The Rotary Club of Guelph-Trillium is happy to currently be hosting Marcus Speck from New Zealand. Marcus will be with us from January 24th, 2009 through to January 2010.
Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) is one of Rotary's most popular programs to promote international understanding and develop lifelong friendships. It has its origins in 1929. Since then the program has expanded around the world.
In recent years more than 7,000 young people have participated annually in Rotary-sponsored student exchange programs.
Rotary Youth Exchange offers young people interesting opportunities to live in and become a part of the culture of another part of the world.
Students are expected to spend a full year abroad.
About 36% of Rotary Youth Exchange students are hosted or sent by clubs in Canada or the USA. European clubs account for about 40%, 12% in Australia and New Zealand, 5% in Asia and 7% in Latin America. Over 70% of all Rotary districts participate in Rotary Youth Exchange.
Rotary Youth Exchange is a highly recommended program for all Rotary clubs as a practical activity for the enhancement of international understanding and goodwill.
ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
1. To further international goodwill and understanding by enabling young people to experience firsthand some of the accomplishments and challenges of people in other lands.
2. To enable students to advance their education by studying for a year in an environment different to their own and to undertake courses of study not normally available to them in secondary schools in their own country.
3. To broaden their own outlook by learning to live with people of different cultures, creeds and colours, and having to cope with day-to-day problems in an environment different from that at home.
4. To act as ambassadors of their country, by conducting themselves in a fashion that will bring honour to their country, community, sponsoring Rotary club, and family, by imparting as much knowledge as they can of their country and its culture to the people they meet during the year abroad, and by addressing Rotary Clubs, community organizations and youth groups in their host country.
5. To study and observe all facets of life and culture in their host country so that on their return to their home country they can pass on the goodwill, understanding and knowledge they have gained.
