International students stayed on campus during summer break

Oklahoma Christian University had more than 100 students on campus during the summer of 2021, and about 30 of them were international students.

Of the many factors influencing their decision to not go home during their time off, the Delta variant heavily impacted their choice of staying on campus for almost three months until classes returned Aug. 2. 

Catharina Ribeiro from Brazil said since the COVID-19 situation is still not stabilized in her home country, she decided to stay on campus. 

“Even before the Delta variant, COVID-19 was still bad in Brazil,” Ribeiro said. “While the pandemic here is still happening too, it felt safer not to travel.” 

John Domina, manager of building maintenance, said it is common to have international student workers during the summer. 

“We teach them skills for everyday life and work life,” Domina said. “For better or worse, most jobs are a kind of family and we embrace that here.” 

Ribeiro said she worked with Domina in maintenance painting walls. 

“It was quite an experience,” Ribeiro said. “I had never painted walls before, and it is not an easy, fun job. Especially when you see pictures of your friends on vacation, or just having dinner with their families. But I know it is a skill I will use in the future.” 

Ribeiro said a benefit of staying is being able to work more hours. 

“As student workers, we can only work 20 hours a week during the semester, but during summer they double it, so I could work 40 hours a week,” Ribeiro said. “So, it is hard to stay here, especially with the campus so empty, but being able to work more really helps because it is the time I make more money.” 

Marco Senatore from Italy said it is even harder to stay in the United States during the summertime than it is during the semester.

“After an entire semester of college away from home, everybody would like to go back and enjoy the summer with family and friends,” Senatore said. 

Senatore said he also worked for maintenance painting walls. Senatore said he used his summer to focus on himself, but it was challenging. 

“I did a trip to Los Angeles with a friend of mine,” Senatore said. “But it was mostly working on campus and practicing soccer with the few people that were still [here]. Sometimes nobody was here to hang out with me, while back home I usually spend the most time with my friends.”

Ribeiro said she does not get homesick very often, but summer is a more delicate time to stay away from home.   

“To stay on campus during summer can be lonely at times,” Ribeiro said. “I had a group of friends who also stayed here, so it helped a lot. But we were all with our own schedule so I did get a lot of time on my own. Summer felt very long, almost three months of the same routine.”

Domina said he tries to make the environment in the maintenance department friendly and more comfortable for everyone. 

“We are just everyday people,” Domina said. “We pray every morning about our families’ struggles. We offer a lot of dad advice, and mostly really good dad jokes. But we are real with them, [we] offer our support in meaningful and encouraging ways.” 

Domina said working with international students has benefits both ways. 

“The best part for me is seeing that no matter where you are from, the language of kindness and laughter is universal,” Domina said. “It is wonderful to see and be a part of that.”