A WildWater employee assists a child slide down an attraction on July 15, 2022.

Nearly two dozen college students from across the globe will be calling Cullman home this summer as part of a program to shore up staffing at Cullman’s WildWater water park.

Cullman Parks, Recreation and Sports Tourism director Nathan Anderson said he first learned about the Council on International Educational Exchange’s Work and Travel USA program, the longest continuously running program of its type, after attending the 2022 World Water Park Association conference last year.

“We discovered that other parks had achieved tremendous success in filling seasonal gaps in staffing with international college students looking for a cultural work experience through the CIEE organization,” Anderson said in a press release announcing the program.

In a follow up interview, Anderson said between 75% and 80% of the staff at WildWater is comprised of high school students seeking employment during their summer vacation. Last year, during the park’s inaugural season, Anderson said the facility experienced a “mass exodus” towards the end of July from students hoping to enjoy the weeks leading up to the beginning of a new school year.

“They usually want to have a little bit of freedom before they go back to school. So, we typically have a mass exodus around late July or early August, but our season goes all the way through Labor Day and that final four or five weeks is kind of scary,” Anderson said.

He is hopeful this program will help solve that issue as the department begins to welcome the first group by the end of the week. The program provides students with a J-1 visa which allows them to be in the country for a maximum of 4 months. Many students, Anderson said, are hoping to spend a portion of that time traveling so they will be employed by the park for 12-week periods and arrive in groups throughout the month of June.

“We’ve staggered them late because we need the most help at the end of the season. We will probably have the last group arrive around the end of June and that group will carry us all the way to the end of the season,” Anderson said.

Anderson said the students will be arriving from Ecuador, Romania, China, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Spain and the Dominican Republic. He said they will be outfitted with customized name badges to display the flags of their home countries.

Several community leaders have acknowledged the potential of the program to showcase the city of Cullman and to pave the wave to meet the needs of other local industries. In a press release, City of Cullman mayor Woody Jacobs said, “This is an opportunity to showcase the warmth and hospitality of this community, affirming Cullman as an exceptional place to work and call home.”

In the same release, Cullman Economic Development Director Dale Greer said the approval of Cullman as a host city was the first time a location in Central or North Alabama had been chosen to participate in the J1 program.

“This could lead to other great partnerships with local industry in the area and possibly benefit Wallace State Community College, as it will introduce the international student travel program to our local students,” Greer said.

Anderson said he has been discussing the program with WSCC president Vicki Karolewics, who he said expressed an interest in possibility participating in the future.