For several years, Jasper Junior/Senior High has run a summer English camp in Korea, trying to convince families to send their kids to Jasper for one or more years of high school. Now for the first time, that camp will be held in Jasper.

The camp, which starts on July 3 and will run for eight weeks, is a joint venture between the high school and the Jasper International Learning Centre.

“Jennifer Gill of the JILC suggested the summer camp for Koreans,” said JHS principal Dale Karpluk. “She planted the seed for the idea, and we felt it would be a good way to market our international student program.”

By bringing younger students over to Jasper for the summer to learn English and enjoy the mountain environment, Karpluk hopes to be planting seeds of her own.

“It’s great, because if the parents like Jasper, it might convince them to send their kids to us for a couple of years in high school.”

For the two months of the camp, the young students will have classes all morning, taught by recently retired JHS teacher Angie Lemire and Adam Robb. In the afternoon, the JILC have organized outdoor activities, cooking lessons and a crash course in Canadian culture.

Running the camp in Korea seems to have had an effect. Jasper’s international student program has been running for 18 years, and while the predominant nationality of the exchange students varies from year to year, Karpluk says that Jasper Junior/Senior High has a large share of students from Korea right now.

“About half of the international students are from Korea, plus there are some at Jasper Elementary,” she said.

The program was started when Jasper was still an independent school authority, and originally the intent was to bring some “new blood” into a small town and school, according to Karpluk. JHS might be under the aegis of the Grande Yellowhead Regional Divison now, but the program is still an important part of the school, Karpluk said.

“It’s a great program. The globe is small and shrinking, and this puts students in direct contact with one another. The social benefits are great.”

It’s not an inexpensive prospect for international students, who have to pay $8,500 in tuition to attend high school in Jasper, in addition to the $6,500 fee for homestay. 

“Basically these costs are just to cover our costs,” Karpluk said. “We’re very competitive, we compare well with other international programs in Alberta.”

Even so, good marketing is imperative to the success of the program, which explains why Karpluk was eager to see the summer camp approved by the GYRD board earlier this month.

“It’s something we wanted to get off the ground last year, but it didn’t work out with the flight tickets,” she said. “We have five young Korean students registered for the summer.”

The international student program typically involves 10 to 20 students, but the numbers are dropping, with only four signed up for the 2006/2007 school year. Karpluk believes this has a lot to do with the fact that the Alberta government is no longer helping with marketing international programs like Jasper’s.

“We’re going to have to be more aggressive on our own,” she said. “That’s why we’re doing this.”