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Haley Murray
The Daily Egyptian

The elite students arrived at SIUC with the idea of complete exposure in mind.

The 20 students are a privileged group of junior and senior undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, a sister school of SIUC.

They've traveled to the campus to attend leadership workshops and seminars, hear from local leaders and immerse themselves in American culture, history and politics.

Engineering professor Max Yen, who helped coordinate the program, said this is the second year that Taiwan students have traveled to SIUC to attend the competitive program.

"There was a screening process," he said. "The students took exams and were interviewed."

The students arrived July 24 and will leave for California for extended training Sunday. Since they've been here, they've met with local leaders, such as SIUC Provost John Dunn and Carbondale Mayor Brad Cole, to hear about their experiences as leaders, the day-to-day decisions they make and personnel issues they've encountered on the job.

"SIUC prides itself on being an international campus," SIUC Provost John Dunn said. "We've always been well known for our commitment to diversity."

The group, which is staying in Thompson Point residence halls, has also been attending daily workshops that introduce them to the style of American business and decision-making.

The purpose of the workshops, according to Yen's itinerary, is to provide leadership training and to emphasize the concepts of leadership through the introduction of American history, culture, democracy, government, society organization, immigrants and global view.

"It's to expose them to American culture and business deals," Yen said. "It's a global environment, and we really expect students to do well at the international level and find a job not necessarily in their home country."

Doctoral student Cheryl Ernst has been leading the students in their English as a second language activities in the SIUC Center for English as a Second Language, where she works as a teaching assistant.

"We read articles to prepare for the lectures and talk about it," Ernst said. "After the lecture, we debrief and explain vocabulary and answer questions. They're a pretty fun group."

But it's not all work. The students are taken sight seeing on most days and are allotted their own time to do what they want.

Lynn Tung, 26, said visiting the Southern Illinois Airport was her favorite part of the trip. Anne Yang, 21, said she liked the campus the most.

Chaperone Changshu Ko, an engineering professor at National Cheng Kung University, said it's the simple things he wants his students to pick up on.

"We want them to get a new experience," he said. "We want them to have an international view, not just what they learn in Taiwan."

Reporter Haley Murray can be reached at haley_murray@dailyegyptian.com.