SmartCity Blog

SMU Celebrates International Students

By: Jackie Guo

The Greater Halifax Partnership’s immigration team was thrilled to attend Saint Mary’s 14th International Night, an annual sold-out event celebrating international culture and diversity on campus. We were proud to be a silver sponsor for this signature event showing our support to international students and promote multi-culture in the community.

 
The night started with international cuisines from all over the world, just to mention a few dishes that will get you mouth watering, we tried South African Quinoa, Chola curry, and Chinese beef noodles. The night continued with performances from 14 different countries and we were amazed by the colourful costumes, wonderful music and beautiful performances. A dazzling night of performances showed how much value international students bring to Saint Mary’s University.

 

Greater Halifax Partnership recognizes diversity that international students bring to the classroom and our community.  Halifax needs people to grow. Naturally, international students can be part of solution. Their international perspective, diversified background, bilingual or multi-lingual skills will benefit the economic growth of Halifax provided that they are successfully settle into our community. The Partnership’s International Student Connector Program does just that-expands international students’ network and increase their chances of employment in HRM. Currently the program connects international MBA students and Master of Finance students with businesses in HRM.

We look forward to attending again next year and we may even show them some of our moves.

For more information about the International Student Connector Program, please contact Jackie Guo (jguo@greaterhalifax.com). For more information about SMU's International Night, click here.

Jackie Guo is the Coordinator of International MBA Student Connector Program. In addition to his work at the Partnership, Jackie is an active volunteer for Halifax United Way.

Mayor's Welcoming Event - International MBA Students

Last Friday was all about connecting. Despite the almost painful freezing rain and roaring winds, those who attended the Mayor’s Welcoming Event last Friday saw the real results of the Connector Program. My role at the event wasn’t much more than snapping a few pictures, but I left with a new appreciation for the program and its participants. 

Mayor Peter Kelly gave welcoming remarks to the international MBA students who are now a part of the Connector Program. He stressed the fact that they are vital to Halifax’s successful future, and thanked them for choosing Halifax as their city of choice. Mr. Dick Miller, Chair of the Mayors Economic Advisory Committee with the Greater Halifax Partnership, also gave an inspiring address to the students and encouraged them to take advantage of networking opportunities.

  
The significance of the Connector Program resonated in me when a young lady from China told her story. Huijing He explained how the Connector Program helped her to secure a job at AEG Financial Services. She thanked Cindy and Jackie for setting her up with a business network and praised the program and the city for “making her dreams come true”.  She mentioned her plans to become a connector herself to help others have success stories like hers.

 
After talking to connectors and program participants, it was clear that these people want to stay in Halifax after graduation. These students and I connected on our shared passion for Halifax. I can’t imagine starting a life on the other side of world without having a business network and in many cases, my family or friends. Their commitment to a life in Halifax was inspiring.

My hat’s off to these students for taking a chance on our city, and this program for facilitating promising futures.

For more information about the Connector Program, click here.

For more pictures of Friday's event, click here.

 

Maeghan Murphy, Marketing & Communications Assistant

Maeghan is with the Partnership on a four month work-term. She is in her third year of Public Relations at Mount Saint Vincent University and had her first taste of the working world on her work-term with Nova Scotia Power this summer. She'll always be a Cape Bretoner at heart, but Maeghan is happy to now call Halifax her home.

 

SmartCity Business Show - Episode 1 in Review

“When you assess everything and you distill it down, this is one wicked place to live”. I know Paul Kent and I aren’t the only Haligonians who think this city is wicked. But why are so many people happy to call Halifax home?

The reasons usually seem very obvious. Things like:

•    our friendly people
•    world-class scenery
•    a unique balance of the old and the new.

However, there are many reasons most of us tend to forget, or we simply haven’t been told about. Over the next few months, Greater Halifax Partnership & Haligonia.ca will be giving you 13 reasons to love Halifax even more, and to show the world what we’ve got to offer.

As a twenty year old student, I’ll admit I’ve got a narrower grasp on Halifax than I should. When I think of downtown Halifax, I associate it with smiling faces, lively streets, and a place where most of my favourite memories have came from. The first thing I think of is far from multimillion dollar building developments and a busy international port. This series digs deeper and highlights exactly why Halifax is such a smart place for people to live and play. And all in three and a half minutes per program? That sounds pretty good to me.

 

Maeghan Murphy, Marketing & Communications Co-op Student

Maeghan is with the Partnership on a four month work-term. She is in her third year of Public Relations at Mount Saint Vincent University and had her first taste of the working world on her work-term with Nova Scotia Power this summer. Altthough she'll always be a Cape Bretoner at heart, Maeghan is happy to now call Halifax her home.