Back in 2011, we profiled Millinocket, Maine’s Sterns High School; the school's mission is to recruit up to 60 students from China in an effort to boost numbers and income. The rural school district brought in only six students, hampered by a VISA restriction of one year for international students in public schools, as well as a recruiter in China that did not deliver. And it didn't help that a writer gave a Chinese newspaper a less-than-stellar description of Sterns, the AP reported. Still, Sterns is continuing its program to allow it to grow.
Where the Millinocket program is in its infancy, Newcomb Central School, NY, is seeing great success bringing international students to its campus—essentially saving the PK-12 school from extinction. Back in 2006, the Adirondack only school had 55 students. Enrollment is now 105; they have hosted 60 students from 25 different countries, including Serbia, Brazil, Zimbabwe, and China. International students pay $4,500 tuition and $4,500 housing allowance, paid to the families that host them.
Superintendent and Principal Skip Hults, who launched the program, estimates that the district will generate about $250,000 this year. Over the past five years, Newcomb has been able to earn a good reputation among international students, and has relationships with more than 10 recruiting agencies, according to the Education Week report, “Rural Leader Buoys School With Foreign Students.”
Still, Hults says, the fact that Newcomb students benefit from exposure to diverse cultures is a motivator to continuing the program. “It truly does benefit our students. It has opened their eyes. It has given them broad exposure to the world, and for the kids who come here, they remain part of our community. I think they will forever,” Hults told Ed Week.
The student community at Newcomb Central shows “a complete lack of diversity,” said Hults. Most students are white and middle class. With the international program, Newcomb students get to learn side by side with students who have a completely different experience and view. With US students expected to complete in the global marketplace, Hults sees the Newcomb international program as a way to expose his rural student population to that.
The Newcomb success is resonating in the region, and more than a dozen New York and Vermont schools are looking to incorporate similar programs.
Hults also sees potential in building a dormitory and bringing urban students to Newcomb, which is situated in a six-million acre mountain park. Moving to a small school would give these students opportunities they wouldn’t have in a larger school.
Do programs like this mean more competition for private-independent school recruitment? Probably not at this time. International students in public schools are still restricted to a one-year visa, even though Hults, US Sen. Charles Schumer, and David Little of the New York State School Boards Association are tackling that issue. Rather, private-independent schools can look to these public school programs as feeders for their own schools, where students can stay through graduation.
Additional ISM resources of interest
International Student Accident and Sickness Insurance
ISM Monthly Update for Admission Officers Vol. 8 No. 4 More International Students Are Finding Their Way to American Campuses
ISM Web site Make Your Students Aware of Their Place in the World
Additional resources for ISM Consortium Gold Members
To The Point Vol. 17 No. 1 Get the Scoop in International Students
Ideas & Perspectives Vol. 27 No. 6 Defining Diversity in Your School’s Culture: Implications for Planning
