Monday, July 10, 2000
Jobs, and a slice of Americana
Kings Island looks to Europe for workers
By Cindi Andrews
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MASON — Three hundred students from Europe are working at Paramount's Kings Island, with an additional 150 expected yet this summer.
The Tristate's largest amusement park followed the lead of other U.S. parks and recruited abroad to fill its seasonal need at a time when jobs are plentiful and workers scarce across the country.
“It definitely is a crunch out there, and we're always looking at new and innovative ways of recruiting,” said Jeffrey Siebert, a Kings Island spokesman.
The students are running rides and gift shops, he said, and the park plans to continue the program next year.
The students, 18 and older, say they come for the “American experience” and to learn the language.
“I want to perfection my English,” said Angelique Galtier, 22, of Toulouse, France, when she took a break from directing pint-size traffic through the Nickelodeon water maze.
They earn $6 an hour and up, the same as their American colleagues.
However, students must pay for their air fare and visas; $50 a week to live in a dorm at the University of Cincinnati; and 50 cents each way for Metro buses from University Heights to Kings Island.
“After one month I will be earning some money,” Karolina Syroka, 21, of Warsaw, Poland, said at the Scooby Ghoster Coaster last week.
Nationally, at least a dozen other amusement parks are recruiting summer workers
from abroad, said Joel Cliff, a spokesman for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions.
Among those is Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, which has 1,000 international employees this year, park spokesman Robin Innes said.
It's at least the seventh year Cedar Point has imported help, he said. “It's worked out well. They provide an additional labor source we need, and they're hard workers.”
Some of the foreign students say the Kings Island jobs are cushy. Many have asked to work six days a week, said Chris Maupin, 23, rides manager in Hanna Barbera Land.
“Everybody's taking it easier,” said Lotte Eijs, 18, a gift shop worker. “In Holland we work very hard.”
Echoed Robert Verhagen, 18, also of Holland: “We usually work much harder. ... The first weeks, especially, I do nothing.”
Although the students' English skills vary, they get by.
Mr. Maupin said the language barrier was most noticeable during training, when he had to go a little slower than usual.
Outside of work, some students have been disappointed with their American experience, said Ms. Eijs, at Kings Island for more than a month.
They haven't figured out the Metro system and don't have anything to do when they're not working, she said. Also, they leave UC for Kings Island at 9:30 a.m. and don't return until 9:30 p.m., even though just eight hours of that is spent working.
However, Mr. Verhagen has located some Cincinnati landmarks: Kenwood Towne Centre, the Museum Center and the Big Pig Gig.
“It's a very clean city,” he said. “I don't think there's a lot of violence” — contrary to his impressions of America.
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