Abii-Tah Bih, a senior in the Honors College from Yaoundé, Cameroon, is a walking example of being engaged. Her accomplishments are as impressive as they are inspiring, giving the world a glimpse of just what she’s got in store.

Double majoring in international relations and comparative cultures and politics, Bih co-founded the Displaced, Not Defeated Peace Project in Kribi, Cameroon which constructs and equips work centers for internally displaced women and released war prisoners. During her internship at the United Nations Headquarters in Yaoundé, she facilitated communication for several UN branches and to the Ministry of External Relations. 

On MSU’s campus, she is the current student body president of ASMSU, a role she won in the early months of COVID-19. Bih is also a member of the 2020-2021 Homecoming Court, a high honor for any MSU senior. Formerly, she’s served as vice president of the African Students Leadership Association and as a teaching assistant for James Madison College. 

Locally, she’s been a Michigan State Democrats legislative intern and an intern with the City of Lansing’s Department of Neighborhood and Citizen Engagement. 

Bih has participated in a variety of speaking engagements abroad and at MSU. She was selected from a large pool MSU professors and students to address sexual violence at the 2019 TedxMSU and was a keynote speaker at the Education First Educational Tours Student Leaders Summit in the Netherlands.

While her experiences and resume speak volumes about her character and drive, it’s her passionate call to action of her peers and community that really demonstrates who she is. 

“Engage, engage, engage,” said Bih. “Every single day, rethink what connects you and other people. You will find that thing is our values, our spirit and our frustrations. That is so much bigger than anything else.” 

And she should know. 

Finding connection

Bih was first interested in MSU because of James Madison College, drawn to the notion of investing in people through politics. She recalls learning about the class sizes, the relationships and impact and decided she just had to be there. Bih credits the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program scholarship as life-changing, equipping her with confidence and support.

“MSU means the world to me,” said Bih. “It saved me from myself at the time; saved me from what I could have become had I not been accepted into a university, and the scholarship gave me the opportunity because I would not have been able to afford university otherwise.

Had she known about Michigan’s weather, she says, she might have changed her mind. 

Luckily for the MSU community, she didn’t let the weather nor feeling uncomfortable in those early months deter her from making a big impact. 

Bih took her own advice and engaged with the university early on. She acknowledges that for international students especially, there are several things that can hold them back from taking those first steps. 

“We all want to look for our niche, which is typically made up of people who look like us and sound like us and give us that little piece of home away from home. And that’s okay, but if we’re not able to spread our wings and fly, then we’re restricting ourselves.” 

In her freshman year, Bih says she was part of every African organization on campus, which felt safe and familiar early on. But in her sophomore year, she realized it was important for her to step out of her comfort zone. 

“I had to engage with people who had nothing in common with me,” she said. 

Beyond some of the initial trouble with accents that can be a needless hang-up, Bih knew that there was something much deeper that connected her with her classmates.

“It was something much deeper than a nationality. It was the fact that we wanted to serve the students. There were problems on campus that we saw and we were all frustrated by, whether we were international or domestic students.”

That commonality was what made her first join the student government. 

Stepping outside our comfort zones

“It was a predominantly domestic space. I think I was just one out of maybe two or three other international students, I probably was one of the only African students as well and one of the very few Black students in the organization. It was not a comfortable zone at all.” 

Because it meant so much to her, Bih worked through a considerable amount of discomfort and pushed her personal boundaries to serve in student government.

“Student government very quickly became my family on campus. It became my niche and my comfort zone once I realized and experienced that people are a lot more welcoming than they look when we watch them from afar.” 

She is very clear however, that the burden cannot always be on international students to make the first step or to have to go outside of their own comfort zones to be engaged. 

“I don't want international students to always be the ones to dig up the courage to go to those organizations. It’s really important that domestic students aren’t worried about offending international students as I’ve found they typically are.” 

How does she suggest starting to overcome that worry? Simple. 

“Just muster the courage to say ‘hi.’” 

The easiest way she’s learned to engage with people is to just start a conversation. She understands that students can be very self-conscious about the things they don't know and aware of their own ability to hurt other people’s feelings. 

“So we're very conscious of not offending people by asking questions that might be considered ignorant, but I think it's always much better to ask those questions. College is all about challenging ourselves and providing that learning space.”  

Organizations have responsibility 

When it comes to making organizations more inclusive and representative, the solution isn’t as simple—this is an area Bih has a vision for addressing because she believes organizations are incomplete without international students. 

“We are a piece of the puzzle. I want to see more international students taking up leadership positions in organizations across campus, really fulfilling their potential. The fact that they were able to travel from home, all the way to MSU? That takes an amount of courage that nobody else on this campus would ever understand. It takes the kind of bravery that happens just once in a lifetime.”

Her suggestions for inclusivity range from ensuring courses and registered student organizations account for time differences for digital engagement with international students, to coming up with creative ways to include them in the conversation. 

She explains how she’s come to understand the difference between diversity and inclusion, calling on expert Verna Myers’ metaphor: "Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance."

“That's how I think about it for registered student organizations,” Bih said. “It's important to have this international student community within the organization, but it's also important to engage with them at such a level that they don't feel that they are a different set of students within the organization.”  

She suggests focusing on not just on skills, but what international students bring to the table in other ways. 

“A lot of international students come from very communal cultures where people engage with each other at a much deeper level. Organizations should be intentional in getting to know them—knowing where they come from and knowing what they're interested in and understanding their families and culture.” 

Intentionally global

That intentionality is critical in domestic students becoming Global Spartans themselves. 

“International students bring our cultures with us. We bring our histories and our backgrounds—we bring all of this goodness to this campus that domestic students can engage with and absorb and globalize themselves through. It’d be such a waste if our domestic students do not actually engage on that level, because they too can become Global Spartans. 

I don't think you have to travel anywhere, or have to have the money to get a study abroad in some other country to start becoming global. I think being global is so much more. It lies so much more in your values of embracing everything that is new and that is different. Once people's hearts are open to embrace cultures and practices from international students, then that starts to globalize them.” 

Going back, again and again

Of all her accomplishments in her nearly four years at MSU, Bih is most proud of her resilience, ambition and her ability to be flexible with her vision.

“It’s those uncomfortable days that I was able to go back into the room. Those days that I felt like I did not belong at MSU because I didn't see people who looked like me. But I went back and went back and went back until I felt like I belonged. That is what I am most proud of.” 

Under Bih’s leadership and example, together we all can help create the next generation of authentic and engaged Global Spartans.