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Global understanding: the benefits and challenges of international staffing.

Article Excerpt
During the summer of 2006, over 26,000 international staff from one hundred countries worked in camps across the United States. Their positions included counselors, program staff, administrators, cooks, housekeepers, maintenance staff, and others. Their motivation was as different as the individuals themselves, but all made the decision to come to the United States, learn more about American culture, and meet American people in ways most tourists never experience. The majority of these international staff were students participating in a government-approved, cultural-exchange program.

The benefits to the camps and campers are almost as great as the benefits to the internationals themselves. Most participating camps become true international communities with staff from multiple countries. Campers are able to develop an understanding of people from countries only before heard about on the news. Both internationals and Americans are able to learn to understand and appreciate each other's similarities and differences as they strive to create a camp community that values and respects them all. A lesson in global understanding is probably never more enjoyable. The details will be remembered for years to come and will have lasting impact as these young people, staff, and campers, grow into the decision makers of tomorrow.

Camps also choose to invite international staff to their camps because it enhances their program goals and furthers their youth development objectives. They add a rich array of diverse skills and many of these staff have a high work ethic and much-needed, advanced program skills. This dimension brings increased depth to their program and all aspects of their camp community.

The Cultural Exchange Program

The cultural exchange program most often used for international staff is the J1 cultural exchange visa program administered by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in the U.S. Department of State, a department of U.S. Homeland Security. Through this program, participants can only be sponsored by organizations who have applied for and been granted a visa designation from the State Department. They are called program sponsors.

There are two different camp programs--the camp counselor program and the summer work travel program. Both have strict visa guidelines and a number of accountabilities for the participant, the camp, and the program sponsor. Most camps use established program...

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