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Rotary youth exchange program marks 50th anniversary
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| Riley Smith, a Gering High School student, shows off her Rotary jacket with pins she has collected. As an exchange student in the Rotary Youth Exchange program she will be in Australia for the next several months collecting even more pins, learning and experiencing a different culture while attending school. Photo by Chabella Guzman |
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By CHABELLA GUZMAN
Staff Reporter
Creating opportunity for youth and building bridges between communities has carried the Rotary Youth Exchange program into its 50th year.
The program began in 1958 as an idea between two Rotarians, Harley Shaver of Scottsbluff and Peter Barnett of Myrtleford, Victoria, Australia. Working together and with others they exchanged students and created the first long-term student exchange, which grew into today’s exchange program.
In celebration of the anniversary the clubs are once again exchanging students. The Scottsbluff/Gering Rotary Club is sending Riley Smith, a Gering High School student and daughter of Dan and Jackie Smith, to Myrtleford. It will complete the exchange that began in the fall of 2008 with the arrival of Natalie O’Callaghan to Scottsbluff.
Smith is leaving for Australia today, but getting to this point was no easy task.
“It is a long process, with interviews, applications and even undergoing psychological and physical exams,” said Jim Trumbull, a member of the Scottsbluff/Gering Rotary Club.
Not every student that is interviewed gets to go and most don’t know where they are going until long after the interviews.
“I was lucky, as I knew I was going to Australia,” Smith said. “The whole process was pretty intense, but I think it has given me more confidence.”
Part of the intensity of the program has to do with looking out for the students and making sure they will be ready to go.
“There are so many things in place to protect the young people,” said Cyndi Neuwirth, a counselor with the Scottsbluff/Gering Rotary Club. “The families treat the young people like their own and have all had background checks done.”
Neuwirth herself has been through the process. She and her family have hosted five students throughout the years.
“The exchange is such a rewarding experience. We have kept in touch with the students that visited us and have learned so much from one another,” she said.
Smith will be staying with five families during her time at Myrtleford.
“I’ll be staying with Natalie’s family on their ranch. My host sister says she’ll teach me to ride,” she said. “I’m pretty excited, as I’ve never stayed at a ranch or been on a horse.”
She’ll get to Australia just in time for the first day of school on July 13, and will stay with an older couple as one of her home bases.
“I’ll be going to a small private school there, where I’ll have to wear a uniform. It’ll be a bit of a change as they only have around 200 students,” Smith said.
Unlike some exchange students that come back after their exchange program and pick up the school year they missed, Smith will be ready for college.
“Riley has put a lot of work into going already,” Trumbull said. “With help from her parents, teachers and guidance counselors she has enough credits to graduate with her class and will be ready for college when she returns.”
Smith has been sharpening her skill in public speaking since she found out she was going and recently has been saying farewell to her friends for the year.
“Its going to be really hard to leave my friends. But my best friend is going to college so that has made it a bit easier,” she said.
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