Ruudrakshi Ganguly ’25 enters a South Asian Student Association (SASA) meeting, not knowing what to expect. To her delight, Ganguly feels at home as the aroma of home-cooked Indian sweets hits her nose, while students of a similar cultural background greet her with “Happy Diwali” and invite her to sit down with them. Even though she moved to the U.S. from India just over two years ago, she was quickly able to find her place within a large Stevenson community.

International transfer students, students who move from another country to Stevenson within their high school experience can be found throughout the halls of Stevenson High School. As of the 2024-25 school year, there are 223 students recognized as ‘transfer students’, including 130 freshmen. Several of these students moved from different countries, including Ukraine, Russia, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, and Sweden, according to the Multilingual Department, which oversees these students.

Each Multilingual (ML) student, a student who mainly speaks another language because they transfer from another country, has different experiences of schooling. Ganguly’s adjustment to the system of American education came with unanticipated differences. After taking science classes in America, Ganguly quickly understood the variation in the curriculum between the two nations after transferring.

“In India, it’s mostly textbook learning and going to labs was a luxury for us, to be honest,” Ganguly said. “[At Stevenson] though, every topic we were learning, especially in science, is way different and more lab-based.”

Because of this change, Stevenson has programs, such as Transfer Buddies that meet during lunch periods, in place to help transfer students adjust. A key aspect of this program is to make sure transfer students are able to find a community or friend to get to know, provided by the transfer buddies program that counselor Lisa Scanio oversees. A student can volunteer to be a  “transfer buddy” to help their assigned transfer student adjust to the new environment, by sitting with them during their lunch period.

“[Transfer buddies] try to give [other transfer students] information that they might not pick up on being a brand new student at our school, about the resources in our school, and it’s also a time to get to know other new students that have their same lunch at the same time,” Scanio said.

Similarly to the Transfer Buddies program for students, transfer parents also have a program in place to help them adjust to the Stevenson environment, through a committee dedicated to ensuring that both parents and students are on the same page regarding schooling through the ML Department. Assistant Director of Multilingual Learning, Alma Tamayo, oversees this committee to create a connection with the whole family.

“We also recognize the importance of family involvement, which is why we have the Multilingual Parent Advisory Committee,” Tamayo said. “This committee meets monthly to discuss important topics and provide support to families, fostering a strong partnership between home and school.”

Since many international transfer students do not speak English with their parents at home, American schooling may impact students’ learning of English, which may seem difficult to handle at an accelerated level for some students. In Ganguly’s case, to give herself more time for adjustment, she moved down a level of rigor.

“I made the decision to start sophomore year in a college prep level English class, because I knew that [analysis] was coming. I [would have] to analyze instead of just summarizing [text], which was hard for me” Ganguly said. 

In support of students like Ganguly who pursue classes that may be harder for them after transferring, the Stevenson Multilingual Department adjusts its curriculum depending on what its students take. This curriculum includes extra support like English tutoring, or making resources more accessible for students, depending on what the ML department deems fit for that student.  If a student wants to take a harder course, they are encouraged to, but their curriculum may vary to support their needs. 

“Being an ML student doesn’t limit the rigor of courses they can take,” Tamayo said. “It simply means we need to adjust our teaching methods and provide appropriate scaffolding to ensure the content is accessible while they’re learning English. We encourage all our ML students to challenge themselves academically.”

Aside from academics, Stevenson also has various clubs that transfer students can join, depending on their interests. For Ganguly, having a group of people who shared similar interests helped her feel more comfortable at Stevenson as a whole.

“[Biology club] really helped me to talk to many people,” Ganguly said. “They never let me feel different, or like I was unique in my qualities.”

Stevenson’s clubs provide a community for all Stevenson students, allowing ML students to have the comfort of those of similar ethnicities in a new country. By joining clubs, Ganguly felt welcomed, pushing her out of her comfort zone to express herself throughout her high school experience.

“I do feel very happy about [having a large Indian community], and the fact that we do celebrate Indian festivals in Stevenson, and they recognize Diwali as one of our major Indian festivals, as well as there is a club South Asian students association … ” Ganguly said. “[When I moved here], I thought that I needed to keep quiet. At first, I didn’t speak much to people, but eventually, I saw that many people were encouraging me [to speak].”