The Kenyon Bookstore sells a T-shirt which plays with the fact that the College's name sounds a lot like the name of an African country. "Kenyon is not near Uganda," the shirt quips. That's not news to Naomi Mutinda, Class of 2006, who came to Kenyon from, yes, Kenya.

Mutinda discovered the College through her father, an ornithologist and safari guide who spoke at Kenyon's Brown Family Environmental Center. It was love at first sight, and Naomi is now one of 51 international students at Kenyon, from 28 countries ranging from Belarus to Peru. International students discover that the College's small, welcoming community makes it easy to find friends, get to know professors, and get involved. At the same time, they can share their unique perspective as foreign nationals through a group called ISAK, International Students at Kenyon. In addition to its other activities, the club organizes a variety of cultural events. Among the most popular are semi-annual feasts for which the students prepare dishes from their home countries.

For Mutinda, one of the great benefits of coming to Kenyon has been the opportunity to discover the United States while taking advantage of the College's extern program, which enables students to explore different careers by spending time with Kenyon alumni at their jobs. A major in economics with a minor in statistical math, Mutinda completed an externship with a software firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for example. Meanwhile, she plans to spend part of her junior year in Washington, D.C., in a program that combines study with an internship in public policy. She has also traveled with American friends to Cape Cod, Niagara Falls, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Washington, D.C.

Mutinda is indeed far from home. But when she says, "I just feel like I fit in," she's talking about Kenyon.