Our club participates in the International Youth Exchange through Rotary International.  Each year we sponsor a student to go to another country and in exchange we receive a student from another country. 

 

We are currently the host club for Emily Moller, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Herning Sondre in Denmark.  She arrived in July and she is currently living with the John and Kimberly Meno family.

 

 

Emily is 16 and she is attending Arlington High School and takes sophomore classes.  She turns out for cross country and she expects to turnout for track in the spring.  In Denmark she competed in the long jump, hurdles and sprints.

 

Emily's home in Denmark is out in the country not far from Herning, a town of about 50,000 residents.  She has a younger sister and brother.  Her mother is a kindergarten teacher and she works with preschoolers.  Father is a tool designer and works as a manager in a plastics factory in Herning.

 

She describes her home in Denmark as a hobby farm, with chickens, cats, dog and formerly horses.  Emily loves animals and worked part time at a boarding facility and shelter for dogs and cats.    She has also worked baby sitting and has coached a youth swimming team.

 

Emily's long term goals include finishing high school in Herning and then going to a university to become a doctor.  In her application she stated that "I really like school and I find all subjects interesting."

 

One of the goals of the program is for the student to experience our culture.  Unlike some programs where the student stays with a single family the entire year, Rotary exchange students change host families 2 or 3 times during the year.  Emily will be living next with the Jola and Mark Barnett family.

 

To experience our culture, we also encourage interaction with other Rotarians and our friends in the community.  If you are doing something interesting, entertaining or you would just like to get to know Emily, contact one of her host parents or Lyanne Rolf, our Youth Exchange Officer, and make arrangements. 

 

Emily was introduced to our club soon after her arrival here.  It is expected that she will soon do a program at one of our meetings so we can get to know her more.  Her host father John reports, however, that she hates to miss school even to come to a noon Rotary meeting.

 

Our exchange student program is something our club does each year.  We are always looking for good candidates to sponsor as outbound students and families to host inbound students.  If interested or you know someone who might be interested, contact our Youth Services Director and Youth Exchange Officer Lyanne Rolf.