Update: Local students who are interested in living and studying abroad for the 2026-27 school year will need to apply by November 1, 2025. The program is ideal for 10-graders to apply to go abroad their junior year, but 9th and 11th graders are invited to apply also. We are also looking for host families for winter and spring to host the 16-year-old boy from Colombia who will be our incoming foreign student for the 2025-26 school year.
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.
Last year, our club welcomed Paul from Austria to be the inbound student for the 2024-25 school year. Paul (pictured here, being greeted by Telluride Rotarians at the airport) attended Telluride High and was hosted by local families.The prior year, our club arranged for two Telluride High students to spend the year studying and living abroad. Macy McRoberts (pictured here) spent the year in Romania, while Mesa Barnes spent her year in Colombia. Both described the experiences of living with host families, attending local schools, becoming nearly fluent in the language, spending time with other exchange students, and learning a great deal about the country and region’s culture. During their presentations to our club, both girls wore the traditional blazer decorated with a multitude of pins collected during their travel, which is one of the traditions of Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE).
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.