This week marks the beginning of an exciting chapter for 17-year-old Bow Valley High student, Sylvia Legary, who left Monday for the Netherlands as the 2016-17 Cochrane Rotary Club Youth Exchange program select.
“I’m really excited about the people I’m going to meet, but I’m kind of nervous about the (Dutch) language,” laughed Legary, who will be staying with three billet families over the course of her 11-month stay.
Kassia King, 18, is the Cochrane High student who recently returned from her 11-month exchange in Germany.
“It was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done and at the beginning I questioned myself, but as time went on I learned so much,” she said, adding that she returned fluent in German.
King, who is inspired by humanitarian causes, said it was “eye opening” to live in Europe while key ISIS attacks were ongoing, helping her to “become more aware of the problems in the world”.
Staying in Münster, Germany – a city of some 300,000 people, many of whom are students, in the North Rhine-Westphalia region – she loved the historical feel of the city and its architecture and the experience of sightseeing from her bicycle daily.
Germany was on her short-list of desired countries (the Rotary provides a list of options and requests candidates to select their top three picks). King said she wanted to go to the central European country due to its history and its central location, which aided her travel to Austria, Belgium, England, France and the Netherlands.
Following her 2017 high school graduation, she will continue on to post-secondary and study to become a biologist or an emergency trauma nurse – after she returns to Germany for a visit next summer.
What is her advice to Legary or anyone else participating in the program?
“Just go for it. Keep an open mind because there is so much to learn from living abroad.”
Rotarian Cathy Groenland is the program organizer and has been involved since 2000.
“I enjoy being involved with youth and I love the diversity and camaraderie among club members,” she said.
Groenland said since her involvement with the program, much has been added to the program, which includes a handful of mandatory events for the students to participate in and a long list of optional programs, events and field trips.
Celine Hof is the Rotary student who arrived less than two weeks ago from the Netherlands to call Cochrane home until post-Stampede 2017.
Hof will be staying with three to four Cochrane billet families, making a presentation Sept. 20 (tentatively) at the Rotary Club on her Dutch culture, with a follow-up presentation next June on her Canadian experience.
Recruitment for the 2017-18 exchange will begin next month; the club will conduct interviews throughout the fall, presenting its final selected candidate(s) to the district for ultimate selection in January.
The Cochrane club has been running an international exchange for some 20 years. The youth exchange is one of the primary avenues of service for the global service organization, providing the “opportunity of a lifetime for the more than 8,000 students who participate each year”.
Suitable candidates are youth between 15 and 19 who would make suitable ambassadors for their country, have an open mind and a desire to grow culturally.
For more info visit rotaryclubcochrane.ca.
