As part of the Eagle-Garden City Rotary Club's commitment to promoting peace and helping youth, we annually host a Rotary Youth Exchange student coming to District 5400. This year, we are proud to host Julia Hakola of Finland.On August 7, Julia was welcomed at the Boise airport by her first two host families, several Rotarians, and members of the Interact Club at Julia's school, the Idaho Fine Arts Academy in Eagle. She has now been with us for just over 3 months. In that time, Julia has welcomed a variety of new experiences, including cheerleading!
Julia immediately immersed herself in Idaho culture—majoring in dance at the IFAA, becoming a JV cheerleader, making friends at school and in the neighborhood, hanging out with other inbound exchange students at former DG Terry Jones' farm and in Buhl for outbound interviews, volunteering to water trees at the Hyatt Hidden Lakes Reserve, and attending some of our club meetings.
My husband and I served as Julia's first host family. With Todd playing percussion at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival for Mamma Mia! and Beehive, the 60s Musical, Julia enjoyed those shows as well as other song and dance performances in Boise. In early October, we treated her to a Treasure Valley staycation. Her enthusiasm for Boise's downtown, the Basque Museum, Snake River Birds of Prey, and Redfish Lake was infectious. In fact, she so thoroughly enjoys every moment of her exchange that it's impossible not to see our state with new eyes.
Julia was a real treat to host, so we were sad to move her to her new host family last Friday. But she is settling in well with the Hobbs and their daughters. They had previously hosted Alice Gallucci from Belgium, whom our club hosted two years ago, so they are a perfect fit for Julia.
Julia has other support for her exchange as well. Liz Hall serves as her counselor, meets with her and her host family at least once monthly, and files reports with the district to ensure that Julia is well taken care of. Because I was her host mother, I couldn't also be her youth exchange officer (YEO). So I mentored Kaci Jensen of the Boise Centennial Club, who served as her YEO while Julia lived with us. Her inbound coordinator is our club member Laura Spencer, who oversees the experiences of a couple of exchange students to D5400 this year. Laura commented that "Julia is a delightful young woman, full of spirit and spunk. I have enjoyed spending time with her and getting to know her these past few months. She has a great sense of humor and always makes me laugh. She has embraced the true spirit of being an exchange student and is proving to be an excellent ambassador for her country." If you have some fun activity coming up, Eagle-Garden City Rotarians, be sure to invite Julia. She'll be happy to join you—and her sparkle will make the activity even more fun for you!