SHS student heading to Sweden
—Photo courtesy JERRI ANDERSON Tanner Kohal, who will be spending his junior year in Sweden, poses recently with other 2016-2907 outbound exchange students and Interact Club members. Pictured, from left, are Jerri Anderson, Sandpoint Rotary Club youth exchange officer; Daniel Radford, who is bound for Chile; Kohal; Aaron Cole, who will travel to Germany; and Jeannie Maddox, SHS Interact Club president.
SANDPOINT — Heading off on a fabulous adventure is something many people dream about. Local high school student Tanner Kohal is preparing to live that dream, but he needs a little help from friends to make it all come together.
Kohal will be spending his junior year in Sweden as part of the Rotary Youth Exchange. His departure date is July 28. Between now and then, he hopes to continue fundraising for his year abroad by selling raffle tickets for a July 26 drawing.
With the help of local merchants, Kohal will give away a cord of firewood, a vintage cruiser bicycle, season Festival tickets for two, and several gift cards from area stores and restaurants. The drawing for the raffle grand prize, a season ticket for Schweitzer Mountain, will take place in October, according to Kohal's raffle page.
As a participant in the Rotary International Youth Exchange program, Kohal will join thousands of other students in a year-long exchange. He will stay with three different Rotary-approved host families in Sweden while he attends high school. His experience will include travel throughout his host country and the rest of Europe in the company of other Rotary exchange students, according to Amber Kohal Gildersleeve, Tanner's mother.
"As a foreign exchange student I will help to be an ambassador of the United States and also to make long lasting connections and relations that I can hopefully utilize in my adult life. I also want to learn a new language by being immersed in a different culture," Kohal said. "I hope to bring back my experiences as a foreign exchange student and share them with my peers and community and hopefully inspire some to travel more and experience the world for themselves."
He will be selling raffle tickets Monday at Winter Ridge and at the Flying Fish Shop Friday from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Information: amberkohal@gmail.com, www.seetannersoar.com