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 By Brook Comer
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Los Olivos has more cultural diversity than most small towns. During the school year, that is. When Dunn School is in session, the town’s international population grows by 25. That’s how many foreign students are currently enrolled at the coed boarding school. In the 1970’s, less than five foreign students were typically enrolled at Dunn. Foreign enrollment is on the rise, bringing teenagers from Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, Germany, Austria, Columbia, Canada, Rwanda and Nigeria to the Santa Ynez Valley, largely for two reasons; to give non-Americans a better chance of acceptance at an American college, and because prep schools like Dunn provide a diverse curriculum that broadens both life and learning skills. But not all the diversity comes from the curriculum. The pastoral valley, its rolling hills dotted with live oak trees, cattle, horses and the occasional llama, are strange scenery for most of Dunn’s foreign residents. “My first impression of Dunn was, this place looks like a farm!” recalls senior Michelle Lin, accustomed to the skyscrapers and busy streets of Taiwan. “Los Olivos is so peaceful, that even the people look sluggish,” observes Jewan Chae, from South Korea. Dunn is known for its camaraderie and the lifetime bonds that classmates and faculty form; that in itself was a new phenomenon for Ja Mi Kim. “In Korea we don’t really have a kinship with classmates or teachers”, she notes. Jewan Chae adds that “we Asians tend to be more formal in our relationships. The casual student/teacher interaction surprised Alexandra Muller, an exchange student from Austria. “Generally, people are more open-minded, and sometimes friendlier than the people at home,” she notes, adding that at home in Austria, “we’re much more reserved.” Michelle Lin agrees that “in America, it’s normal to raise your hand and speak up in class, to present your own opinions. At home, we just take notes. There is more importance on test scores. We stay in class for 13 hours a day, and don’t get to play sports.” She played soccer for the first time at Dunn, “because I never had the opportunity before.” For Alexandra Muller, “everyone’s great interest in sports was the hardest thing to adjust to here.” When Dunn’s foreign students sum up the two things they miss most at school, they fall into two categories; family and friends, and food. “We all prefer our homeland food,” says Michelle Lin, who feels closer to home when the Asian students make a Chinese hotpot for Chinese New Year. Sophomore Jimmy Cho feels closer to the other ten Korean students and even other non-Korean Asians at Dunn, “because we have more in common.” He and his American friends share interests like computer games and the band Lincoln Park, but Jimmy also likes Korean crooner Whee Sung, whose ballads are pop favorites in Seoul. “My non-Asian friends don’t really take an interest in Whee Sung,” he says wryly, “except to make fun of him.” In the Korean hierarchy, students “speak with more respect to people even a year or two older.” When this hierarchy is violated, “the other students will shun you,” says Cho, who admits that he’s “gotten confused” and used the same tone of voice to an older person that should be reserved for someone his own age. For students who aren’t yet fluent in English when they arrive, Dunn can seem terrifying-at first. “I was also so homesick that I cried almost every night,” says Michelle Lin. Zoe Cheng, from Hong Kong, had no trouble fitting in at school. “People were so friendly,” she recalls. But she believes the small foreign population in the Santa Ynez Valley makes people prejudice. “When I’m in town, people look at me in a funny way.” To ease the transition for international students, Dunn now provides a non-native English class to help foreign students improve their English skills, extra support it can in the classroom, and provides a TOEFL prep class for college entrance examinations. Once the homesickness wears off, home doesn’t always hold the same appeal. “I’d love to stay here,” says Je Wan Chae, who says that his family was so impressed with “those nice-looking houses in Santa Ynez Valley” when they visited, that they are considering re-settling here. Is it worth it, coming halfway around the world to go to high school, leaving friends, family and favorite foods behind? Michelle Lin thinks it is; she voices the same feeling other students, particularly those from the Pacific Rim share. The rote learning methods applied by former schools cannot compare to the creative freedom of learning to think for yourself. “At Dunn, you learn to find your passions,” she explains. “And you get to meet people from all over, from different backgrounds.” She and her fellow international students agree that they’ve become more mature, responsible and formed strong bonds with one another. Dunn’s small size and nurturing faculty is a comfort. “When I first came to Dunn, I saw the fountain by the barn. And right away, I felt like I was part of a family,” says Ja Mi Kim, “that I’d come home.” |
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Copyright 2004, Inside Santa Ynez Valley Magazine, All Rights Reserved |
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