Youth Exchange
One Year or Summer Abroad or a few Weeks at a Theme Camp
Youth exchange is one of the best-known Rotary Programs. Every year more than 8 000 students worldwide experience a new culture either at a two-three-week camp or staying a whole school year abroad. All students at the required age, also children of Rotary families, can apply for the program.
Applicants should be flexible and independent enough. The most important requirement is that the decision to apply for the program comes from the student not from the parents or friends.
Rotary Youth Exchange Program is certified and therefor safe and it is also affordable way to experience the culture, customs and people in another country. The participants and his/her family take part in orientation and training and in the same way the student coming to Finland will go through the same kind of orientation and training program. The host families and Rotary clubs do not get any compensation for hosting the student; this program is based on voluntary service. The student is taken into the family as a family member. Through this program students and their host families build up long-lasting friendships with each other and between the students’ host families and their families at home.
Youth Exchange Program guides the students into responsible internationality and it gives opportunities to building a safe world willing to cooperate. The aim is to teach the students to accept variety, tolerance and appreciate cultural diversity.
Learn more of Rotary Youth Exchange under the following headings: School Year Exchange, Short Term Exchange, Camps.
The Best Year in Your Life so far?
School year exchange is not a year abroad as a tourist but a school year in a new country. You will stay in 2 to 4 host families and you will experience the everyday life and highlights of different families. You will go to school and hobbies in the same way you would do at home but now as a family member in a new environment. You will meet people in your host country and exchange students coming from all over the world. You will learn a lot about yourself and home country. A year abroad requires adaptation from you, but it will be a year you will remember the rest of your life.
Every year about 130 students go abroad and the same number of students arrives to Finland to their new families. There are numerous exchange countries to go to; the most popular countries are USA, Australia, Mexico, Brazil and Germany. Several European countries have become more and more popular lately.
You have to apply for the program in September the year before the intended exchange. If you are accepted, your exchange will start the following August.
For prices and additional information, please go to the Rotary Youth Exchange home page: www.rye.fi
Short Term Exchange – A month in Cremona or perhaps in San Diego?
Rotary clubs arrange theme camps in different countries: in Europe, North and South America Asia and Africa. Camp program is the shortest of the exchange programs, 2 to 3 weeks. The students stay part of the time together in dormitory type accommodation and a part in host families. In this program students learn what internationality is about, they have activities around the camp theme and experience the local way of life through their host families. One thing that attracts students to Finland is nature especially, often combined with arts, culture and sports. Camps abroad offer many choices from horseback riding to trekking and from city culture to ecotourism. The themes and arranging clubs change from year to year.
Camp program is open for 15 to 18-year-olds; some of the camps are designed for students older than this.
For prices and additional information, please go to the Rotary Youth Exchange home page: www.rye.fi
