Galesburg, IL - The freedom to flourish and the connection to a basketball team has helped one Knox College student make a fairly easy adjustment to life thousands of miles away from home.

The 31st annual Knox College International Fair runs through January 28 on campus to highlight internationally focused events. The theme of this year's fair -- coordinated by the International Club -- is "Growing Up International.”   Several of the events are designed to illustrate the challenges faced by people moving between cultures.  Knox has students from 48 countries around the world. With 16 percent of this year's incoming class and seven percent of the total student body coming from outside the United States, Knox is one of the most internationally diverse liberal arts colleges in the nation.

Among those students is Matt (Jinjie) Song, a first-year student from Nanjing, China. Matt serves as the manager for the Prairie Fire men’s basketball team.  Through his role he’s been able to see much of the Midwest (Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio) on trips with the team, which has enhanced his college experience.
 
As he was getting prepared in March of 2011 to venture across the world to go to college, Matt contacted men’s basketball Coach Rob Purlee. He wanted to know what he could do to get involved with the Prairie Fire basketball team. Coach Purlee was eager to bring him into the fold.

“Matt is very passionate about the game of basketball. That was evident from the first e-mails we exchanged last year. He explained to me all the different camps and teams he has helped out at home and I got really excited,” Purlee said.  “Matt is the type of person we need: someone who is very energetic and enthusiastic about the game of basketball. He has helped us tremendously.”
 
Because of Matt’s contributions to the program, Purlee wanted to be a bigger role in Matt’s life. During the fall and winter of 2011 when Matt was unable to travel back home, Purlee welcomed him into his home for the holidays. The impact is felt in the way Matt speaks about the coach.
 
“Coach Purlee is the kind of guy who can motivate you. He brings a lot of fun into what he does. He is passionate about hoops, but to me he is more than a coach. He takes care of me a lot, just like a bigger brother,” said Song.

Before Knox, Matt spent over a year in high school helping a local basketball club organize games and basketball camps. During that time he also got the chance to work with two foreign coaches: Ken Mitchell of the America and Nenad Trunic of Serbia.  Coach Mitchell used to be the head coach of Logan High School in Salt Lake City, Utah while Trunic was a FIBA coach from Serbia.
 
An economics major, Matt feels that working with the team has really helped him adjust to and learn about the American culture.
 
“It took me about a month to settle myself into the American lifestyle here. Once the season got going, I was able to get used to everything else. I have really enjoyed the experience of learning another culture apart from my own Chinese background.
 
Moving forward, Matt is not sure what role basketball will play in his life, but knows it will be there.
 
 “I just feel happy as long as I can get involved with hoops. I am pretty sure that’s what I am going to do in my future.”