Sawyer Mauk-Rotary Youth Exchange Program was our guest speaker at our Zoom meeting on Friday, July 10th. His information below is from the District 5050 website. Also attending our meeting was Felicity Dye, Chair of the District Youth Exchange Program and Andrea Stiller, who is the Youth Exchange Committee Secretary.
Sawyer is a ROTEX student from 2018-19, He just graduated from Whidbey Island High School and will be attending Lewis & Clark University in the fall. During his Junior year of school, he went to Bolivia and was hosted by the Rotary Club of Tarija. He has remained actively involved with his sponsor Club (South Whidbey Island) and with our Rotex (Returned Exchange Students) Group.
The Rotary Youth Exchange program (RYE) is a fabulous experience where the future of Rotary starts with youth. Sawyer talked about traveling to Trajia, Bolivia where he was able to learn and grow. He mentioned that the impact of one student reaches 255 people. In 2018-19 the 10,000 exchange students around the world touch over 2.5 million people each year and every year. Involvement includes the student's family, extended family, sponsoring Rotary Clubs, host families, host school and host Rotary District and Club.
Sawyer mentioned again that Rotary involvement with youth touches several levels beginning with Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) which plants the seeds; Rotaract which further fertilizes the importance of youth involvement in Rotary and students abroad scholarships for high school students at
www.studyabroadscholarships.org. Club resources is on the District website at
youthexchange5050.org.
We really enjoyed listening to Sawyer talk passionately about his time in Bolivia. The process for applying takes about four months from applying to being accepted. At first, Sawyer was shocked at being sent to Bolivia. He arrived in Tarija in August 2018. It was a 60 hour flight from the west coast through Atlanta to Tarija. The Bolivian city is in southern Bolivia and was founded in 1574. Officially the name of the city is San Bernardo de la Frontera de Tarixa. The area is similar to Argentina, is known as the Bolivian Wine Country with amazing food, dancing and culture. He celebrated a Saint's anniversary and attended a Catholic High School in Tarija. He was hospitalized for a couple of days for a minor illness
The biggest difficulty in coming home was who to say goodbye to, knowing that you won't meet some of these people ever again. Now Sawyer is involved with Rotary and Beyond, Rotex and speaking about his trip to other Clubs and RYE peers.
While living in the host country, Rotary offers various travel opportunities arranged by the host. Some of those trips included La Concepcion, Bolivia Tour, Cusco & Machu Picchu and a District Conference. Hosts also planned a tour of the Bolivian countryside.
It is important to note that Rotary has a "Statement of Conduct for Working with Youth." RI strives to create and maintain a safe environment for all youth who participate in Rotary activities. To the best of their abilities, Rotarians, their spouses, and partners as well as other volunteers must safeguard the children and young people they come into contact with and protect them from physical, sexual and emotional abuse.
