Deborah and Sophia Wong had never heard of Toledo.
“We didn’t even know how to pronounce it the right way,” Deborah Wong recalled, thinking back to their earliest conversations with a UToledo representative at Methodist College Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. “We didn’t know where Ohio was. We didn’t know it existed.”
From left, sisters Deborah Wong, Sophia Bender and Phoebe Wong.
The sisters have come a long way since then. Today, Toledo is home away from home for Deborah and Sophia, as well as their younger sister Phoebe.
Deborah is a UToledo graduate student studying clinical mental health counseling, having earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology alongside Sophia in 2021. Sophia earned her undergraduate degree in biology with a concentration in ecology and organismal biology and is now working and living with her husband in Toledo. And Phoebe is currently a junior majoring in computer science and engineering.
The sisters are three of the more than 1,400 international undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at The University of Toledo, many of whom came through international partnership programs. The Center for International Studies and Programs is celebrating the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide with programming this week for International Education Week, a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education.
The Wongs came to UToledo through the American Degree Transfer Program at Methodist College Kuala Lumpur. They credit Dr. Anthony Koh, a professor emeritus of marketing and international business at UToledo who is from Malaysia, and his wife with encouraging them and their family to take the leap.
When Deborah and Sophia arrived in fall 2019, they were upperclassmen according to their transcripts but felt every bit as first-year students as they navigated everything from academics to accommodations in entirely new surroundings. The family is Christian, and the sisters often relied on the friendships they quickly made at the off-campus Emmanuel Baptist Church in Toledo.
“They’ve been our great blessing,” Deborah said. “Our church family really stepped up for us, especially as we were navigating our first year in Toledo.”
Deborah doesn’t take for granted her opportunity to continue her education abroad, and to share her culture with those around her to learn from them in return, even with the unique challenges they sometimes face as international students. None of the sisters do. They’ve made a point to stay engaged in and out of the classroom while at UToledo.
Deborah assisted with several psychology research labs as an undergraduate, including the Child Anxiety and Stress Lab with Dr. Sarah Francis, the Cognitive Psychology Lab with Dr. J.D. Jasper and the Family and Child Development Lab with Dr. Cin Cin Tan.
After graduation she worked as a case manager at Harbor Behavioral Health, an experience she credits with solidifying her career goals. She’s now pursuing a master’s degree in counselor education with a clinical mental health counseling concentration, and preparing to intern next year at ProMedica’s Cullen Center and Beyond Healthcare.
She currently works as a graduate assistant in the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership.
Sophia was active in research, and as a senior explored the relationship between algae growth and body condition of northern map turtles in Michigan’s Kalamazoo River under Dr. Jeanine Refsnider. She also worked on aquatic ecology research in the labs of Dr. Trisha Spanbauer and Dr. William Hintz, who became mentors as she considered her post-graduation career. She stuck around immediately after graduation to work as a lab technician for Dr. Christine Mayer at the UToledo Lake Erie Center, then took a research assistant position the following year at Ohio State University.
After about a year in Columbus, she returned to Toledo to marry her husband, Nate Bender, a current graduate student in mechanical engineering at UToledo whom she met her first semester on campus through Cru. She’s currently working as a lab technician for a private company in Toledo.
Phoebe aspires to be a software engineer, and in the meantime keeps busy with school and work at the Starbucks in Carlson Library, where her sisters also worked as undergraduates. She’s also found community at their church, where she often heads in the evening for groups and Bible studies.
Each of the sisters also is or has been involved in UToledo’s Table Tennis Club. It’s a hobby that they share with their family in Malaysia, as well as a way to make friends on campus and across Ohio.
“Being an international student, there are a lot of challenges people don’t know about,” Deborah said. “But I’m so glad that we’ve gotten over the hurdles that we have because of the people who have helped and showed love and kindness to us sisters.
“I think it’s drawn us closer as a family,” she continued, referring to the family back home with whom she and sister called to chat and pray with every day when they first arrived in Toledo.
“And it’s been great to have my sisters here.”
