Chelsea State Bank ad

Chinese students welcomed to Chelsea School District

Photo by Crystal Hayduk. From left, Ti (Amelia) Xiao and Tingyu (Crystal) Jia, international students from China.

By Crystal Hayduk

Two Chelsea High School (CHS) students are sharing a daily adventure with their classmates.

The eleventh-grade girls, Tingyu Jia and Ti Xiao, are international students from China, living with local host families. According to CHS principal Mike Kapolka, Chelsea’s first Chinese students are “increasing the district’s cultural footprint. Hopefully the students will build meaningful relationships with each other and in the community during their stay.”

CHS counselor Daniela Bickel is the district’s point person for international students. She coordinates activities to help build camaraderie and understanding among the students, and students can go to her for help when needed. Bickel has keen insight into the issues faced by students from another country, because once upon a time, she was a foreign exchange student from the Republic of San Marino, a tiny, mountainous country in Europe.

This year, Bickel is responsible for Jia and Xiao in addition to seven foreign exchange students from various other countries.

Kapolka differentiates international students, whose main goal is to receive education and a high school diploma, from foreign exchange students. “Foreign exchange students attend classes in the United States for a school year, then receive a certificate of completion instead of a high school diploma. They return home to attend their final year of high school – essentially graduating one year behind their peers,” he said.

School is only one part of what is meant to be basically a cultural experience.

The two international students – the district’s first – arrived in late August through the Troy-based BCC International Education Group, which is associated with the American Institute of Bilingual Education (AIBE). AIBE sent 10 Chinese educators to Chelsea for four weeks last year to work with high school teachers and tour buildings. Duly impressed by what they saw, they recommended CHS to BCC.

Since then, the pieces fell into place. 

International students go through a complicated process to obtain F-1 visas, which are valid for one year. F-1 status can be maintained for a second year through a different school. It is expected that the girls will complete their education next year through the Early College Alliance at Eastern Michigan University (EMU).

The students’ families finance their children’s American education, sending $10,000 annually to the school district along with contributions to the host family for room and board.

Both girls said that their parents encouraged completion of high school in the United States in order to expand their opportunities for choice. Here they have a shorter school day with more classes, especially electives. They said that students in both countries have homework. “It takes two or three times longer to finish homework here,” said Xiao. “Maybe because the language is harder.” Even though they have studied English in China for most of their lives, communicating with native speakers still requires a learning curve.

The girls assumed English first names to make it easier for their new American friends to address them. “It’s very hard to say their names in Chinese,” said Bickel. Jia, who is from the city of Shenyang in Liaoning Province, chose to be called Crystal. “My first English teacher named me Crystal when I was only three years old, so I decided to use this,” she said.

Xiao hails from Beijing, China’s capital. “I decided to be called Amelia after [the main character in the movie] ‘Princess Diaries,’” she said.

Both girls said that the major contrasts between their homes and Chelsea involve population and pollution. “There are not many people here and it is quiet,” said Jia.

Xiao said, “The air is clean. There is not the air pollution here, and not the traffic jams.

“I learned that turning 16 is important in the U.S.,” said Xiao. She described how her host mother made her birthday a big event, which would not have been expected in China. “The people here are very nice,” she said.

Bickel said that the girls had reported being surprised that students and teachers here have close, friendly and caring relationships. “In China, it is more formal, and students are very respectful of their teachers.”

“I’ve enjoyed having students from diverse backgrounds in my building,” said Kapolka. “Having international and foreign exchange students in Chelsea addresses and increases cultural diversity in a way that’s authentic.”     

           

Print Friendly, PDF & Email