Bridging Continents Through YOUTH EXCHANGE

Montana Rotary Exchanges bridge the world through their youth exchange program as students travel to foreign lands to be Ambassadors of peace for Rotary. Click on the MORE below for additional information on our District YE program.

If you think you would like to be a good representative for Rotary International, download the long term (short term exchanges are not available from our district at this time) application and give it to your local club Youth Exchange officer or club president. The club officers will interview students and parents in their area and then submit application to the District Chair. When approved by the local club, the students paperwork will be sent to the District to determine if they are eligible for an exchange. However, local clubs can only sponsor one student per club as they are required to receive a student in your area for exchange. Deadline for Applications at the Club Level is October 31st and the selected applicant's information must be received by the District YE Committee no later than November 15th. For more information and to download forms and handbook about the program go to www.rotary.org.

PLEASE NOTE: Being selected by a Rotary Club as a Youth Exchange candidate is not a guarantee that the student will be going on an exchange. All students and their parents must be available for a face-to-face interview on Saturday, December 5, 2015. The location and times will be provided to the students and their parents in November.

Look under District & Club Pages for Application Form and other information.

For more information, contact our District Youth Exchange Chair, Daryl Hansen at DG5390.2012@gmail.com .
Here are the steps for students interested in Youth Exchange:

1. Discuss with parents and review all information on youth exchange on the www.rotary.org website. Make sure you understand the program details. Students are responsible for all costs associated with travel abroad including passport, visa, insurance, airfare and miscellaneous expenses. A fee is charged to families to process paperwork, orientation and other costs associated with setting up the long term exchange. This fee is collected only when the student has been selected by the District and matched with an area.

2. Download the long term application and complete and give it your local Rotary club in your area. If there is no Rotary club in your area, contact the district YE chair to obtain more information about a local club near your area. The clubs interview the students and family and send the application to the District chair to be screened and matched. Deadline for long term applications is October 31st for an upcoming school year.

3. Remember that this is an exchange for exchange program and the sponsoring club will be asked to host a student. For long term exchanges we recruit at least two families to host the student throughout the year. This is the hardest task - to find good host families for inbound students in exchange for those going overseas to another family. They do not have to be a Rotary member to host a student. All families will have to submit applications, background checks and be interviewed by the Rotarian YE chair for their club.

4. Please make sure you attach to the front of your application a list of the 1st to last of where you would like to go on your exchange from the countries listed here. Keep in mind that you may not get a choice in where you go so be open to new cultures. If you have strong language training, we will try to place you in the country where you can improve on those skills. There are currently five Rotary Districts/Countries to choose from: Austria, France, Taiwan, Ecuador, Brazil .

For information on Youth Exchange, contact our District YE Chair,Daryl Hansen, Rotary Club of Livingston, DG5390.2012@gmail.com .