YSU hosts Chinese students

By Denise Dick | July 20, 2011 at 12:06a.m.

Youngstown

They appreciate the air conditioning at the Cafaro House dormitory, but not the carbohydrate-rich food.

Eleven students and one faculty member from the Communications University of China-Nanjing are a week into their three-week camp at Youngstown State University. The students are studying journalism and broadcasting and visited The Vindicator Tuesday morning.

Each of the students selects an English name to use during the stay.

One of the students, whose English name is Avril, 21, is studying English broadcasting. She decided on that career path as a young girl.

“I saw a woman who is a host on TV,” Avril said. “I told my mother, ‘I want to be her one day.’”

She lives in Anhui Province, home to the fifth-largest lake in China.

“The scenery is very beautiful,” Avril said.

She’s been impressed so far with her first visit to the United States.

“The people here are so nice with their courtesy and high manners,” Avril said. “We could learn a lot from you.”

The students are staying at Cafaro House during their visit and like the air conditioning — something absent from their dormitories at home. Though they like the food, Avril said she feels as if she’s gained weight because of the high carbohydrate content.

In the coming days, the students will visit the Pittsburgh Zoo, GM Lordstown and Mill Creek MetroPark’s Fellows Riverside Gardens, YSU’s athletic department and will attend a Mahoning Valley Scrappers game where they’ll have media credentials.

George McCloud, communications professor at YSU and co-coordinator of the camp, said the students’ stay is allowing them to see aspects of American life that we may take for granted because they’re part of our every day lives.

McCloud, who speaks Chinese, spent a week last year at the East West Center at the first American/Chinese Journalist exchange debriefing. He was asked to speak at the University of Michigans’ Confucian Institute on American and Chinese journalism practices.

The CUC students already visited the Grove City Outlet Mall but plan a return trip.

“They like shopping, but everything is too big for them,” said Tom Pittman, a YSU journalism instructor and co-coordinator of the visit. “Even the [size] zeros are too big. But most of merchandise is made in China and there’s a great sense of national pride there.”

The students, who spend their mornings in class, will be divided into three teams, each of which will produce a one-minute news package. One package will be on the Chevrolet Cruze, one on Fellows Riverside Gardens and the third on American collegiate athletics, McCloud said.