Host families needed for Rotary Exchange student (May 22, 2006)

The Ridgewood AM Rotary is seeking three or four host families in Ridgewood to house Fang-Chiao Hsu (known here as Joyce Hsu), a 17 year old girl from Taiwan, who will live in Ridgewood for the school year and attend RHS as part of the international Rotary Youth Exchange program. The Ridgewood club is also sponsoring an RHS sophomore, Ariel Hensley, who will spend her junior year at a Taiwan high school and live with local host families there. In a similar way, Ariel will be supported by the local Rotary club in Hualien, a city on the East coast of Taiwan.

The Taiwanese exchange student, who will arrive in Ridgewood in late August, speaks English. Her father is a policeman and her mother is a real estate agent. Her school day starts at 7:20 AM and she studies until 8:30 PM at night. According to her teachers and principal she is a good student and has an outgoing personality.

The family hosting period is normally three to four months long divided into fall, winter or spring periods. Joyce has health insurance and the Rotary provides a monthly allowance. The ideal host family would have a student at RHS. For more information, contact us.

Are you ready to . . .

• Form international friendships
• Learn new ways to communicate
• Gain a fresh understanding of yourself and others
• Immerse yourself in a different culture
• Appreciate others’ ways of doing things
• Act as an ambassador for and educate others about your country

Then you are ready for Rotary Youth Exchange!

This year, more than 7,000 young people will have the opportunity of a lifetime — a chance to live in another country and see the world from a new perspective through Rotary Youth Exchange. This could be your year!

As a Rotary Youth Exchange student, you will spend a year living with host families and attending school in a country other than your own. You will learn a new way of living, maybe even a new language, and a great deal about yourself.

As you are learning, you will also be teaching the people you meet about your country, your culture, and your ideas. You will be a young ambassador, helping to bring the world closer together and making some good friends in the process.

If you are ready for the challenge and the rewards of living in another land as an exchange student, then you are ready to discover new worlds through the Rotary Youth Exchange program.