Over the years Squamish Rotary Club has hosted students from all over the globe. These students have come from Australia, Switzerland, Denmark, France, Brazil, Russia, Czech Republic, and New Zealand. Host families have welcomed them into their homes and the students have been immersed in our local high schools as well as community life in Squamish.
These students were given the opportunity to travel to our wonderful community through the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. Now Squamish welcomes two Rotary Exchange Students who have settled into Grade 11 at Howe Sound and at the homes of their home stay hosts. Peter Gill is here from Victoria, Australia and will stay until January 2, 2009. He is currently staying with the Beaubiens. Peter is looking forward to hitting the slopes when the snow flies. Aoei Wethaka Saenprom is here from her home in Thailand. She will be here until July 2009 and is currently staying with the Davis family. She has decided she would like to try skiing and is looking forward to spending a snowy winter on the slopes. Over the years Squamish Outbound students have lived in a variety of countries through the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. They have had host families in Belgium, Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Japan, Switzerland and Germany to name a few. Presently, from Squamish Esme Sturton is in Germany and Mylene St. Pierre Borchert is in Thailand. Both students certainly have lots to share with life in their prospective countries and with their host families. Mylene has a resident bat colony near her home but she says that is good because they eat the mosquitoes. The Rotary Youth Exchange Program is a wonderful program to be part of and it enables students to advance their education by studying for a year in an environment entirely different from their own. It broadens their outlook by learning to live with and meet other people of different cultures, creeds and colours and having to cope with day-to-day problems in an environment completely different from the one they have experienced at home. They act as ambassadors from their country by addressing Rotary Clubs and youth groups in their host coutry. In order to be eligible to be a Rotary Youth Exchange Student you must be between the ages of 16 and 17 and a half years old when you depart in August. You must have an academic standing in the top third of your class and you must have an outgoing and pleasant personality to fit for the role of ambassador for Canada. All applicants ar selected solely on merit. Squamish Rotary Club welcomes students to apply for the Rotary Youth Exchange Program as well as families to apply to be host families for new inbound exchange students who arrive in our community. If you are interested in applying for the Youth Exchange program or being a host family for a student please contact our Rotary youth exchange officer Laurie Vanzella in Squamish. Applications for the Youth Exchange Program must be received by our local Rotary Club no later than Nov. 1 of each year. You may also visit the Rotary Youth Exchange website for more details www.d5040youthexchange.ca.