www.greenvillerotaryclub.org

        Four students from Greenville High School and three local families were honored at the June 22, 2017 meeting of the Greenville Rotary Club for their participation in the Rotary International Youth Exchange program. The four students--Oswald, Grace, Alex G., and Alex C.-- are living out Rotary’s goal of international friendship.     
    Oswald, who is visiting Greenville from his home in Taiwan, spoke about his experiences during the past school year. Originally disappointed that he would be living in a rural community rather than in New York city, he now says he would never want to come to New York State without visiting Greenville. His favorite experience in Greenville was participating in team sports and the friendships he made with classmates and fellow athletes. After leaving Greenville, Oswald will be traveling the USA with other exchange students in an optional Rotary-sponsored tour. The McAneny, Content/Young and Hutchins/Churchill families were honored for hosting Oswald in their homes during the past school year.
    Alex G. is participating in the Summer Exchange Experience, a new Rotary Youth Exchange program. For three weeks this summer, Alex and her family will welcome Carla, a student from south central France.  Then Alex will travel to France to stay with Carla’s family for three weeks.
    Alex C. is one of two local students who will be abroad for 10 months during the upcoming school year. She will live in center city Milan, Italy, staying with a host family of five and attending a high school for the classics. Alex is particularly pleased to be going to Milan because of her intense interest in the fashion industry.  She is also looking forward to the Rotary’s European tour next summer.
    Grace will be living in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands. The Canary Islands are an autonomous community of Spain, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the northwestern coast of Africa. Las Palmas, the most populous city in the Canary Islands and the ninth largest city in Spain, has a population of nearly 400,000. Grace is excited both to be living in a large city and to be near the beach! She will be studying at a social sciences high school and is pleased to know that there will be another American Rotary exchange student in school with her. Her host Rotary club in the Canary Islands is welcoming five exchange students, who will frequently fly to mainland Spain for Rotary events.
    Judy Goodsell, the Greenville Rotary Club volunteer who directs the local Youth Exchange Program, was also honored at the meeting.  She was presented with a certificate for advancing world peace from Rotary District 7210 by the district youth exchange officers, Nan and David Greenwood.
    One of the highlights of the evening was a talk by Emma McAneny, a Greenville Rotary Youth Exchange student in 2009. Emma spent 10 months living and studying in the suburbs of Milan, Italy, in a town on Lake Como.  She thanked the Rotary Club for the transformational experience of complete immersion in another culture. The rich art and history of Italy sent her on a journey that led to her current path in life as an architecture student.  Emma also credits her exchange experience with teaching her the quality of persistence.
    The Rotary-sponsored student exchange activities are supported in part by the current “flamingo flocking” money-earning project. For more information about Rotary, visit our Facebook page,  or join our meetings at the Mountainview Brasserie each Thursday at 6 p.m.