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Working like a Champ

By BRANDI BARHITE
brandibarhite@sanduskyregister.com

SANDUSKY - Cedar Point is getting fewer seasonal employees from southeast Asia this year because of the tsunami rebuilding effort, but aspiring tour guide Phuwanart "Champ" Kongoun still wanted to come.

"You come and get a good experience and work with American people," said Champ, who goes by the nickname his mother gave him when he was born.

Many Thailand parents give their children nicknames because Thailand names are so long, the 20-year-old said.

Champ, who is working in Cedar Point's Human Resources Division, started March 31 and will spend two months doing a variety of duties that include "processing in" seasonal employees and helping organize activities for them.

Champ lives in central Thailand -- several hours away from the tsunami's affected area, but he and his friends helped with the rebuilding effort in the southern part of his country. He didn't know anyone that was injured or killed, he said.

Among his rebuilding efforts were working with children who had lost their parents and teachers, he said. One of the activities was gathering around a tree and mediating.

"I made a promise with the kids to buy American candies and bring it back," he said.

Cedar Point's Bryan Edwards said that the park will hire about 7,500 seasonal employees for the 2005 season with approximately 900 international employees from more than a dozen countries, including Thailand.

Although the number of seasonal employees from southeast Asia is down this year, Edwards said Cedar Point doesn't have specific figures, and added that the park is only speculating that it has to do with the rebuilding effort.

Edwards said the park didn't know of any former seasonal employees from southeast Asia injured or killed because of the tsunami.

Champ said he could understand why people would want to stay behind and help with the rebuilding effort. When he arrived in southern Thailand, he said everything was flattened.

"Imagine a five-star hotel just gone," he said.

Champ decided to study tourism at Kasetsart University in Bangkok after participating in a high school exchange program in Arcadia, Ohio, in the 2001-02 school year.

He visited Cedar Point twice during his stay in Ohio, and when he saw it on a list of internships, he decided that's what he wanted to do this summer.

"Before I came to America, I wanted to be an engineer, but I like culture and being with other people," he said.

Holly Perkins, Champ's host mother when he was an exchange student, wasn't too worried about Champ after the tsunami because she knew he lived in the unaffected area.

However, a reassuring e-mail sent to the family shortly after the tsunami did make her feel better, she said.

"He is a really great kid," Perkins said. "When we took him on as a foreign exchange, he just fit right into our family."

The Perkins family spent time with Champ before he started his job last week and plans to visit many more times before he returns to Thailand.

Champ hasn't decided if he will live in America after graduation, but said he would like to be a tour guide and open a restaurant. If he lives in America, he wants to open a Thai food restaurant. If he lives in Thailand, he wants to open a restaurant with American food like what is served at Bob Evans.

"I love meat loaf and turkey and stuffing," he said.

FunCoast.com is your online guide to summer fun for Cedar Point, the LakeErie Islands and Sandusky area. Our site offers up-to-date information on area attractions, restaurants, hotels, gasoline prices, ferry schedules, swimming, birding and fishing, along with a complete listing of events happening in the Sandusky/Cedar Point area. To use our Webcam and zoom in on Cedar Point's rollercoasters, go to http://funcam.funcoast.com