Attention Cochrane and area students: the Rotary Club of Cochrane is on the hunt for applicants for their annual student exchange program.
Typically, students between the ages of 16-18 are considered for the program. In the past, students have travelled to such far off lands as Norway, Brazil and Thailand.
“The exchange program builds bridges across different cultures and communities,” said Carter Nagel, a member of the local Rotary Club. “What’s more, it turns the exchange students into active, engaged citizens.”
Nagel has witnessed this personal growth first hand, with his own children participating in the program. In addition, he hosts incoming exchange students. Right now, his family is hosting 16-year-old Japanese student Akiko Yonezawa.
Yonezawa, who is taking classes at Bow Valley High School, will divide her time in Cochrane between four host families — to ensure a well-rounded, authentic cultural experience, said Nagel.
Currently, Nagel and his fellow Rotarians are on the hunt for applicants for the program. The application and selection process is extensive. Once selected, the student and, in some cases, the parents, are required to attend a series of orientation sessions.
The student does not get to pick the destination of the yearlong adventure, but Nagel said an appropriate location and culture is chosen based on the background of each participate.
“The students get homesick, but once they get over the worst of it, it’s smooth sailing,” said Nagel.
Ashley Morrison, a third-year International Relations student at the University of Calgary, participated in the exchange when she was 17. Now 22 years old, she said her year in Thailand was an invaluable experience for her.
“The biggest lesson that I got out of the experience is my acceptance of other cultures,” said Morrison, who lives in nearby Calgary. “And it was eye-opening in terms of what immigrants experience when they come into our culture.”
Morrison’s exchange was sponsored through the Calgary Chinook Rotary Club.
During her year in Thailand, Morrison lived with two families and attended a vocation college where she said she took cooking classes, decorating lessons and learned about arranging flowers.
“My first impression was how different it was,” she said. “But by the end, I didn’t want to come back to Calgary at all. Thailand became my second home; I developed a great support system. It was as hard to leave as it was for me to leave Calgary in the first place.”
To learn more, contact Nagel at [email protected] or 403-860-4449.
