YSU hosts summer camp for Asian students

Fifteen young adults from four Asian countries will experience the sights and sounds of summer in Northeast Ohio July 9 to 30 as participants in Youngstown State University’s new Summer in America program.

Sponsored by YSU’s International Program Office, Summer in America will host six men and nine women, ages 21 through 29, from China, Taiwan, Vietnam and South Korea. Plans are to offer the program twice a year, in summer and early spring, said Sheila Hernandez, coordinator of international activities.

“We want to let them experience YSU, and we also have some great field trips planned so that they can experience the culture,” she said.

Off-campus visits will include Cleveland and Pittsburgh, Niagara Falls, the outlet mall in Grove City, Pa., and an Amish wedding feast in Middlefield, Ohio. Activities on campus will include two hours of conversational English daily and a 3D printing project.

Two faculty members – Ron Shaklee, professor and chair of Geography, and Daniel Van Dussen, associate professor of Sociology, Anthropology and Gerontology – will present special classes for the group.

Summer in America enrollees are not YSU students, but Hernandez said the program will serve as a recruiting tool. “We hope that the participants will consider coming here to pursue a degree, and that they’ll go home and tell others about their experience,” she said. “We are always working to bring more international students to YSU, and this is another tool to help us accomplish that.”

Nate Myers, associate provost of International and Global Initiatives at YSU and director of the International Programs Office, is a strong backer of the program. “His support is vital to this program and its future,” said Hernandez.

Summer in America participants will live in the Kilcawley House residence hall on campus. Tuition for the three-week program includes most meals, placement tests, books, lodging, airport pickup and activity fees. Airfare and health insurance are not included.

The program was advertised this spring through several of YSU’s partner universities in Asian countries. The International Program Office plans to expand its outreach to YSU partner universities in other parts of the world in the future and eventually to increase participant numbers to 40 or 50 per session.

For more information on Summer in America and future program plans, contact Hernandez, 330-941-1759 or sjhernandez@ysu.edu.