©David Radler
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s there a better way to gain complete understanding than to learn-by-doing? Every summer for the past several years, as many as 120 international visitors come to the Iowa Great Lakes to learn about America while working. Most are college students enrolled in a study abroad program, aka cultural immersion. Some hope to increase their English skills while others come to make money while gaining greater knowledge of how America works. We encounter them at the Arnolds Park Amusement Park, Bridges Bay Resort, and at several other businesses in the area. But work is only part of the Okoboji experience.
A TRUE MELTING POT Last season’s students home countries reads like a UN roll-call: Jamaica, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Bulgaria, Turkey, Thailand, and Kazakhstan, but across the years as many as 100 nations have been represented, if not more. The students visit on two different visas, J-1 and H2B. Jon Pausley, CEO of Arnolds Park Amusement Park, explains the J-1 visa is based on cultural exchange; these students are here to
THE OPPO travel and learn about America and business. “In the Amusement Park we have students who are studying to be doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, marketing, and hospitality, to name a few.” A smaller group of H2B visa employees stay longer, and return annually to help open and close the park, Pausley says, sending money back home. A year’s income can be made during a summer here.
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