Welcome

Announcements   Patti at the helm of her first ESSEX Summer meeting as Chair.   Congratulations Patti!       Welcome Home Class of 2007-08   Reunion Picnic for the Class of 2007-08 August 10, 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm Wentz Run Park 960 Wentz Road Blue Bell PA   This is picnic is for the returning students, Rotext and the Committee only.   For details contact John Brady     A Youth Exchange Story     CLICK HERE FOR PART ONE   CLICK HERE FOR PART TWO How well do you know the world in which you live?   Click here to find out. Where do you want to go?     Watch Video The Worlds new Peace Sign   SEE VIDEO

to the world's most experienced exchange program backed by the world's largest and finest service organization, Rotary International.

Each year, over 8,000 high school students from around the world, from ages 15 ½ to 18 years old exchange in over 100 countries and are hosted by Rotarians and friends. The program is for an academic year, extending from 9 - 12 months.

Rotary Youth Exchange is the one of the most recognized and respected Rotary Programs for Youth. The ideals of our program are set by the goal to:

Support International Peace and Understanding

This is accomplished in Rotary Youth Exchange through direct exchanges of students for an academic year. It has been found to be one of the most effective means to share cultures and extend the hands of peace through understanding around the world…

About Rotary International's Youth Exchange in Eastern Pennsylvania

District 7430 helped pioneer Rotary's Youth Exchange Program; starting in 1963 we have hosted and sponsored over 1,000 students, both here and abroad. The District draws its Outbound students from Bethlehem in the north to Hamburg in the west and down to Willow Grove at the southern most end of the District.

We place students in over 60 hosting public and private High Schools in the District. The District's Rotary Clubs each year work with host families and schools to support 15 - 20 students from around the world. The clubs also help identify and prepare an equal number of American students for a year abroad.

In these times, it is often asked, "How can I contribute to establishing peace in the world?"

Participation in Rotary Youth Exchange is one of the best ways to make that contribution… the seeds our Youths sow around the World contribute more to understanding and the notion we all belong to an extended world family… it is the understanding of cultures and people that indeed make the world a smaller and more peaceful place…

Join us and become an"Ambassador of Understanding and Goodwill"…

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it solely on these accounts.  Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.

Mark Twain

 I know most of the other people who went through an exchange know this, but Rotary changed my life in so many ways.  I am a completely different person and I love it.  I have grown and the things I think about have grown.  Since my exchange I have studied abroad in 2 other countries and I am going to another one this fall!  I think about Rotary everyday and the friends I made in Spain remain some of my best friends to this day.

 Marianne Lennon, Spain 2004-05