Introducing ‘International Students of New York,’ an Instagram Project

Ghita Benslimane
Aug 9, 2017 · 2 min read

I’m launching an Instagram account about international students in the city. Here’s why.

I think a lot of people in the U.S. probably see international students simply as rich kids from abroad, coming here to luxuriate and party for four years before going back home to work for their dads. Of course, this may be the case in certain situations, but this is largely not the case — international students are a diverse, passionate group of people.

Last semester, as part of my work at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, I started an Instagram page called International Students of NY (@internationalstudentsny) in order to tell the stories of international students living here in the city. I wanted my page to model the Humans of New York format, and I set out to meet as many students as I could and have as many interesting conversations as possible.

What I found out was that while international students are each unique in their interests, backgrounds goals, I did find some similarities in what I was hearing. A lot of international students are struggling with the idea that they may not be able to gain substantial work experience in the U.S. after they graduate. The country’s increasingly complicated immigration laws are a source of stress for a lot of students, who feel that they’ve come to the U.S. for an opportunity to start a new life and quickly come to realize how hard it would be to do that once OPT is gone. And not a lot of people know about how difficult this process is for international students, so besides celebrating their diversity and accomplishments, one of the main goals of this Instagram page will be to grow awareness for the many challenges they face.

Tomorrow, I’ll be relaunching the page and posting every other day. Follow my page @internationalstudentsny to keep up with my progress and, if you know any international students who’d be open to talking to me, please have them direct message me on Instagram or e-mail me at: ghita.benslimane@journalism.cuny.edu.

Ghita Benslimane

Written by

Social Video Intern @CNN & CUNY-J grad student Formerly: Story Editor @Snap News Editor @MoroccoWorldNews, Twitter: @GhitaTweets

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