Click on
the names of Exchangers below to link to their
page! 
Chairman: Max
Rumbaugh
***If you would like to
schedule an activity with any of our current Youth Exchange
students, please contact Max
SCOTTSDALE ROTARY’S CURRENT EXCHANGE STUDENTS
Trent Dale is one of two outbound Scottsdale
Rotary exchange students for 2008-2009.
He arrived in Denmark in August, 2008 after he finished his junior year at Pinnacle High School. He has
studied both Spanish and French. At
Pinnacle he took Advanced Placement Courses and is a member of
the National Honor Society. He has been active
with the Red Cross and has served as a youth commissioner to the governor. In the summer of 2007 he participated in Doc Camp at
Mayo. He is living in the town of Nibe and is attending Hasseris Gymnasium and IB World School.
Off to Netherlands is Duncan Shuckerow. Instead of spending his junior
year at Desert Mountain High School, he is spending it going to school in the
land of the Dutch. He will then return
for his senior year at Desert Mountain High School. Many of you will remember his sister, Dessa
who spent a year in Denmark with Rotary about four years ago. Duncan is studying theater is looking forward to experiencing Dutch theater. When he returns and his plans are to go to
college for acting, singing and dancing after graduating from Desert Mountain High School in 2010. He describes himself as being very
adventurous. He is living in the
town of Edam, home of Edam cheese.
In preparation
for being good youth ambassadors for the USA, Arizona
and Scottsdale,
both Trent and Duncan have prepared research papers on our government, culture and
the presidential election. They will both be attending
our Rotary Club this Spring so you can meet and congratulate
them. This will be the fifth year that Scottsdale
Rotary has sponsored one or two Scottsdale
students for an experience of a lifetime with this
international educational opportunity.
Duncan Shuckerow (left) is in the Netherlands, Max Rumbaugh (YE Chair), and
Trent
Dale (right) is in Denmark
Laura Sanchez arrived in Scottsdale from
Granada, Spain, which is a city with about the same population as
Scottsdale. She
is 15 years old.
She is being sponsored by the Rotary Club of Granada. A dedicated
tennis
player, she has played for 5 years under the tutelage of a coach and
has
successfully competed in Granada and Spanish competitions for the past
3 years.
She ranked #2 for the 15-17 year old tennis players in Spain. Her
interest is in Journalism. She has studied English for 4
years.
She has also taken two years of French and one year of Italian.
Her
parents report that she has good friends, is disciplined and is
pleasant with
people. Rotary Club members will enjoy
knowing her. She is attending Saguaro High School for the 2008-2009 school year and her first host
family will be the parents of Janelle Brown, our 2007-2008 outbound student to
Argentina.
Maxime
Goffinet is
from the French speaking part of Belgium, near Liege. His primary
objective is to perfect his English, though he has had eight years of
English. He is 17 and enjoys sports (rugby, soccer and skiing) and
music. He has already traveled to Spain, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Tanzania
and had a short exchange experience in Northern Ireland. His parents
describe him as mature, serious minded, polite and sociable. They believe
that because of his experience in Northern Ireland as a short term exchange
student and his many travel opportunities, he will adapt well. He arrived in Scottsdale on
August 7 in time to begin classes at Desert Mountain High School.
PREVIOUS EXCHANGE
STUDENTS
Riana Del Vecchio went to school and lived
in Sardinia,
Italy for
the 2007-2008 school year. Her
family has its roots in Italy and the exchange gave her the opportunity to
learn Italian. She also enjoyed living
and studying while learning the culture of her Italian grandparents. She says she actually learned to enjoy
shopping and coffee there. Riana returned to Scottsdale to finish her senior year at Desert Mountain High School.
Janelle
Brown was the other of our club's 2007-2008 outbound
exchange students who spent the year in Belgrano, Dolores, Argentina. She went the year following her graduation
from Saguaro High School. She says it
was a fabulous year. She had an
opportunity to visit many places in Argentina and even went to Uruguay for a
visit. To summarize her year, she says
she loved the experience and learned so much.
She now has a second family, her host family in Argentina. She says, “Thank you for this opportunity.” The summer after her return, she worked at
the Sugar Bowl for Carroll Huntress.
Herbert Ellerbusch came to Scottsdale for the 2007-2008
school year from Blielefeld in Northern Germany. He attended Coronado High School. During the year he enjoyed attending the
Diamondbacks game with Rotarians, hiking up Camelback Mountain with John
Wintersteen, and going to RYLA camp. He
enjoyed Arizona, but wanted to be sure and visit the East Coast of the US. He had that opportunity, participating in the
Rotary organized East Coast trip between the end of school and his return to
Germany in early 2008. Aaron and Isley
Kern were his third host family.
Matthias Matenaer attended Saguaro High
School during 2006-07. He came to us from Germany. One of his highlights of the
year was skiing with John Auran in Colorado.
Carol Lima de Mello was our 2006-2007
inbound exchange student from Brasil.
She attended Saguaro High School while in Scottsdale. Carol found her
hike up Camelback Mountain with John Wintersteen to be challenging. She began to study medicine upon her return to Brasil.
Samantha Quenneville was one of two 2006-2007
outbound exchange students sponsored by Scottsdale Rotary. She went to Peru.
Katy Roe returned to
Scottsdale the summer of 2007 from a year in Denmark. She spent her junior year there and returned
to finish her studies as a senior at Desert Mountain High School.
Morgane Chalon was our exchange
student from Belgium during 2005-2006.
She returned to study medicine in the university in Belgium. She finds her studies to be hard and to take
a lot of time. She really likes it! She sends a hello to all Scottsdale
Rotarians.
Spencer Russell spent the 2005-2006 school year in
Ecuador. He went there the year after
graduating from Saguaro High School. He
found it interesting that they use the US dollar in Ecuador. He returned to begin his studies at Arizona
State University.
Wendy Redford, who is also from
Saguaro High School, spent the 2005-2006 school year in Argentina. She had a fabulous time traveling and
learning Spanish. She too returned to
begin studies at Arizona State University.
Antonio
Conato was our inbound exchange student from Naples, Italy in 2004-2005. He attended Horizon High School. One of his host families was Mark Walker and
his wife Ligia. Antonio writes to his
Rotarian friends periodically. He
reports that he still misses Scottsdale and thanks the people here who made his
life so wonderfully different than it would have been otherwise. He says, “He left a piece of his heart in
Scottsdale.”
Dessa
Shuckerow spent school year 2004-2005 in Denmark.
She went the year after graduating from Saguaro High School. The Danish language is a difficult one, but
her host family’s young children were a tremendous help in her learning to
speak it. She returned to attend Boston
University, where she felt she was accepted to a large extent because of her
youth exchange experience. She continues
to be a good global citizen, doing social work in Chile.
Patrick Roe went to Belgium for
his exchange year in 2003-2004. This was
during his junior year. He particularly enjoyed
the opportunities his Belgium Rotary hosts gave him to visit many cultural
sites in Europe. In Scottsdale, he
attended Desert Mountain High School, where he returned for his senior year and
graduation. He and his sister, Katy who
went overseas in 2006, were the first brother and sister to be Scottsdale
Rotary Exchange Students.
STUDY ABROAD NEXT YEAR Applications will be
accepted from high school students wishing to study in a foreign
country next year.
Students between the ages of 15 and 18 ½ are eligible and, if
selected by Rotary, will leave in August 2009 for a year’s study
abroad. Completed
applications are due during October.
Students from Scottsdale could spend the year in one of a number of
countries such as France,
Italy, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, The Netherlands,Finland, Brazil, Argentina, ecuador, Chile, South Africa, Peru, Mexico, Japan or others.
The selected students
would be hosted by a local Rotary Club in the country they are
chosen to visit. They
would attend the local high school and live with families which have
been screened and selected by the Rotary Club. Prior language training is
valuable, but not usually required. 
Usually the students return home proficient in
the language of the country they visit. This is because they have
learned it in the country where it is spoken, rather than in a
classroom. They also
return with many international friends and a broader perspective of
the world.
Applications and more information on Rotary
Youth Exchange can be downloaded from http://www.rotary.org by clicking on
programs and then youth exchange. Information on the program
and applications are also available from Max Rumbaugh, youthexchange@scottsdalerotary.org.
HOST A FOREIGN
STUDENT Families
who host a foreign youth exchange student usually do not wish to do it just
one time. The
experience is usually so rewarding that families want to do it again
and again. The host
family becomes familiar with another culture while providing the
opportunity to share a young student’s hopes and ambitions. A bond often develops
between the student and host family that extends to the student’s
family overseas and lasts for many years.
In August
students arrive in
Scottsdale to begin
attending high school here.
Usually, the students stay with three families during their
year here, so they will stay with one family for 3-4 months. Rotarians and families in
Scottsdale are invited to volunteer to be a host family.
Families interested
in learning more about hosting an exchange student can contact
youthexchange@scottsdalerotary.org.
Go to another Youth Exchange site by
clicking here. | 
