Faith has been integral to the student experience at Mount Holyoke. Many international students were dutiful members of the Young Women’s Christian Association (Y.W.C.A.). International students from Asia were often children of missionaries and went on to continue similar work abroad. However, faith involvement was often marked by exclusionary tactics deployed by American students and faculty at Mount Holyoke. International students infrequently spoke on Y.W.C.A. education panels and only when speaking about their home country, and how Americans can understand conflicts in their region. In a notable example, the only panel to incorporate international students from different countries was from 1923, entitled “Christianity and Interracial Relationships”. It consisted of several international students, as well as Indigenous student Ruth Muskrat, class of 1925. Nevertheless, international students were diligent members of these organizations, attending sleep-away trips, and organizing fundraisers.
Pictured above is a Y.W.C.A. mission courses pamphlet, featuring a speech by Yau Tsit Law (China), class of 1916, entitled “The Emergency in China”. Law was the first non-Canadian international student to speak on a Y.W.C.A. panel, 1915. Speeches by the following international students: Vong-Ling Lee (China), class of 1919. Me-Iung-Han (China), x- class of 1919. Grace Yang (China), class of 1916. Shigeyo Miura (Japan), class of 1919, 1917. The only panel (before World War II) to incorporate international students from different countries, entitled “Christianity and Interracial Relationships”. It included several international students: Wilhelmina Breed (England), master’s student, 1924; Elmire Dermie (France), class of 1924; Rosa Yernnian (Armenia), class of 1925; Elenor T’ao (China), graduate student, 1923-1925; and Fumiko Mitani (Japan), class of 1926, 1923.