Nikhil Patel is one of the 30 international students from 12 different countries selected for City of Sydney’s student ambassador program (2016-2018).
During the 18 month program, these students were mentored in leadership skills to become community ambassadors.
These 30 students together have contributed more than 6,500 hours to helping new students settle in Australia and helping local Australian communities.
Vivid Sydney, Airport Welcome Desk and New migrants welcome dinner are some of the projects Nikhil volunteered for, in addition to organising Student networking events and a Youth music competition bringing together local and visiting young people.
“Volunteering in projects like Welcome dinner and Vivid Sydney, I have Iearnt a lot of things about the Australian culture which will be very helpful when I go into the workforce. I got a lot of networking opportunities.” said Nikhil.
Speaking to Nikhil said most international students stay within their own small groups with little or no interaction with local Australians.
Nikhil Patel at new migrants welcome dinner organised by City of Sydney Source: Nikhil Patel
“Our main aim was to fill the gap between international students and local students who were born and raised in Australia, who have a better understanding of Australian culture and can contribute greatly to the settlement process of international students."
International Student ambassadors were honored by the City of Sydney for their selfless efforts.
For more details listen to the audio interview (in Gujarati) on the top of this page.
More stories on SBS Gujarati
ઇન્ટરનેશનલ સ્ટુડન્ટ એમ્બેસેડર - નિખિલ પટેલ
