The Program

With inbound and outbound high school exchange students, Issaquah Rotary reaches around the world and brings the world back into community homes and schools. With Rotary Clubs on every continent and in most countries of the world, our exchange program provides unique, enriched support to young people and helps them to become true ambassadors of their culture.

The Issaquah outbound students have recently been placed with Rotary Club hosts in Italy, Thailand, Ecuador and Germany. We have supported inbound students from Germany, Denmark, Japan and Brazil, helping them adjust to life with their host families and student life at Issaquah High. Our exchange student this year is from Turkey.

In our summer program, selected students live abroad with a host sister or brother for several weeks and then return home with that exchange partner for another several weeks. Talk about an international summer!

Our members are proud of our youth exchange program and serve as enthusiastic mentors to our exchange tudents. By interacting with them at Club meetings and events, we know we are helping develop young citizens of the world who will be a genuine force for peace and understanding.

Interested in being an Exchange Student?

Click here to download the form

 

Update from Emily Lawrence in Sweden

Craig Nelsen received the following update from Emily:

Hej Craig,
 
Sorry it has taken so long to reply. I have been very busy these past couple of weeks. Last night, three girls from my Rotary District and I went to a cafe in Göteborg called Språk Cafe.Göteborg is Sweden's second largest city and is known as "Little London". At the Språk Cafe, you sit at a table, each one being a different language and have a cup of coffee or a sandwich while practicing your new language. I was able to have a full conversation with my friends and even a few Swedes. Everyone knows English fairly well in Sweden since they start learning it when they are eight. That can be good sometimes, but bad too because its hard to learn Swedish. Yet, I have been able to speak with my family fairly well, while they still respond back to me in English.
 
There are ten exchange students at my school, six of them being from Rotary. Three are from the U.S., two are from Austrailia, two are from Mexico, one is from Belgium, one from China, and one from Japan. I spend the majority of my time with the Rotary exhcange students. We have had some good times and bad times, but I feel like I have known them my whole life. I also have one really good Swedish friend and a couple of kids from my class connect with me also.
 
Swedish school systems are very "laid back" compared to American schools. As a student, you choose a certain program based on the career you want. I am in the Estet (Arts) Program studying Music. Some days I will only have two classes and they might not even start until 1 pm. It is similar to a College schedule.
 
I have been to my Rotary club three times since I have been in Sweden. There are only two exchange students in my club, me and a girl from Japan. We still can not understand the majority of what the club is talking about and because the meetings start at 7 in the morning.
 
All in all, Sweden has so far been an enjoyable experience and I thank the Rotary Club for letting me have this oppurtunity.
 
Hejdå,
Emily Lawrence

Pics of Emily's house and the nearby Varberg Castle

                                                  

 

Update from Katrina Go, Summer Exchange Student

Katrina shares the following with us:

"I would like to thank you for this opportunity to be an international exchange student in France and to represent the Washington community.  I had a blast exploring France, practicing the language, and being able to show Anabelle around Seattle, Issaquah and Victoria, B.C.  I have learned a lot about myself and about another culture through this exchange, and have madea new friend that I believe I will keep in contact with for years to come."

 

 

Update from Spain by Jacob Moe-Lange

Here is a report from our outbound student, Jacob Moe-Lang while he was in Spain last Spring on the Rotary Youth Exchange program. In reply to an email from Craig Nelsen Jacob writes:

I have a lottttttt to tell about Spain, and there is still a month left for to enjoy here. I would love, when I get back, to give a presentation about Spain; focusing on mainly the political and economic differences, because they are so different. It would also appeal to Rotary members I believe, as most of them have a lot of interest in both politics and economics. For example, right now, we there is a strike of all the commercial transportation which means that no body is getting goods anywhere in Spain.

We are running out of gas in the gas stations and there is not much food left in the supermarkets. It's a very interesting situation as it is reflecting the current outrageous oil prices. The transportation companies are losing a good deal of money on the oil prices and therefore have staged this strike.

Anyway, I have to apologize that I haven't kept you too much up to date this year.

It's been great so far, and I hope things are going good in Seattle.

Cheers,

Jacob Moe-Lange

Inbound Exchange Student is here
Rotary's incoming Youth Exchange student is now attending Skyline High School (08-09)

The Rotary Club of Issaquah has announced that they will be sponsoring a foreign exchange student from France for the next school year. He is Jean Bourdonnais, a 16 year old boy from Nantes, France.

Jean has begun attending Skyline High School.  

The Rotary Club supports Jean with an allowance and help coordinate activities with the host families.

Jean enjoys basketball and reading, speaks English well, and hopes to get a more global perspective on life by participating in Rotary's Youth Exchange program. He's enthusiastic and looking forward to his year in Issaquah.

Families are also encouraged to ask about outbound exchanges in which Issaquah students spend a school year (or a summer) as an exchange student in one of over 30 countries Rotary offers.

The Rotary Youth Exchange Program is one of the worlds' premier student exchanges, with connections in over 100 countries and thousands of clubs reaching every continent.


For additional information please contact:

Youth Exchange Officer, Rotary Club of Issaquah
206-419-7777

Here is a report from one of our outbound students this year, Kenzie Miller, who is spending the year in Peru on the Rotary Youth Exchange program. She wrote to Craig Nelsen regarding how things were going for her and included the following report, originally posted as a blog but well worth reading.

Kenzie writes:

Ica and Pisco

"When I got a call from Rotary asking if I wanted to volunteer in destruction zones caused by the earthquake, I jumped at the opportunity. What a wonderful way to help out. We met at the school Santa Rosa in San Borja at 5am, and met the rest of the rotarians-- mostly adults but about 5 other girls. After a very sleepy bus ride (3 hours) we arrived at a "church" in Ica. All that was left standing was one wall in the front. We told a few people to gather all the families nearby (21) and meet at the church at about 2pm to recieve care packages. Then the whole group traveled to a warehouse where 20,000 kilos of goods were awaiting us to be sorted, and put into "family sized" care packages. Boy did THAT take a long time.

Once the trucks were loaded, we set off for a town in Ica. Most of the younger kids had to ride in the back of the truck full of clothes and blankets. It was so much fun! I have always wanted to do that =] We passed by so much destruction on the way it was horrible. The number of tents I saw was overwhelming, I started counting but eventually stopped due to the amount. Some big lots were left, where houses or buildings used to stand, but mostly there were just big piles of brick and rubble on the side of the road; the remnants of houses. I couldn´t help but thinking how many people had been caught under those piles in the earthquake; how many people couldnt escape. It was a horrible thought, but the reality of it scared me.

We arrived about 30 minutes later in a "town" that was just a big dust/dirt field with surrounding "houses", mostly brick huts if anything. We honked the horn and thats when people started running out of their houses and forming 2 lines; niños y adultos. The children were unbelievably dirty- caked in dust and grime. We handed out leaning cloths for the older kids to wash up a bit, and helped the younger ones. All of the kids recieved bags with games, toothbrush, toothpaste, books, coloring supplies, and cookies, which we also handed out in small packages. The smiles that those cookies put on their faces I´ll never forget. It was a wonderful feeling =] Each family recieved a package full of food, water, toilet paper, blankets, clothes, diapers, and school supplies. There were so many "Gracias´s" going around that I didnt know what to do with myself. I loved it.

We eventually had to leave, once we had nothing left to give. I left in the back of the truck again, and dozens of children ran after the truck asking for more. It was sad to see how desperate they were, how much they needed the things we were offering. We went back to the warehouse, and sorted and made more packages. We went off back to the church and handed them out to the 21 families in the same manner as before. After we had given everything, we went to another town in pisco. This place actually looked like a city, with plazas and parks as well as houses. We stopped in a plaza and unloaded everything else off the trucks and buses into small wooden houses that were made for the homeless victims. They were more like huts, about 9 feet by 9 feet. It was hard to believe that families had to live in such small quarters.

Once we had finished unloading box after box of canned milk and meat, we walked around the corner to see a church. All that was left was two towers on either side of it, and everything else had collapsed. A large tent was in the middle of it, acting as the makeshift church. On the wall, was written in sharpie something like "Thank you fireman and volunteers that helped retrieve the dead bodies out of the church. Out of all the people, 148 bodies were found, and only 2 escaped with their lives". This message made the whole experience extremely real for me, it's hard to explain.

We got back to Lima at 11pm. It was a very long, physically and emotionally exhausting day, but I loved every second of it. Nothing we can ever give will be enough, but a little help here and there can make a big difference in the lives of the victims."

Thanks for checking up! I hope all the exchange students in Seattle are having a wonderful time!
Kenzie