Buffett Q&A: Building Support Systems and Community for International Students on Campus with Renato de Souza Elisanio

For this installment of our Buffett Q&A series profiling members of the Roberta Buffett Institute community, we spoke with Renato de Souza Elisanio, a recent graduate of Northwestern University. Renato spent his undergraduate career building support systems on campus for international students, founding the Atlas Peer Mentorship Program and the Undergraduate International Student Advancement Council (UISAC) in partnership with the Roberta Buffett Institute and the Office of International Student & Scholar Services.

 

What was your journey to Northwestern like?

I'm originally from a small town in Brazil. I never planned to study abroad. It was only during the first months of the pandemic, in my last year of high school, that I began to think the world could be my oyster. I was wary of remaining within the rigid higher-education system in Brazil, which offers little room to pursue different majors, minors, and concentrations at once, and that concern pushed me to look beyond my country for a place where I could do many things at the same time.

Northwestern became that place. I had no real preparation for the application process and had never seriously imagined studying abroad, but I applied, and I arrived. I changed directions several times—from journalism to film, to education and social policy, and finally to economics and international studies. Through all of those changes, Northwestern remained the right fit because of its interdisciplinary approach and its strong international community.

What inspired your focus on supporting international students?

From my first year, I worked as a scholarship director for BRASA, the global Brazilian student association, where I was responsible for administering roughly two million dollars in funds for Brazilian students going abroad who lacked support from their own universities. 

At the same time, the Roberta Buffett Institute was holding a series of discussions about how to support international students who receive financial aid. It seemed like the right moment to bring the experience I had gained at BRASA into that effort, and so I pitched my ideas. I pitched the idea to Professor Deborah Cohen, Director of the Roberta Buffett Institute, of creating a student-led body responsible for connecting the offices on campus that support international students and building a more welcoming environment.

Out of that came the Institute’s Atlas Peer Mentorship Program, which enables upperclassmen to mentor newly admitted students. Many of them have never been to the United States or experienced its system of higher education, so it helps to have people who have gone through the same process supporting them. In partnership with the Roberta Buffett Institute and Office of International Student & Scholar Services (OISS), we also developed the Undergraduate International Student Advancement Council (UISAC) which serves as an international student hub—a space where students can lead the conversation and connect the various offices across campus. Since 2024, we have worked with the financial aid office to change how it communicates about scholarships and emergency aid, met with OISS to clarify timelines around visas and taxes, and created community events. We have accomplished a great deal in a short time.

Why is it important to support international students, particularly those on financial aid?

Many international students come from developing countries, and there is a real difference in their experience. The shock and the difficulties are great.

I experienced this myself. Even though I had a good command of English before I came, my first classes were extremely difficult. I used to get severe headaches and had to take medication simply to get through them, because my brain could not yet process a full day of instruction in a language that was not my own. At the time, there was no program like Atlas, no one to talk to about it, and even the professors did not know how to support me. As a student on financial aid, I was also navigating taxes, new documents, and the need to work on campus—challenges that many international students who can afford to pay full tuition never encounter.

Was there a moment when your vision for the international student community came to life?

We spent about a year working with the Roberta Buffett Institute and OISS to define what an ideal international student community at Northwestern might look like. The first moment I felt that vision becoming real was our Paint the Rock event. Painting the Rock is a Northwestern tradition, and many international students came to paint the flags of their countries and to write greetings in their own languages.

It was a simple thing, but watching a student represent their country and write in their own language was genuinely moving. For the first time, I felt that we had created the hub we had always sensed was missing—and that I was directly impacting other students, speaking with administrators to put supports in place.

What has your involvement with the Roberta Buffett Institute meant to you?

The greatest impact the Roberta Buffett Institute has had on me is a sense of purpose. I am the kind of person who loves to build things, and when I had the chance to follow the Institute into a new era—new initiatives, new spaces, new people—it gave me an internal responsibility to help the campus shine a little brighter.

One of my earliest and most formative memories is an early conversation with Professor Deborah Cohen. At the time, I was insecure about my language and the way I communicated, unsure whether the abilities I had developed in high school would translate here. After I gave a presentation pitching the international student hub, she told me that I had a compelling way of presenting my ideas, like a politician. It was something I had heard in Brazil, but it was the first time I heard it in the United States, and it gave me the confidence to become the leader I emerged as.

What memories will stay with you most post-graduation, and what’s next for you?

What will stay with me is the joy of the students—seeing new students join Atlas and feel seen and embraced by a community. Those are moments I wish I had experienced in my own first year. I did well on my own, but I would have smiled far more had something like Atlas existed then. I am also proud that international students now feel more confident making their voices heard across campus.

As for what comes next, I am drawn to one of the most international cities in the world, New York. I am an interdisciplinary person, so I do not yet know my ideal career—but I like to think that I will reinvent myself every decade, and New York offers exactly that kind of range.

 

Learn more about the Atlas Peer Mentorship Program >>

Follow the Undergraduate International Student Advancement Council (UISAC) on Instagram >>