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WWW.OBUSIGNAL.COM | PAGE 3 Quarantined in Cancún: Rodrigues returns

BY LANGLEY LEVERETT

2021-2022 Copy Editor

Juggling two cultures seems complicated, but for João Rodrigues, it is the cherry on top of the college experience. Rodrigues seized each opportunity to discover new lessons and contribute to community initiatives over the last four years.

An international student from Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, Rodrigues is a senior finance major. He has been a leader in many campus organizations including Enactus, Ary Fund and Tiger Serve Day. He is also on the swim team, in the Carl Goodson Honors program and is a beau for the Women of Tri Chi.

“I always wanted to come to the United States to come to college. I started looking for schools a long time ago, and one day I was googling ‘small school,’ ‘Christian college,’ ‘swim team’ and Ouachita showed up,” Rodrigues said. “I had never heard of Arkansas or ‘the South.’ I had several options in different states, but when I heard back from Coach Bostick, it just felt right.”

Preparing to graduate, Rodrigues applied to the Arkansas Fellowship last August. This program is designed to retain talent in the state by pairing graduating seniors from top universities with the state’s leading companies. He is the second Ouachita student to participate in the fellowship.

“I was accepted and got a fulltime job offer from Dillard’s to work in their corporate office in Little Rock,” Rodrigues said. “The whole process of applying was pretty extensive, but it’s really cool that I get to represent Arkansas.”

When COVID-19 struck last March, there was a lot of uncertainty for international students. Rodrigues was sent home to Brazil with the expectation that he was only going to stay for 90 days.

“You learn how to make it work. With the whole COVID situation, I was home for almost ten months. That was such an unexpected turn in my college career,” Rodgrigues said. “When you come here, you’re a different person, everything changes. But when you go back home, everything is the same. It’s neat to see how my perspective concerning home and life have changed.”

In May 2020, a presidential proclamation banned travel into the United States from Brazil, with no exceptions for international students.

As a result, Rodrigues received the disappointing news that he wouldn’t be able to return for the fall semester. Though European bans were eventually lifted, Brazil was still on the list. Because of this, Rodrigues spent his entire fall semester working from home.

“My room was my classroom, my bedroom, my study room, my library. It was just crazy how I could make one place my whole college experience for just one semester,” Rodrigues said. “I think it was really good at some points. I got to focus on my thesis and job search. It was a process of accepting what was going on, and learning about new things that were happening.”

The only way around the extensive ban was for Rodrigues to quarantine in a third country that was not on the ban list. At first, his parents and leaders at Ouachita were against this option for safety reasons. However, in order to come back for the spring semester, Rodriguez chose to quarantine in Cancún, Mexico, for 14 days.

“My two options were to stay in Brazil or to go to Mexico and quarantine for 14 days. It was this huge game,” Rodrigues said. “It’s taken so much effort and investment for me to just be back and finish my education. We signed a lot of petitions. There was a lot of research, a lot of worries. We checked the news every day to see if there was any light at the end of the tunnel.”

Though eager to return to campus, Rodrigues is thankful to have spent extra time in his home country with his family.

“I was ready. It’s my senior year. I wanted to be here for the whole time,” Rodrigues said. “But I could see how the Lord was working through my situation, and how it was really important for me to be with my family for the entire time. I look back, and it doesn’t bother me at all, even though it was a big frustration.”

Despite these circumstances, Rodgrigues had to keep up with his school work to finish on time. During his time in Brazil, he spent many hours on his honors thesis.

“My thesis is over the implications of financial technologies in the banking revolution, and the financial system in Brazil. It’s pretty cool and I’m proud of the work,” Rodgrigues said.

At the center of Rodrigues’ time spent in Brazil and Ouachita lies a yearning to experience new adventures. He enjoys sharing his heritage with others and learning new things about the world around him.

“It’s such a great opportunity to go and experience a different place and have the constant change hitting you. I love traveling. Every time that I go somewhere else, there’s this new piece of me that joins me forever,” Rodrigues said. “I consider myself a global citizen, in the sense that I am Brazilian, but I also live here. I have the responsibility of learning things about here and learning how things work. It just opens your mind to different ideas and perspectives, and I just love that.”

On the cover: João Rodrigues returned to Ouachita for the spring semester of his senior year after spending the fall semester in Brazil. Rodrigues is grateful to be spending his last semester on campus. (photo by Levi Dade) On this page: Top: Rodrigues relaxes on a balcony in Cancún, Mexico, during his 14day quarantine before returning to Ouachita. Bottom: Rodrigues participates in his last swim meet. (photos courtesy of João Rodrigues)