Ironwood - February 2010

While many Americans may look negatively upon the U.S. – South American Trade Agreement, Ironwood residents have had a positive experience for the past two months. Brazilian Exchange Students, Marina Lime and Elisa Lengler have been demonstrating the benefits of free trade.

Both Marina and Elisa have been working as interns at Jacquart Fabric Products since December 14th. They have been studying at Northern Michigan as part of a student exchange program. The Brazilian Government has introduced an exchange program that permitted the young ladies to come to the U.S. to further their studies. Fortunately, Northern Michigan University has a similar program that allowed Lisa and Marina to come to the Upper Peninsula.

Robert Jacquart, President of Jacquart Fabric Products, is a member of the NMU Dean’s Advisory Council. Robert is well connected at NMU and has served in several capacities. It was a natural fit for these two very charming students to do their internship at JFP, Inc.

The students are both Business Majors, although Marina advised us that in Brazilian Colleges and Universities there are no majors and minors. That being said, both students are working on what we would describe as a Bachelor’s in Business Administration. Marina is specializing in “Finance” and Elisa is specializing in “Viral Marketing”, which is a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message. Viral marketing depends on a high pass-along rate from person to person. If a large percentage of recipients forward something to a large number of friends, the overall growth snowballs very quickly. If the pass-along numbers get too low, the overall growth quickly fizzles.

While at JFP Marina has been working on the computer software programs and systems integration and improvements. Elisa has been working as you might expect in the Marketing Department.

Elisa has now completed the internship requirements for her degree. Marina has an additional internship to complete for graduation requirements. She will being completing those requirements when she returns to Brazil.

Marina’s father is a Professor of Forest Engineering and her mother is a Biologist. Marina has a younger sister who is a designer. Marina lives in Minas Gerais, a state in southern Brazil.

Elisa’s father is an airplane pilot working in China. Elisa also has a younger sister, who is attending High School. Elisa comes from Rio Grande do Sul (large river of the south), and it is the southernmost state in Brazil.

Brazil is a Portuguese speaking nation, having been a former colony of Portugal. Neither Elisa nor Marina speak Spanish. But, they do speak fluent English. The students have been staying in a local motel, located near McDonalds. I suggested that that was convenient, only to learn that they, like myself, prefer Burger King. We also learned from Marina and Elisa, that there is very little franchising in Brazil.

When I asked them what they liked about the U.P. they stated “the friendliness of the people”. They have also been enjoying fruit (served on pastries).  Other than strawberries, they do not have berries in Brazil and strawberries only grow in the southern region, where Elisa and Marina are residents.

In order for the young ladies to come here to study, they first had to pass an English test. Then had to submit a resume’ and finally successfully interview for the positions.
Having done all that, Marina and Elisa were given the choice of attending Western Illinois or Northern Michigan.

We are very pleased that they chose NMU.