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Joshua Olson had an experience in China
that taught him more than he imagined.
Last year, Olson applied and was accepted to Tsinghua University
in Beijing, China. According to its web site, Tsinghua
University is “poised to become a world-class university in the
21st Century. With the inspiring motto ‘Self-discipline and
Social Commitment,’ Tsinghua is dedicated to the well-being of
Chinese society.”
Olson, a sophomore from Delbonita, province, Canada majoring in
mechanical engineering with a minor in Chinese, had taken all of
the Chinese classes offered at Brigham Young University-Idaho.
He realized by going to Tsinghua, he had an opportunity to take
advanced level Chinese classes.
He also realized living in the country would allow him to be
fully immersed in the culture and give him a better
understanding about the people.
The only North American in his classes, Olson’s verbal Chinese
improved tremendously since no one spoke English. Chinese
classes he took at Tsinghua included writing, grammar,
comprehension, newspaper reading and speaking.
Olson was doing so well in his classes he was asked to teach
English to a Japanese professor. “I know teaching English
regularly on my mission in Taiwan prepared me to teach this
professor,” Olson said.
After settling in to China and feeling like he had a grip on
things, Olson wanted to enhance his experience even more and
felt that finding an internship was the first place to start.
“China is the hub of the world for manufacturing,” Olson said.
“I’d love to work in China in the future and I thought, ‘why not
start now?’”
Olson researched several companies and decided to try Cummins,
Inc. Cummins is the world’s largest designer and manufacturer of
diesel engines and has a manufacturing plant in China.
When Olson approached the company with his interest of doing an
internship, they were shocked.
“They were hesitant to have an intern who hadn’t completed their
schooling,” Olson said. “Usually interns had their bachelor’s or
master’s degree.”
Olson interviewed with the Operations Director of Cummins and
explained he would take a non-paid internship. He further
explained the hands-on experience would give him more
understanding about his major and guaranteed both he and the
company would benefit.
The director agreed.
As part of the internship, Olson worked in research development,
marketing, literature and quality control.
“I learned to understand their way of thinking. It was extremely
important so I wasn’t forcing my way of thinking on them,” Olson
said. “I also gained a better understanding of what I’ll do as
an engineer.”
Olson feels like he opened the doors at Cummins for other
interns. “They were able to see that experience is more valuable
then credits,” he said.
Before he left for China, Olson was the student director for
Outdoor Activities in the Activities Program at BYU-Idaho.
“Being the student director led me to have confidence in my
abilities,” he said.
In a couple of years, Olson would like to go back to Beijing and
start his own business.
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