Meet Koral. Koral came to us from the Dominican Republic in September. She is a recipient of an Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program (ELAP) scholarship – and what an emerging leader she is! With her focus on Early Childhood Education, Koral is taking an remarkable six courses at the College in management, tourism, business and education. Her goal is to eventually earn a Masters in Leadership and to focus on developing programs for low income communities. In short, Koral is an amazingly impressive young woman.
I became aware of Koral not because of these inspiring attributes, however. I was told about Koral because of her boundless and awe-inspiring enthusiasm for Canadian winters! Yup, you read that right. Koral loves the snow and even the cold! She waited anxiously for the first snow to arrive – which it did on November 17. There wasn’t a lot that day but she enthusiastically posted about it on Facebook anyway.
The following week, on November 24, Koral’s dreams came true as Cranbrook received a huge dump of snow overnight and through the morning. Having only a one-hour break for lunch and with the snowfall threatening to come to an end, Koral went to the cafeteria, gathered up all of her friends and brought them outside to join her as she giddily played in the snow.
The first thing Koral does in the mornings now is look outside her window at the snow. She especially loves how it sparkles in the sunlight. To her it is magical. Even having the opportunity to bundle up in a warm jacket, scarf and mittens is a thrill for Koral. These are things she doesn’t get to experience in the Dominican Republic.
Koral is loving her time in Canada. She feels a kinship with other international students because they are all far away from home and can relate to each other. She is also enjoying learning from Canadian students and culture and will be sad to be leaving at the end of the semester. She has reminded me of how much we can learn from our international students as well. Like how to see the magic in a snowfall.
Best of luck to you Koral. It was a pleasure being able to see a Canadian winter through your eyes.