Telluride Rotary Club is proud to sponsor Rotary Youth Exchange, sending one or two high school students abroad and hosting a foreign student in Telluride for the school year. If you are a high school student interested in going abroad, go to mountainandplainsrye.com for info and contact our club’s RYE officer Laurie Easter easter.laurie@gmail.com. 

For the 2025-26 school year, Telluride Rotary hosted Manuel “Chochi,” a student from Colombia, who has been attending Telluride High and lived with two generous host families, the Youngs and the Dales. A gifted golfer, Chochi played on the THS golf team in the fall, and then over winter learned to ski (his first time in the snow). “Every day here is a new adventure,” Chochi said while making a presentation to Telluride Rotary on March 18. “If I could define my exchange year, it would be like a dream that I don't want to wake up from.”

Host parent Lara Young said, “It's one of the best decisions we made as a family, to host Chochi” because of what he contributed to the family through his personality and different background.

Rotary Youth Exchange enhances peace and international understanding by hosting high school students abroad to experience different cultures. To make this life-changing program work, we need host families! Host families host an exchange student for approximately three months. While it’s helpful to be a household with a high school student, families with younger kids, or empty-nester couples or single households also are welcome to apply to host. For more info see mountainandplainsrye.com and contact easter.laurie@gmail.com.

In June, our club launched a new community event to promote health and camaraderie while also raising much-needed funds for Telluride Rotary and other nonprofits. The Hikeathon involved over 80 participants hiking and logging miles during four weeks in June, and they solicited donations from family & friends. Some formed teams, and the teams that represented a nonprofit received half the money they raised for their nonprofit (the other half going to Telluride Rotary).

We netted $20,300 for Telluride Rotary and $6100 for other nonprofits!

Many thanks to our sponsors Alpine Bank and Jagged Edge Mountain Gear; to Clark's Market for donating food and drinks for our gatherings; and to the many local businesses that donated prizes. See @telluriderotaryhikeathon on Instagram for more info and photos. We hope to do this again in 2026.