Join us for an online information session about Rotary Youth Exchange
Are you interested in becoming a global ambassador for Australia, Rotary and your community as a Rotary Youth Exchange student?
Join us for an upcoming information night to find out more about our short-term/family swap opportunities in 2024, and our long-term opportunities for 2025.
For more information contact us on yep@rotary9640.org
In December we will be welcoming Elizabet to Australia from Kyiv, Ukraine, as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student, hosted by the Rotary Club of Coomera River.
This is a one-way exchange that we have arranged that will be fully funded for Elizabet through donations to our youth exchange program – this will cover her flights, insurance, visa, and all of her living expenses during her year here in Australia.
To date we have had six extremely generous clubs in our district each make a $500 donation towards Elizabet’s exchange – a huge thank you to Yamba, Ballina-on-Richmond, Maclean, Iluka Woombah, Warwick and Tenterfield. If you would like to help us make this exchange possible please get in touch with David Kenny on yep@rotary9640.org
Applications are now open for high school students aged 15-17 who reside in District 9640 (Goondwindi to Grafton and throughout the Gold Coast) to participate in a one-in-a-lifetime short-term exchange with our exchange partner District 4500 in Brazil.
District 4500 is located in Northeastern Brazil encompassing the stages of Penambuco, Paraiba and Rio Grande do Norte. This region is endowed with natural beauties from mountains to the sea.
The short term exchange program is a family to family exchange – this means that participating students will spend their exchange with a Brazilian family, and in turn their child will come to Australia from November – February to be hosted by the Australian students family.
During your exchange you will attend school, community and Rotary activities including the incredible ‘Mountain to Sea’ Summer Camp in Natal from Friday 11 August 2023 – Sunday 22 August 2023.
Students can arrive in Brazil during either July or early August, and will stay for three months.
Applications are invited from students who will be aged 15-17 during the dates of their exchange. Applications close on 15 May 2023. If you would like more information about this exchange opportunity and how to apply, please contact our Americas Country Coordinator Kathryn Koch on rotaryyep9640@gmail.com or click the Apply Now button on our home page to submit an expression of interest.
We’re thrilled to announce that after a three year hiatus due to Covid 19 restrictions, the Rotary Youth Exchange Program in District 9640 will be resuming in 2024.
If you’re turning 16-18 in 2024, live within Rotary District 9640 (from Goondiwindi in Queensland to Grafton in NSW and all throughout the Gold Coast- see our district map here), and want to have the experience of a lifetime as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student, we are now accepting applications for our long term (12 month) exchange program for departures in Jan/Feb 2024.
Part A of the Application form is now open. Please complete it here: APPLICATION FORM PART A.
Applications close on 5 May 2023.
To learn more about the program and who is eligible to apply, here are some links to some handy resources.
Our Southern Star Rotex team are looking to run a virtual exchange program in the coming months. Follow their Facebook page for more information: https://www.facebook.com/Southern.Star.ROTEX
From the 2021/22 D9640 Youth Exchange Committee we want to thank all of the clubs and Rotarians who have supported us, and we look forward to seeing the return of this very special, life-changing program in 2024.
David Kenny (Chair), Kathryn Koch (Co-Deputy Chair), John Campbell (Co-Deputy Chair), Denise Payne (Compliance), Pat Fleming (Treasurer) and Mindi Devine (ROTEX Liason)
Rotary Youth Exchange is run entirely by volunteers. This means that the program is run by people who are truly passionate about the life-changing experience of youth exchange, and it also helps us to keep our costs down, making Rotary Youth Exchange one of the most affordable youth exchange programs available.
It takes a lot of people to make youth exchange happen – from the youth exchange committee, to club counsellors, club youth exchange officers, host families and various other volunteers. Many of these volunteer roles require a serious time commitment, which is often ‘invisible’ within Rotary. But without these people, Rotary Youth Exchange simply wouldn’t happen. That’s why we introduced the Service to Youth Exchange pin to present to members who have demonstrated a significant commitment to youth exchange in District 9640.
In late 2021/early 2022 our YEP committee have visited several clubs in our district to present Service to Youth Exchange Pins to members who have:
Hosted 5 or more exchange students as a host parent, and/or
Volunteered for 3 or more years on the D9640 YEP committee, and/or
Is otherwise regarded as a champion of YEP at a club or district level.
Here are some photos taken at some of our recent presentations.
It’s with a very heavy heart that we confirm that the Rotary Youth Exchange Program is on hold globally until at least July 2022.
At this stage we are hoping to start receiving inbound students into Australia in July 2022, and send our outbound students back out into the world in January 2023. For our outbound students, this means we’ll start the application process for student selection in early 2022. This is of course all subject to change based on what’s happening globally at that time with Covid-19.
Rotary Youth Exchange is a program very close to our hearts. As a committee made up of many former exchange students, host parents, and parents of exchange students, we know better than anyone the impact that the Rotary YEP has on the young people, Rotary clubs and communities that participate. We’ll do everything in our power to keep the YEP spirit alive in the interim, and to get it up and running again as soon as we can.
If you have any questions about this, please email us at RotaryYEP9640@gmail.com
Introducing the world’s newest Rotex Club!
Southern Star Rotex Australia is officially chartered as a Rotary Alumni Association!
Thanks to 9640 District Governor Ana Andy Rajapakse for making this happen. We are now officially one of only three chartered Rotex clubs in Australia.
Congratulations to Charter President Ruby Vaars (Japan 2019), Rotex Liaison from the YEP Committee Mindi Devine, and other members of the committee on this achievement.
Thanks to all the members who joined us on the Gold Coast over the weekend to celebrate.
