Life for any college student can be a large adjustment, but imagine being an international student, far from home and trying to get acquainted to the culture of Denver while also trying to meet other students.

That is where Pioneer to Pioneer Partnership Program (P2P) comes in, a program that helps bridge the cultural gap between students.

The Pioneer to Pioneer Partnership Program is a student-led organization that pairs international and domestic students at the start of each quarter to get in touch and participate in various activities and events throughout the quarter.

Although the P2P program has been an organization at DU for a few years, senior international studies major Daniel Mason from Pico Rivera, Calif. helped revamp the group. Mason was an on-campus Senator his sophomore year in 2011 and realized that P2P was not getting students as involved, so he decided to get more serious about the group’s role on campus.

“A lot of what motivated my push for this program was my first year when I saw a big divide between international and domestic students and there was just a lot of ignorant comments and stereotypes. My vision for this program was to bring people together and show them that not all of those stereotypes are true and that they are students just like us,” said Mason.

Senior marketing major Kellie Mortimer from Mission Viejo, Calif. also joined the program her sophomore year and has been a member of the student committee for two years.

Mortimer originally joined P2P after she took an interterm course in Taiwan and felt grateful that she had two Taiwanese students to help facilitate her trip and help the other DU students who didn’t understand the language or the culture.

“I wanted to come back and do that here,” said Mortimer. “It gave me a better awareness of what it is like to be an international student.”

Each quarter they restart the program and pair new domestic students with international students.
This fall quarter, 90 people signed up and in previous quarters, there have been 180 participants, according to Mason and Mortimer.

The P2P program typically hosts three events a quarter which could include an international potluck, international trivia night, movie nights or even outings around Denver.

“We try and get out around Denver and we also try to encourage participants to meet outside our planned events,” said Mortimer. “For each participant it is up to them what they want to make of it. They can meet three times a week if they want or they can meet once a quarter.” The Pioneer to Pioneer Kickoff Event for fall quarter was held on Friday at 5 p.m. at the International House. At the event, domestic and international students ate some appetizers, chatted with different students and then found out who their partners would be for the quarter.

Prior to the kickoff event, both domestic and international students who were interested in P2P were sent an email asking for their names, majors, hometowns and why they wanted to join P2P. This way, Mason and Mordimer could accurately pair people together before the event.

According to Mortimer, partners are matched particularly based on their majors and school because it helps if they have classes together. Mortimer believes it helps build off their relationship within school.

“We want the relationships to go beyond being superficial and surface relationships,” said Mason.
Quan Zhang, a senior psychology and biology major from Beijing, China, has been a member of P2P since her freshman year and is now a member of the student committee.

“When I was a new international student and first arrived at DU, I really wanted to have someone help me to get into the new culture, so I joined P2P to help others,” said Zhang. “The domestic student who wants to join P2P is the person who is interested in different cultures, so this makes it easier to help bridge the gap.”

The student committee sends out weekly emails updating participants on the events going on around campus.

“One of the things we do is we will tell participants about all the events across campus, not just athletics but Greek Life events and Newman Center events,” said Mortimer.

According to Mason, the program has been very successful since its re-founding and has had over 500 participants in total over the past three years.

Mason highlights that student life in the U.S. and student life abroad are very different, and this program helps them open up and get acquainted into the community.
Mason believes it even helps participants get into various leadership positions in the International Student Organizations.

“The good thing about the program is that when we do have events, we have everyone together,” said Mason. “Your partner isn’t the only thing you get out of it.”

As far as goals for the future, Mason and Mortimer are hoping that the club will stay successful even after they graduate in the spring.

“I think the biggest thing is ensuring the sustainability of it,” said Mortimer. “We both have put the most work into it and someone has to be willing to do that next year, so hopefully finding someone who will help this dilemma.”

“[My goal is] taking the program to the next level, to something that can survive for a long time,” said Mason.

To sign up to be a participant in the P2P program visit: du.edu/intl/isss/p2p.