Julie Cairelli
Meet Julie Cairelli, a dedicated staff member at SDSU’s American Language Institute (ALI), who brings passion and creativity to enhancing students’ experiences. From organizing immersive cultural activities to fostering meaningful connections, Julie’s efforts make a lasting impact on the international students she supports.
1. You’ve coordinated Conversation Groups, Lunch Buddies, and so many other events for our American Language Institute students, which one has been the most rewarding for you to see happen?
It is so enjoyable to interact with our ALI students, it’s hard to choose just one activity that has been the most rewarding. We have had a chance to take our students downtown to show them all the amazing sites, from touring the USS Midway Museum, walking the streets and sampling the Italian coffee in Little Italy, to experiencing and enjoying our Hispanic culture in Old Town, it’s hard to choose just one. I guess the most exciting thing for me was taking a group of about 50 students to a Padres vs Dodgers game. To experience a sellout crowd cheering “Beat LA” and seeing famous Japanese players like Shohei Ohtani and Yu Darvish and how excited our students were to have this experience really was one of the biggest highlights for me. Any time I get a chance to engage with our students, learn more about their culture and share more about our American culture, it feels so rewarding.
2. What is the most rewarding part of your job at the ALI?
The most rewarding part of my job is my interaction with our ALI students and our agents. I really enjoy getting to know each of our students and giving them the support they need while they are here.
3. What big plans do you have for ALI in 2025?
ALI is hoping to find more ways to get our students engaged in the SDSU community by offering more activities for our students to take part in, be it SDSU sporting events, professional soccer games at Snapdragon, monthly visits to places of interests downtown, our goal is to introduce our students to as many activities as we can while they are here. We also hope to introduce a new activity called “Conversation Buddies” starting in January, that will pair up students with SDSU community members. The more we can engage our amazing students with our community, the better their experience in learning English while they are here.
4. What do you enjoy doing in your off time?
I love putting my phone away and grabbing a board and hitting the water. Surfing and paddling are two of my passions. Being unplugged on the weekend is my usual goal. If I’m not on the water, I’m hiking somewhere. I just started the “San Diego Six-Pack of Peaks” challenge, so I’m hoping to climb six of our highest peaks in the next six weeks. Fingers crossed.
