President's Message 01/10/2020

     Abbe is attending Cambridge High School with the Junior class there.  He is involved in the men’s chorus, plays guitar in the jazz band and has become very involved in school activities.  Abbe speaks at least three languages.  He is currently living with his second of three host families that he will be with during this academic year.  Since the Rotary Youth Exchange Students are still in high school their host families are a more traditional host family since they are together every day, except for school time.

 

Since coming to America Abbe has experienced a UGA football game, two trips to Florida, including a fantastic weekend visiting four Disney parks in early December.  He has visited Waffle House and Cracker Barrell while traveling and many other sites and scenes throughout Georgia.  He visited Washington DC with his first host family over the Thanksgiving break and is looking forward to a west coast trip at the conclusion of the academic year.  His parents are planning a trip to visit in the spring of this year.

 

Rotary Youth Exchange is a 1 for 1 exchange.  Our district currently has eight outbound students and eight inbound students, which are concentrated in the northern area of our district.  Rotary wide there are about 100 countries involved in the program and approximately 650 youth exchange students in the program.  This is an official Rotary sponsored program and is also sponsored by the US Department of State.  All volunteers and host families involved in the program are certified by both Rotary and by the State Department.  The primary purpose of the program is to foster peace in the world and expose individuals to other countries, other cultures and to expose them to Rotary.