Rotary Youth Exchange District 5220

Short-Term Youth Exchange (ages 15-19) Home stays – can be arranged for individual students or groups of students to stay with host families in another country for a few weeks. Home stays are generally reciprocal and family-to- family.

Tours – can be arranged for one or more foreign countries to participate in tours of foreign country. Can be vocational and can involve groups of youth from the same country or several countries.

International Youth Camps – can be arranged for students from several countries. Can involve Interact age students or Rotaract age students. Some camps provide leadership training and address international concerns. Others focus more on promoting cultural tolerance and international understanding. Camps involve both able-bodied and disabled youths.

New Generations Exchanges (Ages 18-25) New Generations Exchanges - usually last from three to six weeks, making this an ideal option for recent secondary school graduates and Rotaractors. These exchanges may be arranged for individuals or groups and can involve home-stays, tours, or camps. Many districts also offer specialized internships to students, based on placement location and availability.

Benefits of Short-Term/New Generations versus Long-Term a.Easy participation. Commitment of time and effort required by students, host families, and Rotary volunteers is much less. Many involved would not be involved in long-term rotary exchange, which requires a huge investment of time and effort. Special visas and piles of paperwork are not required.

b.Benefits for participating Short- term/New Generations Students. i.Provide students a brief window into another culture, country, and/or language. ii.Opportunity to make friends in another country/culture.

iii.Have a fun and useful experience. Increased awareness, knowledge, experience, and confidence. iv.May end up participating in a Long-Term exchange program or New Generations. v.May end up returning on their own to continue relationship outside of Rotary.

c.Host Families. i.Short-Term/New Generation offers families the benefits of hosting without making a commitment of several months.

ii.A family may only be comfortable hosting for 3 weeks. iii.A family that successfully hosts for 3 weeks may become candidates for hosting a long- term exchange student or next years Short-Term/New Generation student.

d.Fewer, less serious and shorter problems. i.Early returns, culture shock, homesickness, and adjusting to return are not concerns. ii.Students must obey rules for brief period. Less opportunity for them to embarrass their country or Rotary. iii.Youth protection.

1.A student that is in a different culture and country for 9 months is much more vulnerable than a student in a 3 -6 week program. 2.One would assume that the reciprocal nature of family-to- family short term exchanges would discourage inappropriate behavior.

3.Youth protection experts point out that perpetrators groom their victims. It is more difficult to groom a victim in a few weeks than 9 months. 4.There is more risk that a problem will develop in 9 months than in 3 – 6 weeks. This is why insurance costs more for 9 months than 3 weeks.

e.Short-Term/New Generations Exchanges are simpler to arrange. Because most Districts follow the Rotary Long-Term Exchange forms, rules and publications designed for Long-Term exchanges, it discourages Short-Term exchanges. District 5220 forms are designed to provide simple, short yet complete information designed for short exchange visits to a foreign country. District 5220 forms were developed mostly from our German Rotary friends and resources.

f.The District 5220 system – Simple and efficient. i.Simplified forms. No detailed dental form. No detailed medical form. ii.Only one interview, it has both Club and District representatives and is held in the home of the applicant with their parents.

iii.Anyone who is qualified can go on the trip, as demand from our German partners is greater than our outbound demand in our District 5220, rotarians and experienced Host families provide a home on a one-way Short-Term exchange.

iv.We will take more German students than we send to Germany, which allows 1) more German students to participate; 2) host families to participate without sending a child; 3) Guarantees places in the program for all qualified applicants. v.All inbound students to California participate in a 3 day camp at Yosemite National Park. A big draw with foreigners.

vi.Cost of Program with District 5220 a.Sponsorship fee $ 400. Paid by sponsoring club. Covers cost of camp in Yosemite and other program expenses. b.Air fare, about $1,750. c.Medical insurance as required by Rotary International. d.Pocket money.

vii.Form Comparison Chart viii.Partners and Programs

1.Germany – District Our most important partner is South Western Germany. Group exchange with chaperones from California and Germany. Mostly family-to-family. Mid July all the American Students and many of the German Students will stay at a Youth Hostel in southern Germany at the Lake of Constance with German Host Chaperones and the American Host Chaperones. Lake of Constance borders Switzerland and Austria. Early August all of the German Exchange students and many of the American Exchange students will stay at Yosemite, Curry Village.

2.Italy – District 2040, Milan, Lake Como and the region. Family-to- Family. Also offers Camps for ages Spain – Multidistrict, handled by office in Madrid. Family-to- Family. Also offers Camps for ages Denmark – Multidistrict, Family- to-Family, also vocational New Generations

5.Brazil - District 4730, Southern Brazil, Family-to- Family, also group New Generations exchange. 6.Switzerland - District New Generations Group Team exchange. 7.France - Participates through the Modesto Sister Cities International program.

ix.Marketing Plan a.District website b.Brochure that can be used for more than one year. c.Blast to District Rotarians d.Newspaper Ad, informational meetings

e.Newspaper stories f.Interact Clubs g.District Assembly break out session h.RYLA students, past and present. i.Public Service announcement on radio.

x.Web Resources i. ii. xi.Participation by other Districts with District WESSEX member Districts can participate in the Germany Program Summer Program.

xii.Success of the District 5220 Program The District 5220 program is one of the leaders in the Short-Term Youth Exchange program in the United States. According to the Rotary youth exchange annual report; there were a total of 503 inbound and outbound Short-Term Exchanges in the United States. District 5220 accounted for over 13% of all US Short-Term Exchanges.

Rotary Youth Exchange District 5220