By Jim Hilley
The Roswell Rotary Club is seeking students who are interested in taking part in the club’s one-year high school exchange program.
Bianca Cheney, chair of the Rotary District Youth Exchange Program Committee, said interested students can reach out her or any Rotary member.
“The process is that you express interest, and then start looking at the application,” she said. “Then the next step would be an interview with the student and the parents with the Rotary Club.”
Cheney said if that goes well, then a second interview is scheduled with the exchange committee. “After that, there is another interview and some orientations to get the student prepared,” she said.
Selected students would travel to the host nation next August, Cheney said.
Rotary is interested in finding potential host families as well. “We don’t have a student in Roswell at this time, but if I get host families lined up, then we can take a student in the fall of next year,” she said.
Cheney said Rotary’s exchange program is a somewhat different from other programs. “Rotary requests three families for each visiting student, that’s not as big of a burden on one family, especially if they don’t click,” she said. “If it’s for a whole year and you don’t quite mesh, it’s nice to know that in a few months, you’re going to go live with somebody else.”
Staying with three host families also gives the student a more varied experience, Cheney said.
The Rotary District has a list of 15 countries that it has been working with. “We share that list and the student gives us three choices,” Cheney said. “We try to give everybody their first option.”
Cheney said there is only a short time left to apply for an exchange in the fall of 2027. “If we get some interest, we’ll deal with it,” she said.
The students who are selected go on exchange in 2027 would be either a sophomore or a junior this year. “If they’re a sophomore, then they’re abroad their junior year, they come back and have their senior year with their peers,” Cheney said. “If they’re a junior, then they miss their senior year with their peers.
Cheney said rotary also has a new, shorter exchange program. “Basically a family-to-family summer exchange,” she said.
For more information, call Cheney at 575-622-1820 or visit studyabroadscholarships.org.
Share this story and start a conversation
