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Another Successful RYE Interview Weekend!

Written by:  Julie Carney

As the sun set and the snow began to fall, not only was winter beginning but so too was another annual District 7120 Rotary Youth Exchange interview weekend. The weekend began with all 31 Selection Committee members that included Chairpersons, Country Officers, YEO’s and ROTEX joining  together for some teambuilding exercises.  We were also joined by District Governor Ellen Hughes and her husband Jim, as well as DG Elect Scott MacDonell and our teambuilding leader for the evening was Rotary’s very own Bill Gormont!   This year’s interviews were held at the Rotary Sunshine Camp in Rush, where it was a great time to get to know new members, as well as get motivated for the start of the day on Saturday when the applicants arrived, with our first interview being  at 8am.

The process for Interview Weekend starts long before the weekend begins.  Applications are due to the Vice Chair of Outbounds by October 15^th.  Perspective students must go through their club approval process prior to sending their application on to the district.  In other words, when the students apply, the club's youth exchange committee will have sat down with the student and interviewed them to make sure that they are the type of student that will be successful as an Outbound Youth Ambassador. Once they have passed the club’s approval, they may submit their application to the District Vice-Chair of Outbounds.                                                 

That’s when the real work begins! Along with the 18 page application, the students also have to fill out a host of other forms. These include an Application Checklist, Geographic Preference Form, 3 Potential Host Family Forms, all submitted along with a $200 non-refundable application fee.  Once the students have passed the club level interview and have submitted all of the required forms, the students are then accepted to advance on to the Interview Weekend.  The students along with both parents, are required to be present at the beginning of the interview.  The parents go through three interviews, while the students go through six.  The final interview was held at 4:40pm, so needless to say it was a long day for the selection committee.  Upon completion of the stressful interview process, the students spend the rest of the day and the overnight with the selection committee and ROTEX.

Upon completion of the stressful interview process the students spend the rest of the weekend, playing a lot of games and getting to know each other.  All activities are specifically designed to place the students under a certain amount of stress and push them out of their comfort zone.  They were also given a lot of information on all of the potential countries  all the while the ROTEX students were gathering invaluable information for the committee members of their observations of the applicants throughout the evening.  Lights went out at 2am for most everyone (Mark Wyse stayed up later updating the information gathered throughout the evening).

Sunday morning began with a 7am breakfast, followed by more activities and conversations regarding country choices. The students had until 11am to update their top 5 geographic choices. It should be noted that the selection committee, not the students, decide which student will be going to which country. It is not at all uncommon for a student to be assigned to a country that was not even on their list, but history has shown us that the selection committee is very successful in their placement process. At 11am, the parents arrived to pick up their exhausted students and they were presented with a very original song written by the students.  It was so good, don’t be the least bit surprised to hear it at the District Conference in Burlington!  The selection committee, after a much needed and well deserved nice lunch, then began the selection process.  It is kind of like being at an NFL draft pick.  First, we decide if the applicant would make an excellent youth ambassador for Rotary District 7120 and then we decide what country would be the best fit for a successful year.  It is with great pleasure that we can announce that this year we had 23 applicants for RYE and with great pride we announce that all 23 were accepted into the 2014-15 exchange program. We are looking forward to a great year preparing these youth ambassadors for their year abroad, while we continue to support our current Outbound students along with enjoying our wonderful group of Inbound students currently living within our district.

Please remember that we also have a great Short Term Exchange program that occurs during the summer months.  Please contact John Connelly at jconnel3@rochester.rr.com if you are interested.