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Hosting a Rotary Exchange Student

Hosting a Rotary Exchange Student is a rewarding experience. You will become involved in the day-to-day life of a young person while they experience what most returning exchange students say is the best year of their lives. Hosting is a challenge – for you must be willing to become familiar with another culture while supporting and sharing a student’s hopes and ambitions. But it can lead to life-long friendships for every member of your family.
 
As a Rotary Youth Exchange host family, it is your responsibility to provide room and board for your student. You are also expected to exercise general parental supervision over the exchangee just as you would your own children, and involve him or her in daily household chores and activities.
 
Most host families' involvement, however, with their exchange student does not stop at room and board. They often share their culture and family traditions while learning about their visitor's culture at the same time. This does not mean that you have to arrange elaborate entertainment, but simply make the student a part of your family with the opportunity to share in the same aspects of your family life that most teenage students experience.
 
To ensure the safety and well being of students, as well as the success of each exchange, host families are carefully screened. All host families are required to fill out an application, which will then be reviewed by a committee of Rotarians in your area. Then, the Youth Exchange chairperson will come to your house for an in-home interview. The in-home interview helps the chairperson determine the enthusiasm and willingness of all family members to host a student.
 
Want more information? Download Wooster Rotary's Guidelines for Host Families (pdf 10k).