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The Rotary Youth Exchange Program

What is the Rotary YEP?

The Rotary Youth Exchange Program is a Youth Exchange Program that exchanges young students in the age of 16-18 every year.
To become a Rotary Youth Exchange Student is a great an opportunity and it makes experiences and friendships for lifetime!
To become an exchange student is a great way to become more grown up and self confident. It provides the opportunity to live in another culture, learn to speak another language and make friends all over the world.

You have to apply through a Rotary Club in your country. This club becomes you sponsoring Rotary Club. In your sponsoring Rotary Club is a Youth Exchange Counselor, who will be your support or contact person in you home country. You will also get a hosting Rotary Club, which will be the Rotary Club that will hosts you and it will often be members of this club who will become your host families. Host families are not paid a lot of money to host you, which is smart. It shows that the host families are interested in hosting a young man or woman from overseas.

All Rotary Youth Exchange Students will receive a Rotary blazer. You start without any pins on it but when you go back after a year as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student, it should be full of pins and weight a 100 pounds!

Why become a Rotary Youth Exchange Student?
You are going to live with 3 host families in the same area, who most likely will be Rotarians or parents to another Rotary Youth Exchange Student. If you are going to (for example) are going to USA or Canada you will become fluently English speaking and a student on a High School (with locker and everything like in movies).

Rotary Youth Exchange arranges Get-Togethers for the exchange student in the same Rotary District. That results  that the exchange students in the same district get to know other exchange students from other countries.

The Rotary Youth Exchange is safest youth exchange program. If you have any problems or questions on your exchange, you will know excatly who to go to for help. In you hosting country there will be a district committee of RYE Officers and a chair person who you will probably meet at a Get-Together or a District Conference. This group is the highest level of people you can contact if you have problems. Before contacting the district you should contact your hosting Rotary Club RYE chair or personal RYE counselor. If your concers are less serious you should talk to your host parents. This network of background support is not only to help you in your exchange country but the same background security system is available for you in your home country.
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