www.mybaycity.com April 5, 2011
Rotary Article 5837

Rotary Gears Up For Exchange Students

April 5, 2011
By: Stephen Kent



Brenda Rowley
For years Rotary Student Exchange in the Bay City Rotary has been associated with Rob Monroe. Now a new pair has taken up the cause and spoke to the Club today. Brenda Rowley has hosted exchange students so she knows what's involved. Andrea Hales is the mother of an outbound student as her son plans to go to Mexico next year.

Brenda and Andrea spoke a little about the outbound experience but their main focus was the experience of hosting a student from abroad. The club anticipates having a student in the fall and two or three host families are needed.

The Rotary program has been serving students for 75 years. Today more than 80 countries and 8,000 students participate each year. The program is administered at the regional level by Rotary districts and at the local level by individual Rotary clubs. Brenda and Andrea are the coordinators for the Bay City club and can answer all questions.

A dozen Rotarians stood after the talk to tell of their experiences as hosts. All of them said it was a great experience. Most have keep up with their students ever since. Tim Moulthrop said that he continues to hear from one of his "sons" after nearly thirty years. He related that one student is now a doctor and after a recent eye procedure wrote to say "Dad, do what your doctor tells you to do".


Andrea Hales
Host families accept a student as a member of the family. The student is governed by the rules of the program but also by the rules of the household. Families are responsible for the safety of the student the same as for their own children.

As a host you do not need to be a taxi service. You may have to do some extra transporting, but typically it's just like taking care of your own kids.

The largest problems for students are the language barrier. Some will speak good English, for others it can be a bit of a challenge. In all cases it's something that can be overcome.

Some students also experience a bit of culture shock. But that's one of the objectives of the program; to experience another culture.

Host families don't have to be Rotarians. Nor do they have to have children in the house. "If you have a spare bedroom and the time to be a parent, you qualify", said the coordinators.

Clubs like to have three families for each student. The student moves after three months. Families choose August to December, December to March, and March to June.

Andrea and Brenda plan to put complete information on the club web site in the next month. In the meantime talk to either of them if you have an interest in hosting.


CLUB NEWS and ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Concert for Rotary is Friday, May 6. The committee wants to sell 200 tickets. If you can't go, buy a pair of tickets anyway and give them to someone. The committee is also selling ads for the program.

The concert is a great opportunity for Rotary to show that it's not just a bunch of old guys meeting in a smokey room. The show is titled "Rotary Rocks" and that pretty much tells the story. Get one of Cindy Chadwicks' posters and put it up in your place of business.

A big thanks to Anne Trahan for setting up her mini-studio and taking pictures for the Rotary Directory. She says that she'll do it again in a month or so. (And maybe we can get rid of some of those "high school" pictures!)

Thanks to everyone who completed the Member Survey. Congratulations to Tim Holsworth won the drawing for the Doubletree gift certificate.

Community Grant applications are closed. The committee will meet in the next few weeks to award grants. See the Community Grants Page for details.

The GSE team from Greece are in the district now. The Sebewaing and Pigeon clubs will host a lunch reception at the Stein Haus in Bay City on April 10. The Bijou Orchestra will present a concert following the lunch at 2:00 Everyone is invited. The concert is part of the regular Bijou concert season and you are expected to buy a ticket. RSVP to KristinBearden@gmail.com by April 1 if you plan to attend.

The OUTBOUND GSE team to Greece needs a Rotarian leader. All expenses are paid. It's a great opportunity. See Bob Chadwick if you're interested.

The annual club Golf Outing has been scheduled for June 27. The Helicopter Golf Ball Drop will again be featured.


Upcoming Programs

(See the official schedule at RotaryBayCity.org )

April 12, 2011: Joe Lehman will speak on the Mackinaw Center for Public Policy.

April 19, 2011: Jill Kroll of the Nathan Weidner Children Advocacy Center, will speak on forensic interviewing.



DATES TO REMEMBER


April 10: Greek GSE Team reception at the Stein Haus followed by Bijou Orchestra Concert at the State Theater.

April 12: Regular Board Meeting at 11:00 before the regular meeting.

Rotary Concert - Friday, May 6, 2011.

Club Golf Outing - Monday, June 27, 2011.


Congratulations to Don and Betty Carlyon on their upcoming 65th Anniversary.
Would you believe, they eloped 65 years ago!
And thanks to Andy Rogers for the picture taken with his I-Phone.





Rotary is an intimate affiliation of carefully selected business and professional people,
having as its objective the promotion of high ethical standards in private, commercial
and civic life, and dedicated to the ideal that the basis of all worthy endeavor is unselfish service.




Current and past DISTRICT DISPATCH newsletters are available on the District site shown in the LINKS section below.

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LINKS

RotaryBayCity.org BayCityMorningRotary.com
District 6310 Web Site District Dispatch Archive
Rotary International Make-up On-Line at RotaryEclubOne.org
The Rotary Global History Fellowship rotaryfirst100.org
Rotary Global History.


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