Rotary District 9640 Australia is now offering 14 -17-year-old high school students and their families in our district the opportunity to be paired with a student and their family abroad for a virtual Rotary Youth Exchange Program for between 8-12 weeks.
Students participating in the program will have the opportunity to get an insight into the life and culture of a student living in another country from their comfort and safety of their own home, and to share insights from their own home, school and community life in Australia. Activities covered will include getting to know you, families, food, culture, music, school, language introducing your home town, and virtual tours and more!
The virtual exchange program is open to students who:
- Want to develop their leadership skills and are keen to learn about another culture and language while sharing their own.
- Want to be an ambassador for Australia.
- Are aged 14 to 17 years at the time of their exchange.
- Are willing to commit to between 1-3 video contacts/activities with their matched student per week for between 8-12 weeks (full commitment is dependent on country selected), with a minimum of 80% participation to be awarded your completion certificate.
At present we are offering exchanges to countries including:
- Italy
- India
- Brazil
- Korea
- Thailand
- and more!
To enquire about when our next Virtual Exchange Program will be running, or to enquire about our virtual exchange program application, please complete an online expression of interest form.
Once approved to do so by the YEP Committee, you will then need to complete a Short Term Exchange Program (STEP) application form.
Please direct any questions about the Virtual Exchange Program to District 9640 YEP Chair David Kenny and Deputy Chair Kathryn Koch at rotaryyep9640@gmail.com
Highlights from our 2021 Virtual Youth Exchange Program
From August – November 2021, students from District 9640 Australia participated in a virtual youth exchange program with students in Brazil, Italy and South Korea.
As part of their exchange, students participated in regular 1:1 calls with their paired student and family, and attended activities presented by both their host and sponsor districts including cooking classes, virtual quizzes, art classes, language lessons, virtual tours, history lessons and more!
Hear from some of our students about their virtual exchange experience in this video created by our exchange partners in District 4500 Brazil.
