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District 5840 Rotary Youth Exchange

The District 5840 Youth Exchange Committee attended the South Central Rotary Youth Exchange (SCRYE) summer conference on July 22-25 (2010) in Little Rock, Arkansas. SCRYE consists of 35 member districts and encompasses 15 states. The event began with a Celebration Luncheon hosted by the Rotary Club of Little Rock in connection with District 6150 Youth Exchange and SCRYE. Over 350 Rotarians, students, and guests attended the luncheon. The theme of the Celebration Luncheon was Building Communities - Bridging Continents. What better theme to have with RI President Ray Klinginsmith as the keynote speaker. The Celebration Luncheon also had the privilege of having RI Vice president Tom Thorfinnson and RI Director Fred Hahn in attendance. Entertainment was provided by the Cabot High School Varsity Forensics Reader’s Theater that gave a great performance that depicted the events and 100 years of Rotary. After the Luncheon President Klinginsmith and VP Thorfinnson and Director Hahn visited Clinton School of Public Service and Heifer Project International headquarters. All enjoyed dinner and an evening of fellowship cruising aboard the Arkansas Queen Riverboat.

The SCRYE conference began with a bang Saturday morning with a wonderful speech by Vice President Thorfinnson Tom that emphasized the newly formed Fifth Avenue of Service of New Generations and the need to increase the use of the Rotary Marks. He also spoke of the aging of Rotarians as a whole and the need to increase membership and involve younger people in Rotary. One of the main topics of the conference was informing the organization's members of the upcoming events with the 2011 RI Convention. SCRYE's students have been invited by President Klinginsmith to participate in the convention. Much of Saturday included discussions surrounding the transportation, entertainment, and fundraising needed to transport 150 plus students to and from New Orleans. The day ended with a heartwarming speech from Director Hahn in regards to Youth Exchange. The summer SCRYE Conference includes training for all types of Youth Exchange personnel as well as DGs, DGEs, and DGNs. The conference ended with participants expressing their Aha moments. Some moments mentioned were the heartwarming stories involving Youth, some were the training, but the most memorable aha moment was the fact all of the special guests showed an emotional side when they spoke about our future - OUR YOUTH. ~ Lisa Herring, DGN

Back L-R: Livi Koller, Switzerland, hosted by San Antonio; Caro von Meien, Germany, hosted by New Braunfels; Jorge Cevallos, Ecuador, hosted by Junction; Michelle Shaul, Australia hosted by New Braunfels; Juliette Manaud, France hosted by Beeville; Viki Strobl, Austria hosted by Fredericksburg Front L-R: Eitor Marques, Brazil hosted by Downtown New Braunfels; Emil Dusi Pedersen, Denmark hosted by San Marcos; Thomas Leruth, Belgium hosted by Seguin; Vincent Chen, Taiwan hosted by SA Dominion; Joris Buffa, France hosted by Pleasanton; Michel Lima, Brazil hosted by Del Rio.

The 09-10 Inbound students have arrived and recently attended our IB Orientation held Sept 11-13, 2009 in New Braunfels. Our District host 12 students that will attend local High Schools and participate in community and family life for 11 months. Without the support of local Rotary Clubs and Host Families we could not participate in this life changing experience. As one student said, "Thank you Rotary for making my dreams come true"

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 CHAIR

Youth Exchange (YE) IB & OB
July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2012

Chair– Dusty Clayton
Insurance Director, Boerne
167 Sabine
Boerne, TX 78006
H: 830-537-3815
B: 210-341-8841
C: 210-422-4262
E: dclayton@nplm.com 

My name is Dusty Clayton and I am the President of the Rotary Club Of Boerne and I also am the Chairman of the District Youth Exchange Committee.Here are some examples of how your Club can get into the program.

You can host a student from another country. I can promise that many of the exchange students bond with their host families and host clubs and feel they have two homes, one in their home country and one here in this country. They stay in touch, come back to visit and welcome club members and past host families to visit them in their country. Almost always they consider this as the best year of their lives.

You can find students in your town and schools that want to apply to be an exchange student . Rotary has one of the most affordable Exchange programs in the world and most of our high school students don’t know about it. Not every teenager will be interested but the ones that are need to have the chance to apply. This is truly a life changing experience that will benefit the student for the rest of their life.

You can help support the program by giving money to support a club that wants to be in the program but does not have the resources to pay the cost of hosting a student. It cost the host club between $1500.00 to $2000.00 to host a student for the year. Not a lot but more than some clubs can afford.

My point is you can be involved in many ways. You don’t have to host a student to send a student, you don’t have to send a student to host a student. You don’t have to do either to help another club with cost support.

I hope you will join this program and get your club involved. This is a great way to support an international project that will promote world peace and global understanding and these kids will love you for it. If your club is already involved then God Bless You, if not, why not?

Please contact me for more information at dclayton@nplm.com.

Co-Inbound Placement- John Dierksen, New Braunfels

Co-Chair John Dierksen
401 Main Plaza S-200
New Braunfels, TX 78130
H: 830 625-2803
B: 830 625-8026
F: 830 625-4433
C: 830 708-9171
E: jdierksen@reaganburrus.com