Media Contact: Barbara Fornasiero, EAFocus Communications, 248.260.8466, barbara@eafocus.com
Rochester, Mich. — Oct. 28, 2015 – Rochester Rotary, a member club of Rotary International, a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders that provides humanitarian service and encourages high ethical standards in all vocations, announces the club is seeking to sponsor a Rochester-area high school student for the Rotary Youth Exchange Program for the 2016-2017 school year.
The Youth Exchange Program allows students from around the world to spend a school year in a foreign country and focuses on full immersion into the culture and language of the host country. Guidelines for the Rochester Rotary Youth Student Exchange follow:
• Rochester-area high school age students between the ages of 15 and 18 ½ the day they land in the foreign country to start the Rotary Year 2016 -2017
• Foreign language skills a plus but not required
• Minimum 2.5 GPA
The duration of the exchange is the school year; however, students are encouraged to arrive the last week in August and depart the last week in June. The local Rotary club in the host country makes arrangements for two host families for the year and provides a monthly stipend. The host families provide room and board but the exchange student is responsible for personal items and the cost for any trips taken during the exchange year.
Rochester Rotary has sponsored numerous students for the program, most recently Katie Schmidt, then a Rochester Adams High School student who spent her senior year, 2014 to 2015, in Germany. Ms. Schmidt, now a freshman at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, was one of 65 students from the Ohio-Erie region of Rotary that participated in the Youth Exchange Program last school year.
To learn more about the Youth Exchange Program, contact ,strong>Dave Archbold with the Rochester Rotary Club at archbold@oakland.edu.
About Rochester Rotary
Celebrating 61 years as a club in 2015, Rochester Rotary is one of 34,000 member clubs of Rotary International, which has more than 1.2 million members and raises and disburses funds for charitable, educational and scientific purposes. Monies are raised through social events and service projects organized by the club, ‘fines’ collected at Rochester Rotary meetings and gifts offered to the club through members and supporters.
The club welcomes new members who live or work in Rochester, Rochester Hills or Oakland Township. For membership information, contact Jeff Whitbey at Jeff@whitbey.net. Rochester Rotary meets each Tuesday at noon at the River Crest Banquet Hall on Avon Road and Livernois in Rochester Hills. Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RochesterRotaryMI and learn more at http://www.rochesterrotaryclub.org.
About Rotary International
Rotary’s main objective is service — in the community, in the workplace, and around the globe. The 1.2 million Rotarians who hail from Rotary clubs in nearly every country in the world share a dedication to the ideal of Service Above Self. Rotary clubs are open to people of all cultures and ethnicities and are not affiliated with any political or religious organizations. Learn more at https://www.rotary.org/en.
