Students from US on visit
City shows off its attributes
Townsville will host over 200 US college students this winter as part of an initiative to link our growing city with up-andcomers in America.
The first lot of college students arrived on Thursday and will stay for nearly three weeks, visiting Magnetic Island, Paluma, JCU, Mungulla Station and Billabong Sanctuary, courtesy of Townsville Enterprise.
The 200 students are a big win for Townsville Enterprise, who’ve spent four years convincing the American Universities International Programs (AUIP) to include Townsville in their ‘Edutourism’ Australia trips.
The first batch of students are a mixture of communications and business majors from High Point University, North Carolina, fresh from visiting Canberra and Sydney.
Senior student Abigail Holanda said Townsville was “always going to be my favourite destination” on the trip because of its direct access to the reef and bush.
“I personally grew up on David Attenborough and wildlife documentaries,” Miss Holanda said.
“The best thing about Australia is it’s very pretty. It’s a lot cleaner here than in America.”
Coming from New Jersey, Miss Holanda said the beaches she’d seen in Sydney and Townsville were a lot better than those back home.
“Everyone is quieter and calmer too. I’ve noticed Australians are a lot more open minded, especially when it comes to climate change. You mention climate change in America and you’re a left-wing nut.”
Fellow student Jackson Barnes – who grew up in Vermont – said he found Australia’s acceptance of Aboriginal culture extremely powerful.
“We have nothing like that in the US,” Mr Barnes said.
“You should have a great sense of pride for recognising other cultures.”
Miss Holanda agreed.
“It’s very powerful when you acknowledge the wrongdoing. In America it’s like ‘it happened, whatever’.”
On their first full day in Townsville, the High Point University students visited the Townsville Enterprise offices to learn about the city’s new tourism brand.
The students were able to pick the brains of marketing executive Simone Sullivan and CEO Claudia Brumme-smith about their push to make Townsville a holiday hotspot on par with Cairns and the Whitsundays.
Ms Brumme-smith said it made sense to bring the students to Townsville.