A Port Moody nurse is encouraging Grade 10 and 11 students in School District 43 to apply for the Rotary Youth Exchange so they can have the same life-changing experience she had when she went to Switzerland eight years ago.
Megan Staub, who is now 25 and spent her 2006/'07 school year in the European country, living with four different families, making friends and learning the language, said she returned to Canada "a proud, independent, confident, courageous and ambitious young adult, ready to take on the world."
Staub even went through a health crisis, developing ulcerative colitis, but refused to go home; she was able to complete her year with support from her host families, Rotary counsellors, doctors and new friends. "I will forever be grateful to their kindness towards a young woman they had just met," she wrote in a letter to The Tri-City News describing her experience.
DEADLINE TO APPLY DEC. 15
Now, she's urging SD43 students to apply for the Rotary Exchange program, the deadline for which is fast approaching.
"It's actually an ambassador we are looking for," explained Alan Schmelzel, president of the Rotary Club of Port Moody.
He said the exchange student must be responsible, articulate and eager to represent the Tri-Cities in another country while also dealing with the stresses of homesickness and learning another language. Typically, ambassadors don't graduate with their peers as they generally take fun courses when they are abroad and return home to take their academics.
Still, it's an experience not to be missed, Schmelzel said, and is ideal for those with leadership skills and an interest in travel and learning a language.
At left, Megan Staub during her visit to Switzerland on a Rotary student exchange.
Some of the countries to which the Tri-Cities' various Rotary clubs have sent students to include Brazil, South America, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Argentina, Mexico and Australia.
The Tri-Cities will also be hosting an exchange student and Schmelzel said it's gratifying to see young people gain confidence through their exchange experience.
Staub, who works in the emergency room at Eagle Ridge Hospital, said she has friends all over the world and continued her involvement in various Rotary projects for young people when she returned. "I would not be the person I am today, have my chosen career, nor would I have been exposed to the world of Rotary to this extent, if I had not gone on Rotary Exchange. Please bring Youth Exchange back to Port Moody," she wrote.
The deadline to apply is Dec. 15. Applicants must write an essay and be interviewed. For more information about the exchange program and to apply, visit www.rye5020.org.
There are also upcoming leadership programs for youth 15 to 17 years of age offered by the local Rotary Clubs of District 5020. For information and registration, visit yail.org.
