New Students Join Sangsan’s University Program

May 16^th to 18^th, 2014

Often the biggest change in our student’s lives is the transition from high school to tertiary education, at universities and vocational schools.  The experience not only involves the new challenge of higher education but cultural and practical ones as well.  Leaving a familiar environment, away from support networks and often to a big city can be daunting especially when considering the cultural change.  Often our students find themselves going from a Mae Hong Son high school attended by many Karen and Shan students to a new environment surrounded by an overwhelming Thai majority.

From the 16^th to the 18^th of May Sangsan held an orientation camp to welcome our new students and to help them with this transition.  Budget management and empowerment training took place, alongside explanations of program policy and processes.

12 students joined us in the training with some coming from our high school program, already familiar with the Sangsan approach, and some joining us for the first time.  The camp is therefore an important step in their Sangsan journey and provides an opportunity to orientate students to the university program while also discussing their hopes and concerns for the future. 

In a safe environment all students are given the opportunity to talk about their experiences and their expectations.  Our Junior Staff, Poosaw and Songkran, play a key role in this discussion as both are current students at universities in Chiang Mai and have gone through the transition themselves.  They offered important advice to the new students but could also help put the experience in perspective by discussing their own similar journeys.  The discussion encouraged confidence building and introduced different approaches to help students adjust to their new lives.

Alongside this discussion budget management training took place, introducing strategies to help balance new financial demands and circumstances. We believe this is not only significant for practical reasons but for personal health as well.  When budgets become stretched often stress increases and diet suffers affecting the mental health of our students greatly.   A balanced budget often leads to a balanced diet as more money can be allocated to healthier foods.

Students were also provided with opportunities to participate in exercise activities such as yoga.  Feedback from previous camps indicates that yoga specifically is something adopted by many of our students in their day-to-day lives.  At our recent agricultural training one student commented on its importance, saying it helped her keep a daily routine and gave her more energy to study and work. The message of health management is particularly important for new students who are experienced heightened stress due to the transition they are undertaking.

Sangsan is very pleased to welcome the 12 new students joining our program and we look forward to their contributions in the future.  Their participation and contributions to their orientation camp was outstanding and a very positive sign of things to come.