The Rotary International Youth Exchange Program is in full swing in Wilsonville with WHS students returning to school from a year abroad in a foreign country, or having spent this past summer on a short term family-to-family exchange abroad.
Several prior year WHS exchange students have just graduated and are now embarking on their college careers.
Amanda Weatherly studied abroad in Slovakia for the 2016-2017 school year. With her international experience and exposure to Czech & Slovak culture, she is continuing her college education at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. Amanda writes, “This is going to be another huge step in my life and I wouldn’t have ever even thought about studying abroad if I hadn’t gone on exchange first! So thank you Wilsonville Rotary for boosting my confidence enough to push me even more forward into becoming an internationally savvy adult and once again an international student.”
Other recent WHS graduate exchange students include Biz Harms and Dawson Durig, the latter now attending University of Portland with several scholarships including one from the Wilsonville Rotary Club.
Lillian Burhop recently returned from living and studying in Cherepovets, Russia during this past school year. She had the opportunity to travel throughout Russia (St Petersburg, Moscow, and Ekaterinburg) as well as Finland and Estonia. Her presentation to the Rotary Club is scheduled for September20, 2018.
At the end of her 10th grade school year Siona Olson left on a Rotary short term exchange in Austria to stay with a family near Vienna. She returned home after five weeks accompanied by her Austrian host sister, Marlene Lackner. Marlene then had the opportunity to see and enjoy a bit of America for five weeks with the Olson family.
For the present school year we excited to have Ari Lauthner represent us as he travels to Argentina to live and study there during junior year, He plans to be fluent in Spanish when he returns home early next summer. And we are really excited to welcome our newest inbound student to WHS and the Wilsonville community. Andrew Perevalov from Ekaterinburg, Russia arrived in late August and before the jet lag wore off was enrolled in Wilsonville High School. He is an intelligent young man, fluent in English, is taking several AP classes, and wants to learn to play American football.
For the 2019-2020 school year your Rotary Club has selected four short term family-to-family exchange students and one long term student. During their sophomore year these young people will go through Rotary training to prepare themselves for their travel abroad; and the families will be vetted and trained as host families for the short term exchanges next summer.
The Wilsonville Rotary Club Youth Exchange Committee recruits students for the program from the existing WHS freshman class in the early spring of their 9th grade year. Interested students and their familes may contact the committee by email at jakemcmichael@centurytel.net