Youth Exchange

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Y O U T H E X C H A N G E

The late Past District Governor Floyd Harriman established the Youth Exchange Program in our district in 1969.  The Rotary Club of Pleasanton exchanged a student, Floyd's daughter, Patty, with Denmark. That year, the Pleasanton Club hosted a student, Alette Kolstrop, and the Alamo Heights Club hosted a student, Bente Ingvarson, also from Denmark.  Since those first three students, our district has sponsored more than 1,200 inbound and outbound students.

At the Rotary International Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1974, the Convention recognized the program as an integral part of Rotary International and since that time has endorsed the program wholeheartedly.  The program is a means of advancing international understanding and goodwill.  The program each year now involves more than 8,000 students from 82 countries, making it one of Rotary's largest, most popular and most successful programs.  The Youth Exchange Program involves more dollars being spent than any other program in Rotary International except for PolioPlus. Recent RI studies estimate that more than $42 million annually is spent on the Youth Exchange Program by parents, clubs and districts, with very little funding flowing through RI. Last year, our district sponsored 30 outbound students to 16 foreign countries and hosted 18 inbound students from 17 foreign countries.

The program is open to young men and women ages 15 to 181/2, who may be children or grandchildren of Rotarians or non-Rotarians. The students' parents, local Rotary clubs, and the district finance the program.  Selection is based on a written application as well as personal interviews at the club and district levels with the applicant and the applicant's parents.

The two types of exchanges are:

• A long-term exchange for an academic year, during which the student lives with more than one host family and attends school in the host country.
• A short-term summer exchange, for three to four weeks. It does not include an academic program.

DISTRICT 5840 YOUTH EXCHANGE CONTACTS:

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