The Standard

Issue date: 9/25/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Matt Almaraz

Working and going to school in America is nothing new to some students at Missouri State; but attending school in Springfield is a whole new experience for the international students on campus.

Xue Wang, a freshman from Shenyang, China, and Lishuang Huang, a sophomore from Gungzhou, China, are two of the many international students working on campus.

Wang moved to the Springfield campus after attending Dalian Maple Leaf International School and Huang transferred here from the Missouri State University branch in Dalian, China.

In addition to attending school in a new country, Huang and Wang both work on campus. Jobs offered on campus make it easier for international students to work because of the legal ties that prevent them from receiving jobs off campus.

"It is legal for international students to work on campus, which is good because I like to have some money with me, not a lot, but some," Wang said.

Wang and Huang work at the Garst Dinning Hall cleaning tables and serving on the tray collection line. While the manual work may be the same, the people doing it are very different.

"The bosses here aren't as strict," Wang said. "They're helpful. If you don't know how to do something, then they help you even if you make a mistake. They don't act like you're lower than they are. At Garst, a lot of boys work in the dish room because it's harder, and the bosses help out in the dish room."

Coworkers aren't the only new experience about working in America compared to working in China. While some are dissatisfied about working part time for minimum wage, to Wang and Huang, it's actually a raise.

"The pay is lower in China," Huang said. "Also no one wants to hire part-time workers. Everyone wants full time. It's hard to manage a lot of part-time workers in China, and training takes longer."

Huang's friend works in China at McDonald's, which she said is the only place that hires part time and pays well.

The exchange rate between the Chinese yuan and the U.S. dollar makes their paycheck more than what is accustomed in used to in China.

"It's nice to look at your paycheck and then multiply it by seven because of the exchange rate," Wang said.

Working on campus isn't just a way for international students to earn some money. Jobs let Wang and Huang work with different types of people.

Continued...

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