Cultural differences can be revealed through the most innocuous of actions, as Deerfield student Aurora Simonescu '02 discovered one day while peeling a banana. "But you're eating that banana backwards!" her startled friend from Vermont remarked. The realization that there are many ways to eat a banana is as illuminating an experience for the girl from Vermont as it is for the girl from Romania, and a profound shift occurs when they both realize that there is neither a right nor a wrong way to do it.

Through such small, vivid exchanges, the academy's international student population helps enrich and diversify the Deerfield experience for all. As a group, the international students comprise around 12 percent of the student body and are defined as those who are resident outside of the United States when they come to Deerfield. Many are from Asia or South America, some from the Middle East, a few from Europe and some are Americans living overseas, but each has undertaken a journey that has brought them further than mere miles of travel. Those who leave a familiar cultural framework to be educated abroad face a daily challenge about their assumptions of normality and open themselves and others to a transformation that extends far beyond academic achievement.

"Deerfield lets me try something new and has made me realize what I can do," says Boniface Law '02. His finger splinted from a recent wrestling bout, Boniface still attends dance rehearsals for an upcoming production. This Hong Kong student found the hardest part of his adjustment to the academy was "coming from such a huge city to living next to cows!" He credits his easy integration into student life to the supportive atmosphere between faculty, proctors and fellow students and found that living in close proximity with others served to spark off his new interests. Boniface's Japanese proctor, now at Harvard, was particularly instrumental in encouraging him to dance when he first arrived. "Ryuji '00 had a profound and powerful effect on the dance program," says dance director Jennifer Whitcomb. "Through dance, people speak a universal language, and we see how the international students bring their own cultural flavors to the choreography."

Language is rarely a barrier to integration at the academy. "Overall the international students are very cosmopolitan and either fluent in English or highly sophisticated language users," says to Margaret Sweeney, international student advisor. "With the shift to coeducation, there was greater demand for places so the academy became more selective, and fluency in English is now a prerequisite." For those who still require some bolstering, continuous support is given through the English as a Second Language program that Ms. Sweeney introduced 15 years ago.

"They're much hotter on grammar here than they were in England," observes Ping Panyarachun '02. Schooled in Thailand until he was 11, he went to a British boarding school before coming to Deerfield and retains a British accent, along with his eccentricity of wearing open-toed sandals even in midwinter. Exposure to different forms of self-expression through the arts curriculum led Ping into the field of photography where he shows serious talent, but like many students he remarks on how the academic intensity of his first year left him with little time for socializing.

In recognition of this, the international club sets social activities as its priority. Initiated by Margaret Sweeney, the club is now run by student officers and they are clear about their agenda. The club's mission statement covers the obvious promotion of multiculturalism, and concludes with a wish "to provide an enjoyable and relaxed atmosphere to relieve stress at Deerfield and just have fun!"

Club officer Jacky Hayward '02 says that the club is more about being a comfort zone where students of every background can meet, and is less about debating and issues. Coming from Connecticut, Jacky was attracted to the club because it was "not just about America" and is accepting of diversity. Some of its members also participate in groups such as the Deerfield Black Student Coalition, the Asian Student Association and the Latin American Society, but the self-styled agenda of the international club has picked up on a need for some unstructured interaction time that is outside of dormitory life.

Cultures that value the social connection of time spent with others notice the different emphasis when they come to the USA. "After five minutes, people get agitated," Bukamu Hulela '01 laughs. "They're always on the move. In Botswana, people stay for hours just sitting chatting to each other." Aurora has a similar experience, remarking that people in Romania go out more often to talk together and socialize, with long ambles along the banks of the Danube as a favorite activity.

Any degree of isolation that students might experience in adjusting to school life can be alleviated by the tradition of family atmosphere. Latin teacher Peter Brush, reminiscing back on 35 years at the academy, remembers how retired Spanish teacher Carlos Garcia and his wife Carmen would run an informal support network from their home, scooping up students for their birthdays and vacations. "Carlos was the strict one, but his wife Carmen was very warm and a wonderful cook," he says. "They adopted all the Spanish kids, which was good because there weren't any special support programs for foreign students back then."

J.J. Briones has had first hand experience of these days. Originally from the Philippines, Briones graduated in 1982 when international students were a much smaller presence at the academy. He cites inspiring teachers, such as Larry Boyle, and the "highly personalized atmosphere of the school" as helping him through. "I learned about people and relationships," Briones says. "Deerfield was a great influence on my life but I could not have returned to work here unless it had become the coeducational, 21st century school that it is now."

Now associate director of admission and advisor to the Asian Students Association, Briones lives in a dormitory with 14 boys and jokes about the lack of privacy. "I get to know all about them, and they get to know all about me! Seriously, with 99 percent of the faculty living on campus, students can't just hide from us by shutting their doors and disappearing. We can help to draw them out and then come together as a community to solve any problems."

The natural tendency of students to group together with others of similar interests is broken down in the dining hall where the different worlds of the Deerfield community are mixed up into tables and rotated every three weeks. The result is "a very interesting level of discussion after the first week," according to Briones. A similar spirit is created in the dormitories, which are the places where students often receive their first exposure to others' living customs. It was here that Heesun Lho '04 from Korea found how tough it was to deal with Western nonchalance about wearing outdoor shoes in an indoor living space, "especially when my friends put their feet up on my bed!" she says.

Discovering differences runs alongside celebrating them. The Chinese New Year was feted with red paper dragons and celebrations organized by the Chinese language program. From Hawaiian dances to slide presentations, such events are a regular occurrence at the academy and assist in retaining a cultural integrity and sense of shared origin for some students.

"This is Olivia from Peru," is the message on Olivia Ontaneda's '03 voice mail. She has a diverse and almost nomadic background typical of many international students, yet with an unusually global perspective and strong sense of purpose. "Helping others is my life," she says. When she completes her education, her goal is to work with or set up her own UNICEF. This summer, she spent her vacation in the mountains of Peru with the Association Emergencia de Ayacucho aiding child victims of terrorism.

Students such as Olivia advance the concept of international relationships, and the recognition of this wider stage on which Deerfield graduates might play out their lives is the underpinning of the academy's diversity policy. Links with schools abroad, exchange programs, scholarship programs and alumni all facilitate the introduction of international students to the school. Whether their influence is then felt on the level of how to peel fruit or in international relationships, every student's exposure to worlds of difference serves ultimately to lessen them.