International Service
Group Study Exchange
This program is an educational activity that promotes international understanding through organized travel and person-to-person contact. The program provides travel grants for teams of professional men and women to exchange visits between paired areas in different countries.
Team members study the institutions and ways of life in each other's countries, develop personal acquaintances, observe their own professions as practised abroad, and exchange ideas. Each of the two paired districts sends and receives a team at designated times usually during a one-year period (between 1 July and 30 June). The team travels to a district in another country for a study program of four to six weeks. While visiting the paired district, each team follows a carefully planned itinerary, visiting government and legal institutions, schools and colleges and historic and scenic points of interest. Accommodation is in local homes whenever possible.
Planned destination for April 2007 is the Dominican Republic.
For more information, contact the Rotary office.
Ambassadorial Scholarship
Academic-Year Ambassadorial Scholarships provide a flat grant of US$23,000 or its equivalent for one academic year of study in another country. This award is intended to help defray costs associated with round-trip transportation, tuition, fees, room and board expenses, and some educational supplies.
Applications are available on the Rotary International site, www.rotary.org, but applicants are interviewed locally. One candidate is selected to represent each Sault Ste. Marie Rotary club to then compete for the one scholarship offered at the district level.
For more information, contact the Rotary office.
Youth Exchange
The Rotary Youth Exchange Program embraces and reflects the fourth Object of Rotary: "The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace throughout a world fellowship of business and professional men and women united in the ideal of service."
A Rotary Youth Exchange student will be an ambassador of his or her country and city, sponsoring Rotary Club and school. They will share their culture, language and country with fellow students, host families, Rotarians, new found friends and sometimes children, organizations and statesmen in the community and country that hosts them.
How can you become a Rotary Youth Exchange Student? First you have to meet the age requirement. The student must be no younger than fifteen years six months old and under 19 years on departure (July/August of the following year). Each September the Rotary Club of Sault Ste. Marie in unison with the Sault North Rotary Club, works closely with the area high schools to accept applications for the program. Applicants must meet the age requirement and be in the top fifty per cent of their class.
The two local Rotary Clubs will hold an information meeting with the parent's and applicants approximately one week prior to interviews. It is not a requirement that applications be received before meeting with the parents.
The interview process will require the applicant to be interviewed by an interview team individually, then with her or his parents. Finally the parents are interviewed without the applicant. Interviews take twenty to thirty minutes in total for all three sessions. Each applicant will be interviewed by two teams. The purpose of the interview is to assess the applicant for qualities in adaptability, linguistic ability, general awareness and scholastic attainment among others.
The Rotary Club of Sault Ste. Marie will select two to four applicants to attend interviews at the Rotary District level that will be very similar to the local interviews. Our Rotary Club has a very good track record of acceptance of our applicants at the District level but this is not automatic
Students that are accepted into the program will attend four more District sponsored week-end conferences to prepare them for their year abroad. Our "Outbound" students will depart for their assigned country in either July or August for approximately an eleven month duration.
Prior to the District interviews, applicants prepare a more detailed application, which includes a "country preference" form where they must rate the the +/- 40 destinations in order of preference. From this list Rotary will assign the student to a country for their exchange.
Effort is made to accommodate the student's top choices but potential exchange students should be aware that Rotary. Rotary cannot fulfill everyone's first choice. As part of being adaptable a student should be prepared to be sent to any one of their first ten choices.
Letter to Parents
Preliminary Outbound Student Application
Costs Related to Outbound Rotary Exchange Student Travel
Rotary Exchange Student Interviews Information
World Service Project
