The University of Washington Seattle campus is a big place. It often takes time for new students to make meaningful connections – especially international students, who can face unique challenges in meeting people.
The Unite UW program is changing that, one quarter at a time.
A cultural exchange program that connects international and domestic students, Unite UW has helped thousands of Huskies find purpose and belonging on campus. It is managed by the Center for International Relations and Cultural Leadership Exchange (CIRCLE) and brings students together weekly for activities that help them make friends, gain a deeper understanding of other cultures and learn valuable leadership and communications skills.
Now in its 10th year, Unite UW is celebrating its growth and impact on the UW community.
“What started as a one-on-one mentoring program 10 years ago has grown into this incredible model for building community and bridging cultures on campus,” said Unite UW Program Manager and 2017 Unite UW participant David Huang. “Unite UW helps students have the most holistic college experience possible, creating a blended campus community from around the world.”
Building community on campus
In its 10 years, Unite UW has served thousands of students – 2,607 students from 69 countries and 39 states, to be exact. The program runs in autumn, winter and spring quarters, and about 100 students participate each quarter.
Keeping the cohorts small helps build connections, Huang said, and program leaders further develop that intimate feel by breaking students into smaller groups for some activities. Groups meet weekly and also participate in several off-campus trips like the quarterly retreat – a highlight of the program.
“At the retreat, everyone takes the opportunity to leave everything behind and just be present with each other,” Huang said. “They hear each other’s stories and deepen their connections with each other – it’s really special.”
Over the years, based on feedback from participants, Huang has adjusted Unite UW’s programming to create more space for student initiative and experimentation, which he said allows students to build activities they’re interested in and provides opportunities for skill development.
Creating that space for student initiative has been key to the program’s success, Huang said, because at its core Unite UW is a very student-centered educational program.
“In each cohort, there’s a lot of student initiative, time and energy,” he said. “Myself and other staff advise our participants, but letting them develop activities on their own builds valuable skills. When students go through Unite UW, whether they’re a leader or a participant, they gain so many skills and abilities, and they become more well-rounded people overall.”
‘It really changed my life’
Yuta Hatanaka, ’26, knows first-hand the impact Unite UW can have on a student’s Husky Experience. He joined the program during spring quarter of his first year at the UW and stayed in it until his graduation this spring.
“It really changed my life – I’ve never experienced anything like it,” Hatanaka said. “I was an introvert when I joined, and English isn’t my first language so I wasn’t confident, but Unite UW made it easier for me to go out of my comfort zone and meet people.”
After his first quarter in the program, Hatanaka, a mechanical engineering student, knew he wanted to stay involved. Over the next three years, he served as a Unite UW program facilitator, then a program leader and finally a student manager. Although he found those leadership roles challenging at first, his belief in the importance of the program motivated him to keep going.
The skills Hatanaka developed served him well in the program – and outside of it. As he began applying to jobs at the end of his senior year, he said his experiences with Unite UW helped him stand out from other applicants.
“Unite UW taught me so much: responsibility, organization, cross-cultural communication, taking risks, challenging yourself,” he said. “I see a lot of changes in myself since my first quarter (in Unite UW). I have presentation skills from leading groups. I am more comfortable and confident talking to people. I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on those skills in job interviews, and I couldn’t have gotten them anywhere else.
The next 10 years
As Unite UW embarks on its next 10 years, Huang and Dan Zhu, CIRCLE’s director and a Unite UW program founder, are reflecting on the program’s successes – and looking to build on the good work they’ve done.
“For over 10 years, Unite UW has created a lasting impact on this campus and across the globe, cultivating thousands of ‘Uniters of UW’ as ambassadors for cultural diversity and inclusion,” Zhu said. “As the world tumbles, this program provides a space where students from all walks of life can learn from each other’s worldviews, embrace each other’s identities and empower each other to be their best selves. We started small, but our legacy has been profound and far-reaching.”
Building on that legacy is a project for the next 10 years. Huang said one thing he plans to focus on is continuing to engage students who have already participated in Unite UW, to help the powerful connections students made in the program endure and flourish.
“Those things are so meaningful: the friends that still hang out together, the people who graduated years ago but still take trips together, the people who’ve married someone they met in Unite UW,” Huang said. “That is really the crowning achievement of Unite UW and the one we want to continue – that through the experiences we provide, Unite UW students continue to connect with people across the world.”