Rotary Youth Exchange

Jose's Farewell Address

Jose' Maria Paz Duran
 
Jose' is leaving Arlington on June 14.  He has lived with 3 of our Rotarian families for the last 10 months.  Although he is leaving our club, he will be spending the next 28 days touring the U.S.A. with a group of Rotary Exchange Students from a district in Nebraska.  He will turn 18 while the group is at Disney World on June 30.
 
In January, Jose' did a program about his home country of Bolivia.  To see a story about that program, click HERE.
 
Jose' refreshed our memory of how scared he was to leave his family and home last August.  
His Rotarian grandfather had put the seed in his head to be a Rotarian Exchange Student. Five of his high school friends are also Rotary Exchange Students this year--but the others all headed to large communities.  One of them will be in his tour group.  He learned that Arlington was not all that big, but he believes it's been a good fit for him.  
 
The 3 host families were Dave and Kay Duskin, Lyanne and Matt Rolf, and Simona and Russ DeVries.  Experiences with the Duskins included a family bachelor party at the Duck Shack, crabbing at their beach home, many trips to Cougar football games in Pullman, and Christmas celebration.

Duskin Experiences

 
Jose' developed great relationships with the other 11 District 5050 youth exchange students.  He expects to continue his friendships with students from Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Africa, Germany, South Korea and Japan. 
 

District 5050 RYE StudentsThe students got together several times during the year including a weekends at a Camp Fire Camp in Stanwood, in Bellingham, Chillawack, and this spring  in Vancouver visiting sites such as Stanley Park and Lions Gate Bridge.

 
Jim and Sue Weiss took Jose' to a Sounders game and a tour of Seattle including the Space Needle, Pop Culture Museum and other sites on a cold and rainy Seattle day, although the weather doesn't look all that bad in this photo.
 
 
He also spent a day in Seattle with Paul Ellis and Carla Gastineau before Christmas.  On Christmas day, after spending time with the Duskins at Bryce's house, Jose' moved to live with Lyanne and Matt.  One of the highlights of living with the Rolf's was a trip to Hawaii with the family.  They stayed at a hotel right on the beach on the Island of Oahu, and visited Pearl Harbor, a Luau, and other sites.
 
His last home family has been the DeVries.  While staying with the DeVries he attended the Rotary District 5050 Conference at the Tulalip Resort, with all the other exchange students.  The conference opening included a parade of flags from the nations where Rotary clubs can be found.  He was particularly thankful to have carried the flag of his home country of Bolivia.
 
Parade of Flags to Open District Conference
 
At the DeVries', Jose' had the experience of having a couple of host family brothers--Andrew and Noah.  With some tickets that were purchased at the Stanwood/Camano Rotary Club Oktoberfest, the 3 "brothers" did the Canopy Tours zip line on Camano Island a couple or weeks ago.
 
Canopy Tours Zip Line
 
The USA tour will start in Omaha, Nebraska.  Jose' is flying there today via Chicago.  He will go by bus on a tour taking him to over 20 states.  A partial list of places will include Denver, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Southern California, Texas, New Orleans, Florida, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and back to Omaha.  He will be spending the 4th of July in Washington D.C. 
 
At the end of his address to the club, Jose' expressed that this year has been good for him--he is a different person than than the scared young man who arrived here on August 21.  He goes back to Bolivia via Miami on July 20.  It will be the winter months in Bolivia and he will immediately start school to complete his last year. 
 
As for after high school, he expects to go to college to study engineering and/or business.  Maybe it will be to a college in the USA.  Bolivia does have a deal with the University of Arkansas that involves reduced tuition, but maybe even one of the Universities in Washington State.
 
Jose' vows to come back to visit and Arlington Rotarians are always welcome to visit him in Bolivia.
 
The club gave Jose' some departing gifts including a photo book signed by our members of his stay, a Duck Dash t-shirt, and an Arlington hoodie.  Our Rotary Youth Exchange Officer, Sue Weiss, also presented him a certificate and a framed photo of District 5050 exchange students.
Sue and Jose'