About Youth Exchange

On Thursday evening, April 11, Alicia Sansarricq, Youth Exchange Chairperson for RI District 7490 was introduced to club members and guests. In her talk, Alicia described both the Long Term and Short Term Youth Exchange programs that have been a part of RI since 1929. Every year, 8,000 high school students from around the world ages 15 to 18 participate in exchanges to over 100 countries courtesy of Rotary International. As the world becomes a smaller and smaller place, the value of such exchanges becomes increasingly important. Successful applicants rank in the top 25% of their class, have excellent study habits, are stellar citizens of their community and can become fine ambassadors for their country.

The sponsoring Rotary Club's responsibility is to sign up host families (they do NOT have to be Rotarians), and a budget of $2,000. Rotary encourages each student to reside with three families. This gives the student a better perspective of life in America and gives more families an opportunity to learn about another culture.

Host family responsibilities for a long term student aren't much different from their responsibilities for their own kids: provide a comfortable and nurturing home environment; have the student share a bedroom with not more than one person (must be the same gender); treat the student like one of their own, provide 3 meals a day, emotional support, a place to study and helping the student study if needed; provide transportation to and from all school activities.

It's important to realize that while in the US, the Inbound students are Rotary's kids and Rotary's responsibility. All Club members should participate in entertaining them and making them part of the community. Each student and their parents sign an extensive set of behavior commitments which include the four "D"s: No Drinking, No Driving, No Dating, No Drugs. Each student has a return ticket which can be activated within 24 hours for either a family emergency or unacceptable behavior.

Tonight, the club was fortunate to have as its guests, two of this year’s Youth Exchange students – Emilie Henrard and Mateus Laurino. Emilie, who was born and raised in Belgium, has long wanted to visit the United States. She will be a part of  River Dell’s graduating class in June and hopes to pursue a career in medicine. Mateus calls Sao Paolo, Brazil home. Originally housed with a family on Long Island, he was forced to relocate after Super Storm Sandy. Since then, he has been staying in Fair Lawn and will be part of their high school's graduating class.

Both students spoke glowingly of their experiences in the United States and expressed – in excellent English - their great appreciation for this opportunity to learn more about the people and culture of the U.S.

To learn more about Youth Exchange, visit http://www.rotary.org/en/studentsandyouth/youthprograms/rotaryyouthexchange/pages/ridefault.aspx