Area students going places with youth exchange

SANDPOINT — High school students are making international inroads through their work with the Interact Club and Sandpoint area Rotary.

Interact is a group that meets once each week at Sandpoint High School. Rotary Club of Ponderay and Sandpoint Rotary Club co-sponsor the youth service organization, which abides by the motto, "service over self." Interact members help fund international service projects as well as providing community service locally.

Last year, the student-driven club helped fund a community well in Ecuador by raising $1,000. Along with matching funds from local Rotary groups, Rotary International and the Ecuadorian government, the funding will bring fresh water to a community in dire need. Well digging is currently underway, said Jerri Anderson, longtime Interact mentor and Youth Exchange officer for Sandpoint Rotary Club.

This year, Interact is working with Dr. Jim Guzek of Tri-Cities, Wash., and the Ethiopia Eye Clinic to fund cataract removal surgeries for Ethiopians who are blind. Guzek performs the surgeries on a volunteer basis during a yearly humanitarian trip. The Interact Club raised and contributed $800, which is enough to sponsor 16 surgeries, said Anderson.

Interact members also serve the community in several capacities. They are active in the Hospice Tree of Lights ceremony and sell roses to raise money for the charity. Their upcoming community service project is assisting the Sandpoint branch of the East Bonner County Library District in whatever capacity they are needed, she said.

This year, area Rotary clubs have reintroduced the Youth Exchange Program in cooperation with Sandpoint High School. A robust program prior to Sept. 11, 2001, it fell victim to tightened international and domestic security regulations. Sandpoint Area Rotary had to put the program on hold for several years, Anderson said.

“Now we are newly engaged ... with new requirements from country government and Rotary worldwide," she said.

Maelle Platon is the first Rotary exchange student under the new program, in Sandpoint for the 2015-2016 academic year. She is from France where her father is an active Rotarian. Platon is also a member of Interact Club.

While neither exchange students nor host families need to be affiliated with a Rotary Club, they do have to meet rigorous qualification requirements, according to Anderson. In fact, the thoroughness of the club's vetting process is reassuring to most parents, she said.  Strict Rotary exchange program standards are uniform throughout the world.

"Rotary Youth Exchange attracts families because they know what the child will be receiving at the other end," Anderson said. 

Student applicants must complete interviews on the local level and also on the district level, she said. Local Rotary Club members also interview host families to make sure an exchange student would be a good fit. The club also does background checks on all those who are over 18 in the home.

Internationally, the program places approximately 8,000 students, ages 15-18, from more than 100 countries with host families. It offers both long-term exchanges, lasting a full academic year, and short-term summer programs, Anderson said.

Locally, the Youth Exchange Program has selected three outbound students who will depart this August for a year abroad. Tanner Kohal will go to Sweden, Aaron Cole to Germany, and Daniel Radford is bound for Chile.

Three inbound students will arrive in Sandpoint at about the same time. However, the students will not be exchanging homes. Volunteer host families will put them up, and Anderson is currently seeking area families interested in hosting a foreign exchange student for 2016-2017. 

"Most Rotary Youth Exchange students live with two or three host families during their exchange. This means the student may live with (each family) for three to six months," said Anderson.

This practice ensures each student will experience the diversity that makes up the host community. For example, one host family may be active in sports while another is more culturally oriented. A third host family might travel frequently, Anderson said.

Although Rotary Club structures the exchanges, students are responsible for funding their trips, which cost about $6,000, she said. Many raise money through working and individual fundraisers.

Each exchange student must maintain good grades while abroad as well as follow the rules established by the Youth Exchange Program.

“The education component goes hand in hand with the cultural exchange,” Anderson pointed out. "Our goal is for them is to rejoin their class (when they return home) and be in step with their academic year," she said.

This sometimes means taking summer session classes to compensate for missed classes, especially if the student is traveling to a non-English speaking destination.

"Credits may transfer from the exchange school," said Anderson. "It really depends on the destination. Countries with language barriers may be more difficult."

She said that Sandpoint High School staff cooperates completely with the exchange program, and that counselors Linda Sprinkle and Jeralyn Mire have been especially helpful over the years.

Rotary Club Youth Exchange needs host families for its inbound students for the 2016-2017 school year, and Anderson encourages applicants, whether Rotary members or not, to apply.

"Hosting is a rewarding experience in which (families) can share in a young person's hopes and dreams and develop a lifelong connection with a student and family from another country," she said.

And while students embark on their exchange year as ambassadors for their countries, they return home as ambassadors for Sandpoint and the USA.