Influencer student draws Brazilians to Augustana

May 1. Known as the last day to apply to college. Melissa Avelino dos Santos had spent the previous night on TikTok in an attempt to make an important decision. 

Avelino dos Santos walked into the kitchen where her mother was cooking and confidently said that she decided to commit to Augustana University. 

“When I completed the enrollment process, I got an email saying ‘you are officially a Viking!’ and then I posted it on my Twitter,” Avelino dos Santos said. 

She had made her decision because she had already seen what life at Augustana was like. 

“Maybe that’s the place for me,” Avelino dos Santos said. 

The night before, she had immersed herself in TikTok vlogs that chronicled the day-to-day life of an Augustana student. Just like Avelino dos Santos, the woman in the TikTok vlogs was Brazilian. Her name was Gabriela Rabboni. 

A junior from Brazil, Rabboni had created a TikTok account to share her experience applying to and living at Augustana. 

“That night, I watched every single TikTok in her account,” Avelino dos Santos said.

Tiago Abreu Amorim was also touched by Rabboni’s relatable content and committed to Augustana this year. 

After months of exchanging messages with Rabboni, being accepted to Augustana and deciding to enroll largely because of her, they met for the first time in front of East Hall in the second week of August when Rabboni gave Amorim and his family a campus tour in Portuguese. 

“You’re the first famous person I’ve ever met,” Amorim said to Rabboni.

He already felt familiar with the University through her videos and quickly admitted that he had watched every single one. 

Amorim had a habit of browsing for colleges on TikTok, often searching in Portuguese to find Brazilians talking about their experiences at American universities. 

One video stood out: a young woman with curly hair speaking from her dorm room titled “Why I Chose Augustana University.”

After watching the video which highlighted Augustana’s pre-med program, scholarships and the Sioux Falls community, Amorim was convinced to apply to Augustana. He was accepted and soon reached out to Rabboni for guidance in making his final decision. 

“I just remember the confidence she gave me while we talked,” Amorim said. “The more she told me about college, the more I imagined myself studying there.”

Avelino dos Santos was similarly welcomed by Rabboni. 

Avelino dos Santos was returning home at the end of her freshman year for Christmas and had a connecting flight in Sao Paulo. She told Rabboni that she would spend the night in a hotel rather than be stuck at the airport. 

“Are you crazy?” Rabboni said. “You can stay at my house.”

“That was crazy because a year before I was watching her on TikTok and then I was at her house with her family and spending a day with them, and it was super cool,” Avelino dos Santos said. 

Currently, 12 Brazilians have enrolled at Augustana: five seniors, two juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen. 

Except for Thomas Kano, a sophomore recruited for tennis, all of the Brazilian students who came after Rabboni made their decision to attend Augustana after watching her videos.

Rabboni has been documenting her life at Augustana since 2022 and started using TikTok during the pandemic. Her first viral video was not even about U.S. colleges. She talked about managing a long-distance relationship, which grew her followers from 500 to 5,000.

Over the years, her account has grown to over 16,000 followers, and even though she knew her audience was expanding, she never expected her content to have such an impact. 

Rabboni still remembers the first Brazilian student she was able to recruit to Augustana in her second semester. 

“I didn’t recognize the area code at first, but then Melissa texted me, ‘Yes, I’m from Acre,’” Rabboni said. “My first thought was, ‘how did I manage to bring a girl from the middle of the Amazon Forest to Sioux Falls?’” 

At Augustana, Brazilians make up 4.85% of international students, the fourth largest cohort of students from one country, behind Ethiopia, China and Nepal. 

“When you travel nearly 10,000 kilometers to a completely unfamiliar place to start a new life, it’s comforting to know there’s someone from your home country who’s already there,” Amorim said. 

Even still, the community is extraordinarily diverse. Sometimes Brazilian students even have difficulty understanding linguistic expressions from other regions. When a group of Brazilians see a tangerine, for example, they might have three different names for it.

“Each Brazilian contributes a unique and essential part to this community,” Rabboni said. “Despite their different personalities, they often wonder if they would have become such good friends had they met in Brazil. The answer is often that they probably wouldn’t have. I can’t imagine campus without each of them.” 

Despite so many differences, one Portuguese word perfectly describes what unites this group: Saudade. 

There’s no direct translation of the word in the English language, but it means the feeling of missing something deeply.

Far from home, away from family and longing for Brazilian food, music and culture, the closest thing these students have to Brazil is each other. 

This shared culture has helped their adjustment to campus life and made it easier for them to step out of their comfort zones, become involved on campus and join sports and clubs.

“When you move to another country for college, you end up finding people who become your second family,” said Rabboni in one of her videos. “I was really lucky to have nine Brazilians here with me at Augustana.” 

Rabboni’s insights bring comfort to prospective students looking for a place to start their new lives, and she has already persuaded others to begin a new journey at Augustana. 

Amorim now also wants to help recruit Brazilians to campus. His YouTube channel, Tiago William – USA, has 156 subscribers. He also runs a Telegram group with 20 members. Using these platforms, he answers questions about the application process and shares his experience as an international student. 

“I know it may seem small, but if I can help at least one person like Gabi helped me, then I’ve done my job,” Amorim said.