African Graduate Students in Gainesville

In Fall 2018, over 3,471 International students enrolled for Graduate study and professional programs at the University of Florida (UF). According to UF's geographic distribution of enrollment, 92 of these students were from Africa (9 Ethiopians, 38 Nigerians, 19 Ghanaians and 26 Egyptians). As African graduate students enroll and graduate from UF, a community of students especially from Sub-Saharan Africa, remain to provide support and mentorship for new students. Although the community is not officially registered at UF, the community of African graduate students has evolved from physical congregations to online communities such as a WhatsApp and Facebook group. These physical and digital spaces provide the feeling of home that most African graduate students yearn for when they first arrive the US.

This project is part of our community's effort to research, document and memorialize the experiences of African graduate students in Gainesville. We hope current and future African graduate students will find our stories inspiring. We hope they enjoy our stories and find hope in our moments of happiness and peace in Gainesville.

If you are an African graduate student at UF and you would like to be part of this project, please send an email to mossiestorch@gmail.com. Please send photos of events that you would love to see here. You may also send enquiries if you're a prospective/new African graduate student at UF.