Rotary Youth Exchange Like any new undertaking, sometimes the most confusing part is just understanding the jargon. Below are some terms that we use in Rotary Youth Exchange.
Rotary:
- An international service organization whose stated human rights purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian services, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and to advance goodwill and peace around the world. It is a secular organization open to all people regardless of race, color, creed, religion, gender, or political preference. There are 34,282 member clubs worldwide. 1.2 million individuals called Rotarians have joined these clubs.
Rotary Club:
- The basic organizational unit of Rotary. Clubs meet weekly at various times and days depending on the Club. Clubs can be large and small, with some clubs has as few as 15 members while others may have hundreds of members. Clubs organize to do local service projects or partner with other clubs for larger International projects. Clubs are typically named for the community and time in which they meet, i.e. Cookeville Breakfast Rotary Club,
Rotary District:
- Clubs in a geographic area are organized into Districts. Districts undertake larger local and international projects. A District will have “committees” made up of Rotarians from different clubs for various activities of the District. For example the exchange student program for our District is managed by the Rotary Youth Exchange Committee. Districts are identified by number. Here in the eastern half Tennessee, we are in Rotary District 6780.
Multi-District:
- While districts handle many programs themselves, to facilitate even larger programs, there are specialized “Multi-District” organizations that a District can belong to. Here in Rotary District 6780, to help facilitate Youth Exchange, we are part of the Ohio-Erie Rotary Youth Exchange Multi-District Program. Being a part of this Multi-District gives our students, both Inbound and Outbound more opportunities than we could do on our own.
Rotary International:
- Is the overarching organization for all of Rotary. Founded in 1905 in Chicago, it is currently headquartered in Evanston Il. Rotary International has several large-scale long-term projects, one of which has been the undertaking to eradicate the disease of Polio.
Types of Students:
Inbound: Students who have come from another country to be in the United States.
Outbound: Students from the United States who are going to another Country.
Rebound: Former Outbound Exchange Students who have returned to the United States after their exchange. These students often volunteer to help promote the Exchange Program and offer guides to potential new Outbound Students,
Hosts:
Host Family: A family that has opened their home to an exchange student to provide room and board. Families here in the United States host Inbound Students, while families in other countries host our Outbound Students. In order to become a host family in the Rotary Program (in the US and elsewhere), that family undergoes a rigorous background screening process to ensure the safety of all our students.
Host Club: A Rotary Club that pledges to be responsible for the safety and wellbeing of an Exchange Student. Clubs will appoint individual members, such as the Exchange Counselor, who will see to the needs of the Exchange Student and works to facilities host families and transitioning between host families during the exchange.
Host District: A District that has the proper infrastructure to participate in the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. Rotary will only exchange students between districts that meet strict criteria to ensure both the safety of the students and the smooth operation of the program. This includes background Checks on on persons interacting with Exchange Students, proper channels of communication between host families, clubs, the district, and the home families of Exchange Students and proper contingency plans and infrastructure for dealing with issues should they arise. Each year a Host District must be re-certified to host Exchange Students.
Partners:
Ohio-Erie: Rotary District 6780 has partnered with the Ohio-Erie Multi-District to help facilitate Youth Exchange. Ohio-Erie is a fully Rotary Organization, and provides experts known as “County Contacts” who’s function is to be a one-to-one contact with a corresponding “Country Contact” in another country. This system of “County Contacts” means that there is a specific person for each country in Ohio-Erie system that is responsible to knowing the status of each student who is in that particular country, and can make a phone call to quickly resolve problems. In our organization, the Youth Exchange Committee of Rotary District 6780 handles day-to-day management of the needs of Inbound Exchange Students while Ohio-Erie manages the process of getting students ready for their Outbound exchanges, and coordinating with other countries for placement.
It’s Your World Travel: Is a professional Travel Agency that Ohio-Erie has contracted with to facilitate the process of getting students Airline Tickets and to navigate the complicated Visa process.
Documents:
Passport: a travel document, usually issued by a country’s government, that certifies the identity and nationality of its holder for the purpose of international travel. Standard passports contain the holder’s name, place and date of birth, photograph, signature, and other identifying information. Students in the Rotary Youth Exchange Program are required to have a Passport.
Visa: conditional authorization granted by a country to a noncitizen to enter and temporarily remain within that country. Visas typically include limits on the duration of the non citizen’s stay, territory within the country they may enter, the dates they may enter, or the number of permitted visits. Visas are associated with the request for permission to enter a country and thus are, in some countries, distinct from actual formal permission for an alien to enter and remain in the country. In each instance, a visa is subject to permission by an immigration official at the time of actual entry and can be revoked at any time.
Consulate: A subordinate office to the Embassy of a country. While the official Embassy is located in a national capital, a country may choose to open smaller Consulate offices thought-out a large country to offer services to their own citizens living in that country, or offer services to persons who wish to travel to or conduct business with the Consulate’s Country.
Consular Officer: an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul’s own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries.
Open-Ended Ticket: Airline Tickets are sold with restrictions such as specific dates on which a person may fly out and return. Rotary Exchange Students are required to have Open-Ended Airline tickets (Often called Y-Class Tickets) because it is not know on what exact date they will leave or return, and because they may have to return early due to unforeseen circumstances.