Applications for long term exchange the program are now being accepted. Please contact your local Rotary club to see if they are accepting applications for the 2025-2026 exchange year. Preliminary applications can be found under the ‘Applications Forms’ tab and are due by November 1st. Please note that this date may vary from club to club... please check with your local Rotary Club.
About Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE)
As a Rotary Exchange student, you will spend one year living in another country, usually with two to four host families. You'll learn a new way of living, experience different foods, study different subjects, enjoy a new culture and maybe even learn a new language. In addition you will learn a great deal about yourself and gain confidence and self sufficiency. You'll also be an ambassador, teaching people you meet about your country, culture, and ideas. You can help bring the world closer - and make some good friends in the process.
The most powerful force in the promotion of international understanding and peace is exposure to different cultures. The world becomes a smaller, friendlier place when we learn that all people - regardless of nationality - desire the same basic things: a safe, comfortable environment that allows for a rich and satisfying life for ourselves and our children. Youth Exchange provides thousands of young people with the opportunity to meet people from other lands and to experience their cultures, thus planting the seeds for a lifetime of international understanding.
You will attend school in your local community, as well as participating in Rotary activities and civic functions. At the same time you will make new friends, see exciting places and experience adventures that will take a lifetime to recount. Rotary's Youth Exchange Program is recognized by participants, parents and schools as one of the best student exchange program in the world. It is the largest of its type and is backed up by caring and dedicated Rotarians who provide the infrastructure of the program.
Age Requirements
Rotary District 7080 exchange students must be 15-1/2 but not yet 18 on September 1st of the year they depart.
For more information please read the links on this page and visit https://www.rotary.org/en/our- programs/youth-exchanges. The program requirements may vary slightly from district to district. For more information on Rotary D7080 please contact Sheila Welham, District Youth Exchange Chair, at swelham25@gmail.com.
Key Dates for the Upcoming Program:
November 30, 2024: Short Form Applications are due.
Local interviews will be scheduled shortly after the forms are received. For students who successfully make it to the next level, long form applications will be provided for completion by mid-December. District interviews will take place early in January. Training will be scheduled in the new year. Interview dates and training dates are mandatory for students (and some for parents), these dates will be provided upon application.