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The Rotary International Youth Exchange Program enables thousands of exchange students ages 15 to 19 to live and study in another country for approximately one academic year or to enjoy the short-term exchange (3 weeks) during the summer. The primary purpose of the program is to promote international understanding.

Get The Summer 2008 Short Term Youth Exchange Brochure

Learn more about Youth Exchange - Download the PowerPoint

Visit the USA-Canada Youth Exchange Network web site:
 

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAM:

a. To further international goodwill and understanding by enabling students to study firsthand, the accomplishments and problems of people in other lands.

b. To enable long-term exchange students to further their education by studying for a year in a different cultural environment and by undertaking courses of study in a high school in their host country.

b. To encourage students to broaden their own perceptions on life by learning to live with and meet people of different cultures and adapting to their new environment.

c. To give students the opportunity to act as ambassadors for their own country by addressing Rotary clubs, community organizations and youth groups in their host countries and by imparting as much knowledge as they can of their own country to the people they meet during their year outside the U.S.

d. To enable students to inform family and friends about the life and culture of their host country during their exchange and upon their return home.

e. As a Rotary Summer short-term Youth Exchange student, the student will spend the summer exploring a different culture. They will broaden their horizons, and learn much about another language, way of living, and, hopefully, themselves. Your child will learn much about another culture. After staying overseas, generally your child returns with a child from the host family to spend three weeks in your home. They will have a chance to explore two different ways of living, and create a friendship that should last a lifetime. If your son/daughter is ready for the growth provided by the challenge and reward of living in another land, then they are ready to discover new worlds through Rotary’s Youth Exchange Program.

ELIGIBILITY

 Applicants for the exchange program must be high school students in good health whose age will be at least 15 years and completed their sophomore year in High School but less then19 years when the exchange begins. Students may be recent graduates of High School.

a.       Applicants must be of good character and reputation and demonstrate an interest in local, national and international affairs.

b.      Applicants should have above average academic ability, and must have outgoing and pleasant personalities.  They must have the ability to abide by the rules of the program and their host families. They must be capable of adjusting to new and strange conditions, and willing and able to learn a new language.

c.       All applicants are selected solely on merit. Sons/daughters of Rotarians are eligible to participate in the program, but receive no special preference in selection.

d.      Applicants must learn about the country before they start the exchange and the events they are scheduled to attend.

LONG TERM APPLICATIONS, SELECTION AND APPROVAL:

Rotary District 5220 Youth Exchange Process.

The Long Term exchange program is handled through Jane Winning, Long-Term Exchange Chair. Forms and information can be obtained through her.

For more details on youth exchanges contact youthexchange@rotary5220.org.

Comments and questions may be addressed to webmaster@rotary5220.org. We hope you enjoy your visit.

Rotary District 5220 - Serving California's Central Valley and Mother Lode 

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