Club supporting the Rotary Youth Exchange Program
Posted by Harry Bracegirdle
on May 17, 2016
The Rotary Club of Port Fairy has recently committed to supporting an outbound student in the District 9780 Rotary Youth Exchange Program (RYEP).
Led by the Club's Youth Director, John Clue, the Club is sponsoring Hawkesdale P12 student, Lisa Van Someren, for the 2017 outbound exchange program. If Lisa is successful in being selected by the District she is hoping to be able to spend 12 months living and studying in Germany through 2017.
Lisa, who is currently completing Year 9 at Hawkesdale College, underwent the first phase of the RYEP selection process at a weekend camp held in Halls Gap on 14th and 15th May. This will be followed up by a final and more rigorous, interview-based session to be held in Ballarat in June.
Lisa is being sponsored by the Rotary Club and supported by her parents, Sharyn and Danny van Someren. This is the first time the Rotary Club has been engaged in student exchange program and the Club is optimistic that Lisa will be selected and hopefully secure a place in her first choice country of Germany where her chosen sport of vaulting (sort of gymnastics on horseback) is a well established sport. Recently, Lisa finished 2nd in her division at the Australian Vaulting Championships held in Adelaide. With the championships out of the way she can now concentrate on securing a place on the RYE program.
The weekend in Halls Gap was pitched as more of an "ice-breaker" where prospective outbound students (13 including Lisa) met with current inbound students (currently being hosted in Australia from overseas) as well as the rebound students (the Australians who returned from overseas from the 2015 exchange program). This gave Lisa a unique opportunity to learn first hand from those that had gone before in 2015 as well as learning about the various host countries direct from the overseas visitors. It was not all socialising however, as over the two days members of the District 9780 RYEP Committee were quietly assessing the 13 prospective outbound students during their group discussions and from their short presentation to an opening, general plenary forum that comprised all students, accompanying parents and the counsellors from the respective Rotary clubs.
The Chair of the D9780 RYEP Committee, Phil Quick, emphasised that even if the number of overseas places (hosts) could be found to accommodate the 13 prospective outbound students for the 2017 program, there was still no guarantee that a student would be selected. Eventual selection depends on them meeting the required standard, an assessment of their leadership qualities, how well prepared the student is, and, if they are judged by the Committee to be ultimately suitable for program.
Lisa reported that after the dinner on Saturday evening the hosted, inbound students from the various countries gave an expo of their respective countries and tried to convince the outbounds as to why they should visit their homeland. Lisa said that some students did eventually realign their first choice but her preference still remained as Germany. Countries that are included in the exchange program are Brazil, Canada, France, Finland, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Taiwan and the USA.
Plenary activities involving all participants were held throughout Saturday. However, essentially the attendees were split into two groups with students engaging in outdoor activities and parents and counsellors being briefed by the Committee members as well as getting an enlightening vision presented by some rebound students who gave a “warts and all” overview of their overseas experience. This was an invaluable session for the assembled parents and counsellors!
Rotarian, Harry Bracegirdle from the RC of Port Fairy, who was deputising as Counsellor for John Clue, expressed how impressed he was with the overall operational structure of the RYEP Committee. It was encouraging for all parents and counsellors present to learn just how well the Youth Exchange Committee for D9780 is organised. They are reputedly the benchmark of all the five Victorian-based districts as far as RYEP is concerned and pride themselves on how well presented D9780 students are when all assembled in their uniforms when departing Melbourne Airport. Of course, the organisation extends well beyond presentation and it was comforting to know that the whole end-to-end process – that covers 2.5 years for each student – is so thoroughly organised. This covers the placement process, airfares, insurance and liaison both here in Australia and when the student is overseas.
In this regard, D9780 leverages the whole Rotary International network and, if problems arise overseas, a student will get immediate support - which may even entail a District Governor speaking directly with their overseas counterpart. You get a distinct impression that even though things can - and sometimes do, go wrong - the power and reach of Rotary can kick in to solve any issues. This is particularly comforting to the parents especially if an overseas disaster / event occurs (like earthquakes, acts of terrorism etc.) in a host country. If a student is unfortunately injured or becomes seriously ill whilst overseas, Rotary D9780 encourage that at least one of the parents holds a current passport so that they can be flown overseas, at short notice, if required. Such incidents are rare but at least events like this are covered by the program’s insurance cover taken out for each student.
The outbound students for the 2017 program will leave Melbourne around 16th January 2017 for a 12-month exchange experience in their host country. During that time they may stay with 3 to 4 different families and will be required to attend the local secondary school.
The Rotary Club of Port Fairy wishes Lisa every success through the selection process and Harry Bracegirdle reported that he is quietly confident that Lisa has the qualities to meet the selection criteria and should therefore be successful. If she is, it anticipated that the Rotary Club will then help Lisa in some fundraising activities to offset the cost of attending the 12 month program.
The photos below show Lisa at the recently held Australian Vaulting Championships and showcasing one of her vaulting routine maneouvres.
