  
It's really cool. So if you're an international student and you don't want to be an international ambassador, but you do want to give them input, they're usually very open to that. Like, if you have a great idea for a student activity in a future quarter, you could tell them and see what they think.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  52:48  
Tell myself, or the ambassadors. And the International ambassadors also have an email. 

Evan Franulovich  52:53  
Yes, that's true. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  52:55  
Email any ideas.

Evan Franulovich  52:58  
Yeah, it's really great. Okay, I gotta move on. Lots of opportunity there guys. Last thing, just really briefly, one of the other things you do is short term programs. And I just want you to talk a little bit about what those short term programs look like.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  53:18  
Yeah. So short term programs, very briefly, is we welcome groups from abroad to one of the colleges here at the Seattle Colleges, and it is primarily for English language learning. So it's just a group of students, between 6-40 students, between five days to four weeks to do English language training. And sometimes we do have one group that does what we call special topics or content areas, where they they have biology and chemistry a week of that, but it is primarily English language learning. And we welcome groups from abroad to do that, that's essentially the the gist of it. We work with agencies in regards to that, with that being said, we currently are only hosting two big programs currently, because we just unfortunately don't have the staff. That's the reality of it. But I do welcome interests from agencies, if you have a group, and potentially, hopefully in the future, we would be able to host them. But it is primarily English language learning and anything beyond that, like doing tourist stuff that's unfortunately not on us, it would be on the agency, but our primary goal is English language learning at one of the colleges. 

Evan Franulovich  54:51  
And do they mix with our institute of English people? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  54:55  
No, this is completely separate. They have a separate English instructor.

Evan Franulovich  55:00  
Okay, great. And is there an age minimum that they have to be? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  55:04  
Yeah, they have to at least be 15. 

Evan Franulovich  55:07  
Oh, okay. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  55:07  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  55:08  
Interesting,

Sancha Elevado Harrison  55:09  
Yeah, because we have high school students 15 or older.

Evan Franulovich  55:12  
Okay. And where do they house, do you put them in housing? 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  55:16  
We put them in housing before. The agencies that we've worked with facilitate host families for them. Otherwise they stay in hotels. 

Evan Franulovich  55:27  
Gotcha. Wow, yeah, I think I've actually sat in on a class. There was a group from Japan here, and it was great to meet those students, they were really fun, and they were super interested. Yeah, it's really cool. And they were also doing excursion kinds of stuff. They're going to like a baseball game, I don't remember what all they were doing, but it's not just about coming here to sit in a classroom all day. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  55:51  
Yes, yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  55:51  
They're doing all sorts of stuff. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  55:53  
Exactly. 

Evan Franulovich  55:53  
And they do get to interact with the domestic students to a certain degree, right?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  55:58  
Not really. No, because their English language learning is really 9 to 12. 

Evan Franulovich  56:05  
Okay. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  56:05  
It's like at least three hours a day. 

Evan Franulovich  56:07  
Okay. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  56:07  
And then after that, in the afternoon, they do some sort of excursions based on the agency, what they plan for them.

Evan Franulovich  56:14  
Gotcha. All right. Well, if you're an agency out there or whatever, and you have any questions or you want to discuss those kinds of things, Sancha is your person. Wow, so much information, I could talk to you for hours more. I always like to end with final words of advice. You have students out there that or parents that are thinking of sending their son or daughter to a community colleges in Seattle, and you've been an international student, so what's your advice to these guys?

Sancha Elevado Harrison  56:54  
Yeah, you're probably going to hear the same advice from other people. Get involved, and being involved doesn't mean like just being involved with activities. It's being involved with your academic planning and your career what you want to do, being active in choices that you want to make. 

Evan Franulovich  57:20  
Yeah. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  57:20  
It's asking questions to IAs or the advisors or teachers. It's just being involved in that way, being involved and active, because your experience is what you make of it, so if you just go to school, go home, that's not a very fun experience. You know, it really does make a difference when you're making new friends, either  from your your country of origin, or new friends from outside of that, and even US students. You know, it really does make a difference. And you know if a student is reserved or shy, ask an international ambassador or ask me, 'Hey, how can I start this conversation?' So, you know, just being involved and being active in your choices and your academics and just being here present at Seattle Colleges.

Evan Franulovich  58:27  
Really good advice. Yeah, you know, a lot of employers have a lot of people to choose from with very similar skill sets. But one thing that's hard to learn without years of experience is soft skills, like how do you say hi to somebody, look them in the eye, shake their hands, have a conversation, work a room. Those are tough skills to learn in a classroom.

Sancha Elevado Harrison  58:49  
It is, especially it's very cultural as well. 

Evan Franulovich  58:52  
For sure. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  58:53  
Some cultures are more comfortable with it, and some cultures are not. And so you know, you just have to do it sometimes.

Evan Franulovich  59:00  
I agree 100%. Well, dang. So good to talk to you. Thanks so much for coming on the show. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  59:07  
Thanks you so much!

Evan Franulovich  59:08  
If you have any more questions about what she does, send her a message. You can find her on our website. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  59:14  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  59:14  
So yeah, get on there. Send us messages. We'll get you hooked up with some information, whether it's study abroad or international ambassadors or whatever. Don't forget to come here every Wednesday, we have episodes coming out every Wednesday. We talk to students, staff, lots of great information. Please join us. Don't forget to like, share and subscribe. We want to get up to over 100,000 subscribers, so help us out! Tell everybody you know! All right, thanks again. 

Sancha Elevado Harrison  59:46  
Thank you! Really enjoyed it. 

Evan Franulovich  59:49  
Yeah, great. Take care, bye, bye! 

'Conversations with!' is painstakingly crafted for you by the Seattle Colleges International Programs department and supported by the lovely folks here on our campus. This show is produced and edited by me, Evan Franulovich. We welcome your emails and questions about coming to Seattle Colleges. Please reach out to us via our website or just give us a rating and a review on Apple podcasts as this helps others discover the show. Also, don't forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or YouTube at Seattle Colleges Intl, that's Seattle Colleges Intl. And be sure to check out all of the shows here on 'Conversations with!' Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai