After the successful return of the Rotary Youth Exchange Program in our District in 2022, find out how your club can help to provide the opportunity of a lifetime for local and international students as the program seeks to expand in 2023.

Rotary Youth Exchange is often referred to as a life in a year, rather a year in student's life.

Rotary Youth Exchange is an internationally recognised program that offers young people from around the world the opportunity to be active facilitators promoting cross-cultural communication and mutual understanding. Rotary Youth Exchange students immerse themselves in a foreign culture and language, are enrolled in a new school system and experience immense personal growth and establish lifelong connections and friendships within their host community.

Following the impacts of COVID-19 on global travel, it was a very welcome sight to see six ‘Inbound’ Rotary Youth Exchange students arrive onshore in our District in July/August 2022. Now, halfway through their exchange our French, German, Swiss, Finnish, Italian and Danish students have a solid grasp on our Aussie lingo, been immersed in local school, tasted our cuisines and shared their own cultural traditions and practices with their host families, school mates and host Rotary Club members.

Our District Rotary Youth Exchange Committee is now preparing to welcome a larger group of international students from Europe, Asia and South America in July 2023. To this end, our District requires Rotary Clubs to nominate to become Host Clubs as soon as possible. Hosting involves the following:

• Financial commitment ~ $3,000 - $4,000 (covers school uniforms, stationery, gifts, club sanctioned events / activities / meals and $150 monthly allowance etc.)
• Providing a club member (or partner of a member) of the same sex as the student to act as a ‘Club Counsellor’; the main contact point between the inbound and/or outbound student and key support to assist with adjusting to life in Australia within host families, school etc.
• Inviting inbound and/or outbound students (and their families) to club events and activities – encouraging sharing of knowledge, experiences and cultural knowledge.
• Providing and/or supporting host families. Host families DO NOT need to be Rotarians or connected to Rotary. During a 12-month exchange, a student is expected to have 3 or 4 host families, while remaining enrolled at the same school. Host families may have young children, older children or no children at home and likewise may be a young family, same sex or retired. Each family hosts for approx. 3-4 months each offering various insights into the Australian way of life.

Another reason for your Club to consider hosting is to provide the same opportunity to an Australian young person within our District to be afforded the reciprocal sponsorship and hosting in a partner host country abroad for their Youth Exchange. This costs the club nothing (aside from covering any meals for the student when attending meetings, for example). The Rotary Youth Exchange program can simply not operate without the support of Rotary Clubs within our District.

Furthermore, in addition to the well-known and admired 12 month program, our District will offer Short Term exchange from 2023. Short Term offers a similar program with a few key differences:

• Usually approx. 3 months in duration
• No cost to Host or Sponsor Rotary Clubs (other than covering club sanctioned events/activities/meals), however, clubs still remain central to supporting and facilitating this program
• Host/Sponsor Clubs generally not required to provide host families (though this is welcome!) as this program works on a family-to-family exchange model where a family that sends out a young person will receive/host a young person from a partner District.

For more information on Rotary Youth Exchange, including how to refer a young person to apply, please visit ryea.org.au. Ideal candidates for Long Term (12 month) Exchange are currently in Year 9 or 10 in 2023, however, students in Years 9 - 12 may be considered for the Short-Term program.

To express your interest in becoming a Host Club for July 2023, please contact Chair, Heather Sugget via email - rye@rotary9560.com or phone 0400 553 295 at your earliest convenience. Host Clubs are required to be finalised well in advance to allow for relevant communication between Rotary Districts, to allow for visa application and processing, as well as to know how many places we can offer. We urge members supportive and/or curious of this opportunity to raise this prospective Club program at their next meeting.

Thank you for your consideration in providing the opportunity of a lifetime for our young people in a program that develops leadership, resilience, promotes mutual understanding and strong friendships. When set aside Rotary’s Four Way Test, this program undoubtedly passes with flying colours – so much so that former RI Presidents Carl Wilhelm Stenhammer (2006-07) and Ian Riseley (2017-18) both said, “If every youth got the chance to do Rotary Youth Exchange, there would be no more wars.” You can’t make war with people you know, understand, value and grow to love.