About 20 members of the Chinese Association of Iowa visited a meeting of the Dallas County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday morning in Adel as part of their two-week sojourn in the U.S.
Swallow Yan, executive director of the Chinese Association of Iowa, introduced the visiting members of the association to the Dallas County Board of Supervisors and presented the supervisors with gifts, including a wall hanging.
Yan said the students, who range in age from 10 to 20, were getting large doses of U.S. politics and economics this summer, including local government in Dallas County.
The supervisors explained some of the basics of local government to the young people, and the visitors in turn asked questions about U.S. customs and practices.
After meeting the supervisors, the students were joined by Dallas County Attorney Wayne Reisetter in a courtroom of Fifth Judicial District, where he briefly outlined for them the U.S. justice system and the system of local courts.
“This gives the Chinese students an opportunity for a clearer understanding,” Reisetter said, “and as expected there was some misunderstanding as well, which would also be the case with American high school students.”
The student tourists also visited the offices of the county assessor, treasurer and recorder before lunch, and then turned to the county jail for a tour.
This is the 15th year the Chinese Association of Iowa and the Iowa Youth Leadership International have sponsored the two-week journeys and the 10th year the students have toured Dallas County government.
