Click on the names of Exchangers below to link to their page!

 

  Chairman: Max Rumbaugh

   If you would like to schedule an activity with any of our current Youth        Exchange students, please contact Max

Applications are Now Available! 

Scottsdale high school seniors, juniors and sophomores can now apply to be Rotary Youth Exchange students and study overseas during school year 2011 -2012.  If you have you thought about living and studying abroad, think it would be exciting to be a youth exchange student or are looking for a unique experience that will help prepare you for college, here is that opportunity.  Rotary Youth Exchange is being recognized as the best youth exchange program, “bar none.”  Countries available include Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Taiwan, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay and Argentina.  For an application, write to: youthexchange@scottsdalerotary.org.  

Full applications are due September 30, 2010.

Current Scottsdale Students Now Studying Overseas
A record number of Scottsdale high school students are now overseas spending the year living with Rotary selected host families and attending school.  Whitney Bowers is in Argentina, Janett Guzman is in Brazil, Jennifer Kempton is in Germany, Nicole Raber is in Belgium, Alina Torres is in Sweden, Kendall O’Rorke is in Italy, and Sara Untermeyer is in Netherlands. 

Jennifer Kempton is in Germany hosted by the Rotary Club of Braunschweig.  She reports that she can hardly believe she has only 3 to 4 weeks left of her exchange and it's totally chaotic; but in a good way!  Her weekends are totally booked and she has so many people to say goodbye to.   Her host family makes her feel like she is part of their family.  When she meets new people in Braunschweig, they think she is German, her accent is so good.  She feels she is coming to the end of this adventure and getting to start a new one when she returns home.  Next Monday she makes her farewell speech for her Germany Rotary club. 

Three Students are in Scottsdale From Overseas
 Maria Giler from Ecuador is attending Saguaro High School, Ditte Jakobson from Denmark is attending Desert Mountain High School, and Peter Li from Taiwan is attending Coronado High School this year.

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Trent Dale was one of two outbound Scottsdale Rotary exchange students for 2008-2009.  He arrived in Denmark in August, 2008 after he finished his junior year at Pinnacle High School. He has studied both Spanish and French.  At Pinnacle he took Advanced Placement Courses and is a member of the National Honor Society.  He has been active with the Red Cross and has served as a youth commissioner to the governor.  In the summer of 2007 he participated in Doc Camp at Mayo. He is living in the town of Nibe and is attending Hasseris Gymnasium and IB World School.

Duncan Shuckerow

Off to Netherlands is Duncan Shuckerow.  Instead of spending his junior year at Desert Mountain High School, he is spending it going to school in the land of the Dutch.  He will then return for his senior year at Desert Mountain High School.  Many of you will remember his sister, Dessa who spent a year in Denmark with Rotary about four years ago.  Duncan is studying theater is looking forward to experiencing Dutch theater. When he returns and his plans are to go to college for acting, singing and dancing after graduating from Desert Mountain High School in 2010.  He describes himself as being very adventurous.  He is living in the town of Edam, home of Edam cheese.

 

 

Duncan Shuckerow (left) is in the Netherlands, Max Rumbaugh (YE Chair), and Trent Dale (right) is in Denmark

Laura Sanchez

Laura Sanchez arrived in Scottsdale from Granada, Spain, which is a city with about the same population as Scottsdale.  She is 15 years old.  She is being sponsored by the Rotary Club of Granada.  A dedicated tennis player, she has played for 5 years under the tutelage of a coach and has successfully competed in Granada and Spanish competitions for the past 3 years.  She ranked #2 for the 15-17 year old tennis players in Spain. Her interest is in Journalism.  She has studied English for 4 years.  She has also taken two years of French and one year of Italian.  Her parents report that she has good friends, is disciplined and is pleasant with people.  Rotary Club members will enjoy knowing her.  She is attending Saguaro High School for the 2008-2009 school year and her first host family will be the parents of Janelle Brown, our 2007-2008 outbound student to Argentina. 

 
Maxime Goffinet is from the French speaking part of Belgium, near Liege.  His primary objective is to perfect his English, though he has had eight years of English.  He is 17 and enjoys sports (rugby, soccer and skiing) and music.  He has already traveled to Spain, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Tanzania and had a short exchange experience in Northern Ireland.  His parents describe him as mature, serious minded, polite and sociable.  They believe that because of his experience in Northern Ireland as a short term exchange student and his many travel opportunities, he will adapt well.  He arrived in Scottsdale on August 7 in time to begin classes at Desert Mountain High School.

PREVIOUS EXCHANGE STUDENTS

Riana Del Vecchio went to school and lived in Sardinia, Italy for the 2007-2008 school year.  Her family has its roots in Italy and the exchange gave her the opportunity to learn Italian.  She also enjoyed living and studying while learning the culture of her Italian grandparents.  She says she actually learned to enjoy shopping and coffee there.   Riana returned to Scottsdale to finish her senior year at Desert Mountain High School.

Janelle Brown was the other of our club's 2007-2008 outbound exchange students who spent the year in Belgrano, Dolores, Argentina.   She went the year following her graduation from Saguaro High School.  She says it was a fabulous year.  She had an opportunity to visit many places in Argentina and even went to Uruguay for a visit.  To summarize her year, she says she loved the experience and learned so much.  She now has a second family, her host family in Argentina.  She says, “Thank you for this opportunity.”  The summer after her return, she worked at the Sugar Bowl for Carroll Huntress.

 Herbert Ellerbusch came to Scottsdale for the 2007-2008 school year from Blielefeld in Northern Germany.   He attended Coronado High School.  During the year he enjoyed attending the Diamondbacks game with Rotarians, hiking up Camelback Mountain with John Wintersteen, and going to RYLA camp.  He enjoyed Arizona, but wanted to be sure and visit the East Coast of the US.  He had that opportunity, participating in the Rotary organized East Coast trip between the end of school and his return to Germany in early 2008.  Aaron and Isley Kern were his third host family.

Matthias Matenaer attended Saguaro High School during 2006-07. He came to us from Germany. One of his highlights of the year was skiing with John Auran in Colorado.

Carol Lima de Mello was our 2006-2007 inbound exchange student from Brasil.  She attended Saguaro High School while in Scottsdale. Carol found her hike up Camelback Mountain with John Wintersteen to be challenging. She began to study medicine upon her return to Brasil.

Samantha Quenneville was one of two 2006-2007 outbound exchange students sponsored by Scottsdale Rotary.  She went to Peru.

Katy Roe returned to Scottsdale the summer of 2007 from a year in Denmark.  She spent her junior year there and returned to finish her studies as a senior at Desert Mountain High School.

Morgane Chalon was our exchange student from Belgium during 2005-2006.  She returned to study medicine in the university in Belgium.  She finds her studies to be hard and to take a lot of time.  She really likes it!  She sends a hello to all Scottsdale Rotarians.

Spencer Russell  spent the 2005-2006 school year in Ecuador.  He went there the year after graduating from Saguaro High School.  He found it interesting that they use the US dollar in Ecuador.  He returned to begin his studies at Arizona State University.

Wendy Redford, who is also from Saguaro High School, spent the 2005-2006 school year in Argentina.  She had a fabulous time traveling and learning Spanish.  She too returned to begin studies at Arizona State University. 

Antonio Conato was our inbound exchange student from Naples, Italy in 2004-2005.  He attended Horizon High School.  One of his host families was Mark Walker and his wife Ligia.  Antonio writes to his Rotarian friends periodically.  He reports that he still misses Scottsdale and thanks the people here who made his life so wonderfully different than it would have been otherwise.  He says, “He left a piece of his heart in Scottsdale.”

Dessa Shuckerow spent school year 2004-2005 in Denmark.  She went the year after graduating from Saguaro High School.  The Danish language is a difficult one, but her host family’s young children were a tremendous help in her learning to speak it.  She returned to attend Boston University, where she felt she was accepted to a large extent because of her youth exchange experience.  She continues to be a good global citizen, doing social work in Chile. 

STUDY ABROAD NEXT YEAR  Applications will be accepted from high school students wishing to study in a foreign country next year.  Students between the ages of 15 and 18 ½ are eligible and, if selected by Rotary, will leave in August 2009 for a year’s study abroad.  Completed applications are due during October.

Students from Scottsdale could spend the year in one of a number of countries such as France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, The Netherlands,Finland, Brazil, Argentina, ecuador, Chile, South Africa, Peru, Mexico, Japan or others. 

The selected students would be hosted by a local Rotary Club in the country they are chosen to visit.  They would attend the local high school and live with families which have been screened and selected by the Rotary Club.  Prior language training is valuable, but not usually required. 

Usually the students return home proficient in the language of the country they visit.  This is because they have learned it in the country where it is spoken, rather than in a classroom.  They also return with many international friends and a broader perspective of the world. 

Applications and more information on Rotary Youth Exchange can be downloaded from http://www.rotary.org by clicking on programs and then youth exchange.  Information on the program and applications are also available from Max Rumbaugh, youthexchange@scottsdalerotary.org.

HOST A FOREIGN STUDENT  Families who host a foreign youth exchange student usually do not wish to do it just one time.  The experience is usually so rewarding that families want to do it again and again.  The host family becomes familiar with another culture while providing the opportunity to share a young student’s hopes and ambitions.  A bond often develops between the student and host family that extends to the student’s family overseas and lasts for many years. 

In August students arrive in Scottsdale to begin attending high school here.  Usually, the students stay with three families during their year here, so they will stay with one family for 3-4 months.  Rotarians and families in Scottsdale are invited to volunteer to be a host family. 

Families interested in learning more about hosting an exchange student can contact youthexchange@scottsdalerotary.org.

Go to another Youth Exchange site by clicking here.