By Kathryn Dettmer, assistant director of administration at the English Language Center and adjunct professor of French.
Two Drexel University students are set to finish four years of working at Drexel University’s English Language Center (ELC), closing a chapter of their lives filled with both personal and professional highlights.
Those two Dragons are Nafisa Khan ‘26, a health care administration major from the Bennett S. LeBow College of Business with a minor in nutrition from the College of Nursing and Health Professions, and Wen Liu ’26, a math major in the College of Arts and Sciences with a minor in education from the School of Education.
Khan and Liu are two of the longest-serving work study students at the English Language Center in recent years. Both are first-generation students, making them perfectly suited to working with the Dragons who interact the most with the ELC: those who are new to the United States.
Khan said that seeing her parents’ journey with the English language and American culture has given her the empathy needed to make ELC students feel more comfortable in their surroundings. She is particularly happy that she can serve as “a bridge” for other young Muslim women, who may not always feel comfortable speaking to people outside of their home culture. Khan has been instrumental in planning Ramadan festivities at the ELC and has found that breaking fast with the students is one of the highlights of her time at the ELC.
Liu has enjoyed participating in the Thanksgiving day of lessons that the ELC holds every year, serving during the pie tasting and expertly keeping the student traffic flowing between sessions. Liu gets to practice both his Chinese and Japanese with students who need help and, on the phone, when people call with inquiries. He also offers a “Weekly Math with Wen” on Mondays to help ELC students who are taking University math classes.
Both Dragons have built up their office skills while working with Microsoft Suite and taming balky photocopiers and coffee makers — skills they feel have already come in handy over various co-op placements. Liu’s co-workers at Central High School in Philadelphia (also his alma mater) complimented him on his ability to do all the “office tasks” that teachers are required to do, telling him that those skills were not taught in the classroom and he was already a step ahead.
Khan and Liu are important parts of the ELC family and their contributions will be missed when they graduate: Khan this spring and Liu after his student teaching in fall term.