Rotary Youth Exchange takes students beyond U.S. boarders

October 27, 2017

At some point during their schooling career, it’s very likely that students will receive some sort of encouragement to travel, study, or work abroad.

While there are many programs that are offered to students who want to travel, many who wish to travel find themselves unable to do so, be it by financial means or personal ones.

But traveling abroad during high school can be attainable and inexpensive for those who wish to practice their language skills, learn about a new culture, or just head out and see the world.

According to Rotary District Chair Hilary Richards, the Rotary Youth Exchange Program is a program where students can travel abroad while continuing their schooling.

“This program is good for students who want to experience and learn about other cultures while meeting other students from different countries,” said Richards.

The program allows students to study abroad in another country while living with a host fami- ly, according to the Rotary website.

In exchange, the foreign student they are

paired with homes back here to the United States for the same amount of time.

“My daughter was an Exchange student in Germany, and in return we hosted a Danish stu- dent for the year,” said Richards. “This was many years ago, and we still keep in touch and visit each other.”

There are also two different types of exchange,

according to Richards. Long Term, which is for one year, and Short

Term, which is a six to eight week exchange during the summer, where a student visits a coun- try of their choice for three to four weeks and the student they are paired with comes back here for the same time.

Each student in the exchange program is then given a host family to reside with for the duration of their stay abroad.

According to Richards, for families who don’t wish to host a student for the duration of the ex- change, there are other families who have hosted before and would like to host again.

Franklin Regional itself is host to exchange students Giacomo Oldrini from Italy and Tsuji

Ori from Japan this year. “I wanted to travel abroad originally to experi-

ence and see different cultures and to improve my English,” said Oldrini. “I have found American and European cultures are really the same, and the only main difference I would say is that in Italy, everyone would sit down at the table to eat together while here in America, people come and eat whenever they want to.”

Franklin Regional also has many students abroad as well, with Alex Mittereder in Germany, Diosa Bahe in Canada, and Gina DeCesare in Argentina.

“So far I’ve had a wonderful year,” said Mittereder. “I’ve made friends from around the world, learned a new language and visited many beautiful cities. My year hasn’t always been easy, and I’ve struggled with language barriers, home- sickness and math classes, but even with the bad days, I’ve still enjoyed every moment abroad.”

According to Richards, students who wish to apply for the program are sponsored by their local Rotary club where they will be interviewed, and their application then sent to the District

Coordinators. The students are then interviewed again at

a District level, and after they are accepted, a longer application is filled in, where there is a question on the top five countries they wish to go to.

When everything is completed the application goes to ESSEX, or Eastern States Students Ex- change, where country representatives place the students in one of their top country choices.

According to Richards, should any student wish to apply for the outbound program for the 2018- 2019 year, their applications should be submitted to their local Rotary Program by Sep- tember 16th 2017.

For the next schooling year, junior Jenna Nardo and sophomore Natalie Mittereder have already applied and been selected to go abroad, with Nardo heading to France, and Mittereder to Spain.

“I”m very excited to have this opportunity to travel abroad,” said Nardo. “I highly recommend this program for any student wishing to experi- ence new cultures and places. ”