Exchange Student as a HS Senior

devushka
Sat, 18 Nov 2006 00:47:18 +0000

what’s wrong with Rotary Youth Exchange, Suze?

I am applying for a gap year through this program and so far I have had nothing but a marvelous experience. All of the people who have dealt with my application have been warm and friendly and they sincerely care about helping people. Each person involved in this program is a volunteer who spends his or her own time arranging programs so students all over the world can go abroad. Plus, with Rotary, you get the benefits of:
~A fairly inexpensive program: since it is volunteer-run, the costs can be kept very low compared to similar programs.
~Rotary is one of the oldest exchange programs in America for HS students along with AFS. They have the logistics pretty well done. And they’re pretty reliable, from what I’ve read from exchangers, parents, and exchange safety sites.
~They have so many countries to choose from. My district offers something like 40 countries. I have the opportunity to study in nations such as Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Thailand, etc. SYA only has 4.
~The program is FULL CULTURAL IMMERSION. Students attend school with locals, live in a host family and have all classes in a foreign language. SYA looks great (I had 2 uncles who went through the program and loved it), but it can’t offer the full cultural immersion that Rotary does because it has a separate school for its students.

I am just interested in hearing your opinion of Rotary. Have you had personal experiences with it? SYA? I just felt the need to defend this awesome program because all of the rotarians have been truly amazing and from what I have heard from many students, RYE changed their lives.