Foreign Workers Learn Safety, Law

WILDWOOD – Thousands of international students come to Cape May County every summer to fill seasonal jobs, but they often don’t learn the local laws that keep them safe from accidents until it’s too late.  
To change that, a newly-formed nonprofit held its first orientation June 19 to teach Wildwood’s growing population of international students about public safety.
The orientation and subsequent beach bash at Wildwood Beach Patrol Headquarters were hosted by Wildwood’s International Student Orientation Program (ISOP) which advocates for foreign students who spend summers working in the resort town. 
Areas that attract large numbers of international students often form ISOPs to help students find safety resources and introduce students to one another.
The ISOP was formed this spring by J-1 visa program sponsors like Cultural Homestay International (CHI), the Council on International Student Exchange (CIEE) and Intrax.
“We’re just trying to build some resources for them to keep them safe all summer,” said Jennifer Campbell, employment service manager for CHI.
Sponsors are responsible for linking college students who apply for J-1 visas with places to work, live and travel.
After working up to four months in a local restaurant, store, hotel or amusement park, a student spends several weeks traveling the country.
A Spanish student Cristina Torrontera, 21, arrived in Wildwood one day before orientation. Last summer, she worked in Cape May before visiting New York, Boston, and Washington.
Torrontera is one of 2,500 international students from Avalon to Cape May filling seasonal jobs this summer to meet the swelling population’s demands.
“There are so many jobs down here that we wouldn’t be able to survive without (international working students),” said Rosemary Graham, program coordinator of work and travel for CHI.
Sponsors stay in touch with the students they represent, making arrangements to meet with them if they become scared or homesick.
“We try to calm them down and basically mother them,” Graham said.
For the orientation, Urgent Care, Wildwood Police Department and Wildwood Beach Patrol all volunteered time – and the latter, their headquarters – to educate students about safety.
Patrolman Matthew Mahoney covered bicycle security. Bicycles are the main mode of transportation that international students have to and from work.
“We had a bunch of accidents last summer with cars hitting kids on bikes,” Mahoney said.
Students listened as Mahoney covered the importance of reflectors, helmets, and locks. He also explained that stopping at red lights and stop signs are the law.
Some students had never ridden bicycles before coming to the U.S. For many, orientation was the first time they learned local bicycle laws.
“They’re here by themselves in a strange place,” Graham said.
To emphasize the importance of swimming in the ocean only when a lifeguard is on duty, Beach Patrol Capt. Ed Schneider told the students about an Irish student named Seamus who drowned off the Wildwood beach in the 1990s.
The morning after Seamus and his friends arrived in Wildwood they went swimming in the ocean when no lifeguard was on duty. Seamus and a friend began struggling in the water, so another friend flagged down a group of jogging lifeguards. The guards rescued Seamus’s friend but didn’t find Seamus in time.
“The first day he was in America, he died because he didn’t know the dangers of the ocean,” said Schneider, who was one of the lifeguards on the scene.
Schneider said that people foreign to an area have a greater risk of falling victim to dangers such as drowning.
“We want them to go home safe and sound,” Campbell said.
Local businesses donated pizza and sandwiches for the orientation that attracted more than 70 students. After eating, students played volleyball on the beach with lifeguards.
“(These students) go back to their home countries and act as local ambassadors to this place they have come to know and love,” Graham said. “That’s ultimately the outcome we’re looking for.”
To contact Taylor Henry, email thenry@cmcherald.com.