Our guest speaker on Friday, June 11th was Felicity Dye, District 5050 Youth Exchange Program Committee Chair. For the past 18 months the program has been on hold. It is about to be re-launched! Felicity joined us by Zoom to give us an update and overview of the program. Felicity is a member of the Rotary Club of Bellingham and has been involved in the Youth Exchange Program since 2014.
She commented that Greg Startup from the Monroe Club was in the audience and was the former chair of the program. Youth Exchange is a program that engages students from ages 15-19. There are two levels of exchange. The first one is the long-term exchange which is a one year commitment where you send out one student and receive a foreign student. The second is a short term program of 4-6 weeks over the summer which is a family to family exchange matching students from a Club to someone in a foreign country.
The program comes under the umbrella of International and Youth Services. Really want to instill understanding and goodwill internationally. Students return to their countries with a better understanding of our country. Amazing to see the development of these students when they return home. Hosting a student from our area. They should be embraced because when they return, they are energized and potential future Rotarians.
Youth Exchange options are a little difficult to read, but it gives you an idea of the program.
She showed a photo of their camp for inbound orientations and the slide showing the options available for Club's. The Youth Exchange Program is really a scholarship program. The long term exchange amounts cost $25,000 which is the monetary value of this scholarship. A Youth Exchange Officer for each Club is encouraged as part of this program as well as a Club Counselor. They have the YEA (Youth Exchange Admin hub) which keeps records of their activities. A slide showing the District's role in providing assistance as well as telling the club's roles in being a Youth Exchange host club.
There was so much informative information about the Youth Exchange Program. Just another outstanding program for our Club. James Monroe was involved in arranging the date and time for Felicity Dye's program this week.