Represented in Lander's student body are students from every county in South Carolina, from 30 states in the USA and from 19 foreign countries.

Global awareness has long been an emphasis at Lander University. Lander offers study programs in Germany, England and Mexico as well as Fine Arts study tours to destinations around the world.

Japanese students click here.

Kharchenko attended Lander as the recipient of a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship. The 21-year-old already holds a bachelor's degree in economics and finance from Sumy University in Ukraine and studied management and marketing for two years at Lander.

Balreira, a mathematics major at Lander, was one of only two college students from South Carolina to place in the top 200 among 2,900 contestants in the most prestigious undergraduate mathematics competition in North America, the William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition. Balreira also joined fellow Lander students Lin Jiang, a native of China, and Caleb Wieters, from Iva, S.C., for the team competition. The Lander team placed 145th out of the more than 400 competing institutions.

Balreira graduated from Lander in May 2001 and has offers from three universities for full scholarships to complete doctoral programs. He plans to attend graduate school at Notre Dame.

Quote: “I really found Lander on the Internet. ... I like Lander because it is small and my professors have a lot of time to talk with me.”

A physical education major, Lane was selected as Lander's Man of the Year for 2000-2001. He served as team captain for the Lander men's basketball team and was a resident assistant. He also held the Alice Smith Spencer Scholarship and was a member of the Peach Belt Conference Presidential Honor Roll. In addition, Lane was a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and the Alcohol Awareness Committee, and served as a volunteer with the South Carolina Special Olympics.

Hamel-Smith, a Lander health care management major, is also a talented choreographer and dancer and performs with the university's Lander Dance Company. After graduation, she plans to dance with a professional company and then eventually to work with the elderly in a nursing home setting.