Rotary Youth Exchange applications accepted
Applications are now being accepted for the Rotary Youth Exchange program in District 7330 for the 2014-2015 school year.
Preliminary applications must be completed and submitted to J. William Hook of the Waynesburg Rotary Club by September 1, 2013.
Area high school students, 15-18 years old, are eligible to apply for the Rotary sponsored exchange program in which students live for a year in their host country and attend high school. District 7330 will host an exchange student in return.
Additionally, for the 2013-2014 year, the District 7330 Rotary Youth Exchange is desperately looking for families to host a male German Student. The Waynesburg club needs to identify 2 host families in the same school district in order to be a sponsoring club. It is a great opportunity to make an impact, not only on the inbound student, but to all of those who learn from this experience.
Rotary Youth Exchange provides students with the opportunity to meet people from other lands and to experience their cultures, thus increasing international understanding. Rotary is the premiere exchange program for students who want to increase their communication skills, gain confidence, meet new friends, and experience a different culture. For many years, the District 7330 program has sent and received students.
Students participating in the Rotary Youth Exchange program should be academically above average and articulate. They should demonstrate leadership in their schools and communities. They should also be flexible, willing to try new things and act as cultural ambassadors.
Students participating in the program must agree to abide by the laws of their host country and rules of the host club and families. All interested students are welcome to apply for the Rotary Youth Exchange program.
Rotary Youth Exchange is one of the least expensive international exchange programs open to high school-aged students. Because volunteers in Rotary clubs and districts administer the Rotary Youth Exchange program, there are not any fees to pay an agency to arrange an exchange.
With Rotary, the student and his or her parents or guardians are responsible for the round-trip airfare to the host country, health and accident insurance, all travel documents, such as passports and visas, clothing and spending money and an emergency fund for use during the year. Room and board are provided by host families. The host Rotary club will finance the tuition for required academic programs and will provide the student with a modest monthly allowance.
Former exchange students describe their exchange as “an experience of a lifetime.” One such student spent a year in the Netherlands and lived with five very different families. She learned to speak Dutch fluently and made lifelong friends. She says, “Rotary Youth Exchange was started as a way to promote world understanding and peace, and that is exactly what it does. I was only one student but I developed relationships with many people. Consequently so did my parents and extended family. Now my Dutch brothers and sisters have children with whom my children have become friends and so it goes. My experience as a Rotary exchange student has influenced everything else in my life in a great way.”
Rotary Youth Exchange was established 1927 in Europe. Today, Rotary Youth Exchange involves more than 82 countries and 8,000 students each year.
For more information on submitting an application or to become a host family, contact Waynesburg Rotary Club member, J. William Hook at 724-627-6146. For more information, visit www.exchangestudent.org or www.rotary7330.org.
Rotary is a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders that provides humanitarian service, encourages high ethical standards in all vocations, and helps build goodwill and peace in the world.