The Wisconsin Dells has positioned itself as “the Waterpark Capital of the World,” with marketing campaigns highlighting the fact the Wisconsin city has the largest concentration of indoor and outdoor waterparks on the planet.
In 2018 alone, the city attracted four million visitors who spent $1.6 billion on everything from food and beverages to waterpark admissions to overnight stays in hotels and campgrounds, according to the latest statistics compiled by the Wisconsin Dells Visitor & Convention Bureau.
As one might expect, such massive tourism spending generates a lot of jobs — approximately 16,000 full-time equivalent positions based on statistics from the visitor’s bureau — which spike during the summer months.
But the city itself remains a tiny community with just over 5,500 year-round residents, making it impossible for campgrounds and other tourism businesses to find enough local high school- and college-aged students to fill summer job positions, according to one local campground owner.
As a result, some tourism businesses work through private agencies to employ foreign college students to cover their staffing needs during the summer months.
The Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp-Resort in the Wisconsin Dells has been employing international exchange students every summer since 1983 to cover its staffing needs, said Brent Gasser, a second-generation co-owner and operator of the park.
“We couldn’t find enough kids to fill our jobs here,” he said. “We hired 38 international exchange students in 2019, which is just over 60% of our staff.”
Some campground owners also explained that foreign exchange students are more motivated to work, have a better work ethic and are less likely than American students to try to make unexpected changes to their work schedules.
“American students will call you on a Friday and tell you, ‘I’m not coming in today,’” said Julie Hewes, reservations manager for the 540-site Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp-Resort in Fremont, Ind., which hired 18 international exchange students last summer through Oak Park, Ill.-based Spirit Cultural Exchange, a staffing/sponsoring agency.
“You don’t have that kind of issue when you have exchange students,” she continued. “They are less likely to call in and take the day off because they don’t feel like working that day. They take their scheduled days off.”
Hiring international exchange students also helps park owners maintain their staffing levels during the second half of August and early September, when American high school and college students either go back to school or have their schedules interrupted by football practices and other activities.
Gasser initially hired international exchange students through a staffing/sponsoring agency called Camp America USA in Stamford, Conn., but later switched to Chicago, Ill.-based Greenheart International. He said there are dozens of agencies that locate and screen international exchange students and help them obtain temporary visas to work in the U.S.
“Every country and every school has a different calendar that dictates when its students can come on an international exchange trip,” Gasser said. “The students can work a maximum of three months and travel a maximum of one month afterwards.”
Since 1983, Gasser has hired students from 47 countries and traveled to job fairs in at least 10 different countries to interview and select the students he wanted to hire.
“If you hire 25 or more students, Greenheart International provides you with a trip to a country to screen the students and to see if their English and their skillsets will fit the jobs you have to offer,” he said. “I like to go personally because I want to talk to them. Their English has to be excellent to qualify for our front desk positions.”
Gasser uses international students in a variety of positions, from answering phone calls to handling housekeeping and maintenance, and some even work as lifeguards.
Gasser said Greenheart simplifies the process of finding and hiring international students who want to work here.
“The sponsors main role is that of paperwork approval for the students,” he said. “This simplifies the process and guarantees that the students will have legal work and travel visas.
In recent years, Gasser has hired numerous students from Thailand, Bulgaria, Turkey, Mongolia and England.
“Ninety percent of these students have never worked a job before or certainly never a full-time position,” he said. “We are required to provide 32 hours of work a week for each student and pay a prevailing wage.”
Gasser’s international exchange students pay for their housing and their own food.
“Our family owns houses that we lease to the campground,” adding that his students pay $77 per week in housing costs that includes linens, electricity and trash collection.
But providing student housing isn’t a moneymaking proposition.
“It’s a net loss,” Gasser said. “I have to keep those houses open for 15 weeks and then close them for 35 weeks, because there is no demand for such housing during the winter, fall and spring seasons.”
Finding enough housing for international exchange students has always been an issue in the Wisconsin Dells, he said.
The Jellystone Park in Fremont, Ind., houses its international exchange students in a house the park owns next to the campground.
“Our students do not pay for housing, it is provided for them,” Hewes said. “A vehicle is provided as well, and most of the time there is someone in the group of students that has an international driver’s license, which enables them to go to the bank and grocery store during their time off. As they become friends with other employees and campers, they plan days off away from the park.”
The North Texas Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp-Resort in Burleson, Texas, also uses international exchange students hired through Greenheart International, including 35 in 2019 from places like the Dominican Republic, China, Thailand, Russia and Turkey, according to Steve Stafford, the park’s general manager.
“They helped us out in the areas of housekeeping, maintenance, food and beverage and served as lifeguards,” Stafford said. “They stayed at the park in RVs and we charged them $150 a month for rent.”
Stafford said he likes using foreign students in part because they are highly motivated to work, they don’t take vacations during the summer season.
While international exchange students can help campground owners cover their summer staffing needs, park operators say these students are also extremely intelligent and interact well with park guests.
“It’s been a lot of fun getting to know them,” Hewes said. “Last year, we had someone from Jordan who just finished school to be a doctor. We have had nurses and psychiatrists and you get people of all different skill sets. They are incredibly bright.”
International students who come to work in the U.S. can also use the opportunity to improve their English skills, which can translate into higher pay and make them more employable back home, mentioned Hewes.
Gasser said working in the U.S. also helps international students gain a better understanding of the world and how people live, which can help foster world peace, which is the intent of the cultural exchange program.
“The richer kids from overseas sometimes have been more pampered,” he explained. “Some have maids at home. Now they come here, and they don’t have a car and they’re doing housekeeping or other jobs, and they are expanding their horizons to better their career.”
Ultimately, Gasser said, international student exchange programs not only provide students with opportunities to work and travel in the U.S., but to improve their awareness of U.S. culture, as well as their understanding of specific aspects of American life and American business practices they would like to take back to their home countries.
Employing international students also provides park owners and their guests with interesting conversations and cultural experiences.
“We get to learn so many fun things about other countries,” Gasser said. “They are like our family.”
