Welcome New Advisors!

As this school year rapidly comes to a close, the staff here at International Programs is working hard to help those students preparing for transfer, while transitioning to a larger staff, to serve the needs of our growing International student population.

In this edition, we’d like to introduce you to our new full time advisors, Robyn Carter, Tara Lunde, and Helen Kwon. Together we now have 7 advisors to assist your students. Please take a look at our new IP blog, insidegrcc.wordpress.com, for a full story including biographies and updates on changes taking place in many different areas of International Programs. As part of these changes, we would like to thank advisor, Alvin Tai, for his dedicated service to our students as advisor to our Chinese student population. Mr. Tai will now be acting in a recruitment position for our college in the countries of China, Singapore…

Fire & Safety

Fire! This winter one of your fellow families experienced the tragedy of losing their home to a fire during our January storm.

Note: Fire ladders may be purchased from Walmart, McLendon’s and Amazon.com to name a few distributors.

Theft! Please be sure to remind students to lock windows and doors when leaving your home. We have had a rash of reports of students having technology stolen from area homes and apartments. Remind them to keep these items out of sight when traveling on the bus, not to leave items in cars, or to leave open windows or doors that may allow access to your homes.

If your Under 18 student moves out...

Housing restrictions - Students who are under the age of 18 may not sign an apartment lease. Please advise students under the age of 18 to come into the housing department to sign a waiver should they announce they are moving from your home into an area apartment. The college must have the student sign a release form that is sent on to the student’s parents should they choose not to utilize campus housing. We would appreciate your help in keeping us up-to-date with students making this change for their safety and in keeping with college policy.

Campus Safety Alert

If you have not done so already, please subscribe to the GRCC Safety Alerts and keep informed of campus emergencies, safety issues and inclement weather during emergency closures. This FREE service is available to all GRCC students, employees and their families. You can subscribe for cell phone text messages, emails or both. Please sign up for Safety Alerts today. Please encourage your students to sign up too, it could save them a trip here if classes are canceled

Short Term Programs

Thank you to all of you who helped us house more than 60 short term students from Horsen’s Business College in Norway and High School students from Hefei, China during the winter quarter. Students were enrolled in individual cohorts that included English Literature, Cultural Studies, History, Business Commerce/Marketing, Accounting and Mathematics.

Host families provide accommodations and hospitality and opportunity to experience American family life. The students also experienced our winter storm, where electricity, heating and cooking were affected for several days.

Important Reminders

Change of Address: Please remind your International students they must change their address within 10 days of moving to allow us to comply with immigration law. The form is simple and may be picked up and turned in at the front desk of International Programs. In addition, the Post office allows a student to change their address online for $1.00.

Banking and cell phones – Please remember NEVER to sign your name on a student’s financial contract for a bank account or a cell phone.

• Banking should be in the student’s name only. A savings account with debit card can be substituted for someone under the age of 18. Please be sure you are keeping receipts for payments made to you by your students.
• Cell phones – Students should be seeking out pre-paid phones or visiting T-mobile for cell phones as larger carriers such as AT&T and Verizon are continuing to require costly contracts. We do not encourage students to sign contracts

Money - Recently we have had several students come in to say they have loaned money to their host families. Please NEVER borrow money from a student. This practice is illegal in a host family and will cause a host family to be deactivated if found to be borrowing money from a student.

Transportation – Please take a look at how your students are getting to school. We ask that you have a plan that allows the student to arrive to school within the 45 minute time period we require. We have had students come in to say they are being required to take multiple buses and to walk quite a distance to get to school. We want students to stay put in your homes and so ask that you evaluate your current plan to see if it’s working for you and your students.

Metro Bus Passes

UPDATE on King County Metro bus passes. You can no longer get a bus pass here on campus. Individual bus tickets can still be purchased at the cashiers office. It is located on the 2nd floor of the Lindbloom Student Center (LSC building). We are encouraging the students to buy an ORCA card from King County Metro. Information about the cards can be found online.

Refer a Friend

If you know someone that has been thinking about becoming a great host family like you, please tell them about our program. The first thing they would need to do is come to a host family orientation. Michellyn will be conducting them about once a quarter for now. They can call the information line at 253-833-9111 ext. 2129 to find out about the next meeting time. Thank you for referring quality host families!

Things To Do

Heavier than Air Theatre Presents A Sound of Music - March 23, 24, 25, 30 and 31st. - Learn more.

Did you know? For walking and jogging enthusiasts, Green River maintains a beautiful 1.2 mile trail throughout the campus. A portion of the trail is paved and accessible for wheelchairs. There is also a great view of Mt. Rainier from the trail!

Contact Information