RICHLAND, Wash. –  Nikita Fisenko was 10 years old when he came to the United States with his family from Uzbekistan.

“At the age of 7, in a family of seven kids, my father passed away of cancer,” he said. “It was really hard. My father was our only support.”

Because his grandmother lived in the United States, the family was able to apply for residency. After a several-year grueling application process and after selling everything they owned, Fisenko and his family found their new home in eastern Washington. At the time, Fisenko had four English phrases to his memory.

“Yes, no, thank you and hot tea,” he said. “It was cold when we came and asked for Chai and learned that in English, it was hot tea.”

Fisenko spent several years playing catch-up with his English and studying hard to learn school subjects in a language not his own, but one thing always served as an encouragement: one-day he would use his own experiences in overcoming hardships to help others. Little did he know that his ideal career would be in the medical field and that Washington State University Tri-Cities would help take him places that would allow him to help those less fortunate.

“I’m using my education and experiences at ���سԹ� to help others through my future career as a nurse,” he said. “It’s exciting to know that I can have that personal impact.”

Realizing his medical passion

Fisenko studied diligently in Spanish because he thought that one-day he could use the language in a career as a Christian missionary, which had always been a passion of his. He used his experience in high school working in the fruit fields and factories to chat in Spanish with his fellow employees that, in combination with his Spanish courses, allowed him to become nearly fluent in the language.

He also excelled in mathematics – it was the one subject that didn’t require a mastery of the English language.

As his schooling rolled on, however, Fisenko developed an interest in the medical field, which led him to enroll in the Tri-Tech Skills Center’s pre-nursing program. He wanted to see if the medical route would be right for him. It turned out to be a perfect fit, as it would still allow him to use his fluency in Spanish to help others.

“I’m a people person, and nursing allows you to work with people to help them overcome their medical ailments and really have an impact,” he said. “With my background in Spanish, I could also use that to reduce barriers for others who originally like me, don’t speak English.”

He chose ���سԹ� to prepare him for his future career as a nurse because it would allow him to live at home and help his family with expenses, but also receive a first-class education.

“���سԹ� ended up being the perfect fit for where I’m at in my life, what I want to accomplish and the people I hope to help,” he said.

Around the world in the medical field

At ���سԹ�, Fisenko takes his studies very seriously. The 4.0 student said he aims to learn everything he can so that he can be the best nurse he can be.

“I want to be a nurse that actually changes things – I want to make a difference,” he said. “So I can’t just memorize the material for the sake of doing well on tests. I have to really know the material because I’m going to apply it to my career as a nurse where I can have a real impact on people.”

Fisenko said he had always wanted to travel to a country where Spanish was the primary language so that he could further develop his skills in the language that would allow him to help others. He decided to take as many courses as he could his first couple of years at WSU so that before he certified into the nursing program, he could do a semester study abroad program in a Spanish-speaking country.

After speaking with a WSU study abroad advisor and after extensive research, he decided on a medical-based program in Costa Rica, where he would study medical Spanish and health sciences. He completed the program this fall.

During his program in Costa Rica, he made sure to interact extensively with the local population and traveled to neighboring countries. He traveled to Panama, Guatemala and Nicaragua, in addition to spending his weekends traveling the Costa Rican countryside.

The experience, he said, was life-changing.

“The biggest thing I would say in going to study abroad was that it shaped my mindset and my perspective,” he said. “Understanding other cultures and people, it can open so many more doors to your future. Through this experience, I developed my communication skills and I was able to better understand other people’s perspectives and ways of doing things.”

Future in the medical field

Fisenko is now working his way through his first year in the WSU nursing program, which he said is preparing him for the rigor of being a nurse.

“The nursing program at WSU is a challenging program, but it is a challenge that pushes you forward,” he said.

Fisenko said he hopes to use his experiences, ranging from his difficulties in migrating to the United States, to learning English and Spanish, to the challenging nursing program at WSU, to his experiences abroad, to one-day help individuals at Kadlec Regional Medical Center as a future nurse. Kadlec, he said, has been his dream employer for years.

“God-willing, I will be there helping, advising and speaking Spanish to help those with medical issues,” he said. “I want to really make a difference. God has blessed me and shaped me into who I am, so I want to use that to bless others.”

RICHLAND, Wash. – Washington State University Tri-Cities will honor its international students, faculty and staff members with a new international flag installation and celebration that will take place at 1:15 p.m. on Monday in the Floyd Atrium on campus.

There will be an initial total of 32 flags represented of the known 32 countries of current international students, faculty and staff that will be hung as part of the installation. Members of the public are welcome to attend the celebration.

“These flags are displayed in a prominent place in recognition of faculty, staff and students who have come to our campus from countries around the world and of their diverse backgrounds and experience strengthen the campus,” said Jana Kay, campus registrar.

As part of a brief celebration for installation, the campus community will hear from Kate McAteer, assistant vice chancellor of academic affairs, Israa Alshaikhli, president of the Associated Students of Washington State University Tri-Cities, and Yuna Okamoto, a student in the Intensive American Language Center, on the importance and impact of having the installation on campus.

If there are flags not represented of current campus community members’ home countries, those individuals are encouraged to contact Erika Kraus, ���سԹ� international student coordinator, at erika.kraus@wsu.edu. Additional flags will be installed as they are identified.

By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

Paul Skilton is the first professor from Washington State University Tri-Cities to participate in a teaching abroad experience with a prestigious business school in Brig, Switzerland.

WSU with the in Switzerland to offer a dual degree program in hospitality business where students receive a degree from both César Ritz and WSU upon completion of the program. Through the years, professors from WSU have rotated to teach at the Swiss institution each semester. Since the hospitality business management program is fairly new to ���سԹ�, the opportunity was not available for Tri-Cities professors until this year. The hospitality business management program began at ���سԹ� in 2015.

César Ritz is a renowned school in the hospitality business management sector, ranking 24^th in the world for hospitality and hotel management schools in 2016-16 by and falling closely behind WSU, who ranked 21^st in the world the same year by the publication.

“César Ritz prepares students who want to go into the hotel industry and all the fields that encompass that industry, from hospitality to restaurant and food service,” Skilton said. “Students from all over the world come to this school to study. The WSU Carson College of Business sends one faculty member each semester. I’m going this fall and Dr. Donna Paul will go in the spring.”

Skilton said the experience benefits both students abroad and students from WSU, in addition to allowing WSU professors to establish international connections with students and faculty from all over the world. WSU students, he said, may choose to study abroad for a semester at the Swiss school, broadening their scope of the hospitality industry and giving them that international experience that is crucial to their credentials in the field. The experience also opens doors for students overseas to come and study on campus at WSU, in addition to their experience on campus in Switzerland.

“The idea is that students will get a look at international contexts, contacts and points of view within the hospitality business world,” Skilton said. “If you are going to go into the hospitality business sector, you should be able to understand people who are different from you so that you can accommodate them accordingly. That international experience is very important.”

This semester, Skilton will teach a course focusing on management of innovation and change, as well as a principles of management course. He said he is most excited about learning as much from the faculty and students at the school as he is able to teach them.

“The faculty at César Ritz have a very different mindset,” Skilton said. “WSU is a research-based school whereas the faculty at César Ritz mostly consist of hotel professionals. It’s also a European college, so it’s going to be very different. I’m excited to learn about how they structure their programs and I hope they’ll teach me as much as I am able to teach them.”

Skilton leaves for Switzerland this month and will begin teaching at César Ritz in early October. He will return to ���سԹ� in time for the spring semester this academic year.

The partnership program is one of WSU Carson College of Business’ longest-standing global partnerships and is in line with WSU’s .

For more information about the program and how WSU students can spend a semester abroad at with Cesar Ritz, visit .