After welcoming thousands of refugees in the past several years, Nashville will soon become host to even more as some of the nearly 60,000 Bhutanese refugees make their way to the city, The Tennessean reported.

Nashville has become home to nearly 3,100 refugees since 2002 and is now ranked 28th in the nation for refugee resettlement, according to State Department statistics.

With a large population of Sudanese and Somalian refugees especially, several Vanderbilt groups have dedicated themselves to working with the refugee population and their families. With the recent influx of refugees into the surrounding area, more students have also become involved in the effort to help the refugees.

Senior Jennifer Hirsch, the president of Students Taking Action Now: Darfur, has spent much of her undergraduate career working to aid refugees all over the world to assimilate in Nashville. She said she has recognized an immense growth in student interest in helping the refugees around the city over the past few years.

She said she thinks the 400 students involved with STAND testify to the willingness of students to dedicate their time and efforts to a cause that requires immense patience but does not necessarily produce immediate results.

"It takes time to realize certain things - like just getting an English-learning refugee to learn how to spell simple words like ǃÚshoe' - is an accomplishment," Hirsch said.

Despite this growth, Hirsch does recognize that students are not as involved in refugee aid as they are with other organizations. She said she thinks this is due in large part to a lack of student awareness of the issue. Several students said they agree.

"Almost no one seems to be aware of the gravity of the current conditions," said first-year student Michael Arwood. "There are very few students on campus who realize that a huge amount of refugees have arrived here in just the past decade. These refugees, especially the newcomers, need any help they can get."

"Sometimes I get the feeling that some Vanderbilt students think all immigrants are just cab drivers," said junior Meredith McKenney. She has volunteered at the Sudanese Community and Women's Service Center since June 2007, working with Sudanese refugees as well as immigrants from Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

She said she has developed friendships with the women she has worked with, connecting with them on a level of humanity that transcends the barriers of language that she often came across.

McKenney said she was especially marked by her experience teaching English to an Egyptian woman who was able to achieve U.S. citizenship.

"It's very rare when you do something that you get to see the results," McKenney said of the experience. "She ran into the center with an envelope saying, ǃÚI'm a citizen, I'm a citizen!' ... That brought me to tears."

McKenney and Hirsch both said the increase in student participation with on-campus groups such as the Sudanese Center and STAND is an immense step forward in helping refugees integrate into American society. With more and more students joining together to help, Hirsch said she thinks it is clear the Vanderbilt community is as giving as the Nashville community is belongs to.