The first time Francis Rubagumya saw snow, he was standing on the Kent State campus, and he couldn't move.
It was the winter of 2024, and Northeast Ohio was doing what it does — blanketing everything in white and cold. For most students walking to class that morning, it was just another January. For Rubagumya, who grew up in Kigali, Rwanda, where the temperature rarely strays from a gentle 68 degrees Fahrenheit and snow is something you see in pictures, it was nothing short of astonishing.
"I used to see snow in the movies, just in photos," he said. "But to be there — in it — it was crazy. I really enjoyed it. I loved the way it made everything look."
He wasn't alone in his wonder. Rubagumya was one of four Rwandan graduate students on campus that year, all officers preparing to join the faculty of the Rwanda National Police College in Musanze, who had come to Kent through a partnership between Kent State University and the Rwanda National Police.
By December 2025, there was something else to celebrate. Rubagumya, 37, walked across the stage at Kent State commencement with a Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Second Language — and a plan to take every lesson he had learned back to the country he loves.
A Partnership Built to Last
Rubagumya's journey to Kent State began with a bachelor's degree in English education from the University of Rwanda's College of Education in Kigali — the city he calls home. As a Rwanda National Police officer, he was selected through the university's partnership with the Rwanda National Police, an agreement designed to strengthen professional education at the Rwanda National Police College by sending officers to Kent State for advanced graduate training before they return to teach.
It is a program that reflects what Kent State does best: preparing students not just for careers, but for callings — and extending that mission across the globe.
For Rubagumya, earning a master's degree from a research-intensive university like Kent State while working full time as a police officer and navigating a new country required resolve.
"I spent there like almost two years and a half," he said. "It's not easy at Kent State University with heavy schedule and other issues related to academic stuff — to manage such kind of work for two and a half years. But you have to appreciate that kind of achievement."
His favorite courses were Second Language Acquisition and the methodology practicum — both taught by professors he remembers with particular warmth. The hands-on practicum, where students learned not just theories of language teaching but how to manage a classroom, design lessons and connect with learners, felt immediately practical.
"I really liked the methodology class," he said. "It's the practicum class where we learn how to teach — how we manage class, how we deliver lessons. It was really enjoyable."
People Make the Place
From the moment he arrived on campus, Rubagumya says, what surprised him most was not the coursework — it was the people.
He threw himself into the Conversation Partner program, a Kent State initiative that pairs international students with native English-speaking students for regular conversation, cultural exchange and friendship. For Rubagumya, it was a highlight of his entire experience.
"It was a great time," he said. "We always used to talk about life experiences, about culture. It helped me to socialize with native students — we collaborated, we had a great time sharing different ideas. And it was a good time for me as an international student to improve my English skills."
And then there was Bob Christy, the senior photography coordinator at University Communications and Marketing, whose generosity and kindness will not be forgotten.
Carrying Kent State Home
Rubagumya left Kent on Dec. 23, 2025 — just days after commencement. He flew home to Rwanda, where his wife and extended family were waiting. What followed, he said, was a party.
"It's a great achievement," he said. "So, they have to appreciate that kind of achievement. We organized a great party, invited the whole family, and we celebrated as a whole family."
Today, Rubagumya is back at work — now as a faculty member at the Rwanda National Police College, where he teaches English to undergraduate students. It is co-curricular instruction, he explains, focused on boosting the English language proficiency of the young officers and students he now leads.
In other words, everything he spent two and a half years studying at Kent State, he is now putting directly into practice.
That is precisely what the Kent State–Rwanda National Police partnership was designed to do: send officers abroad to learn, then bring those lessons home to strengthen an entire institution. Rubagumya represents what that vision looks like when it works. And he carried something else home with him, an expanded sense of the world forged in classrooms and friendships.
"I'm now teaching English for undergrad students," he said. "It's for the purpose of increasing their English level proficiency. It is the knowledge I gained from Kent State — I'm using it here at home."