“Because of the other students I met, I don’t think about flags or borders when I think about their countries. I think about their faces. I think about the people.”

“No matter how you get involved, Rotary Youth Exchange is an opportunity to open your arms to the world. We turn people into Global Citizens, and I’m not just talking about the students.”

“My daughter took charge of her life through this process, and walked on to the airplane with her head held high. A year later we decided to host a student in our home. My daughter really wanted to show the kindness that others had shown her. Our whole family benefitted from getting to know another brave, world traveler!”

“I always was interested in doing an exchange, but Rotary seemed to make my dream come true.”

“My experiences in Lima are so profound and incredible I don’t even know what to think of them sometimes. Everything about my year was perfect, even the terrible and uncomfortable times. Now I am an extremely adaptable person and I am super open to everything. I am still talking to my friends a couple times a week and my families a couple times a month. They will all stay with me for the rest of my life, which is so cool! When people ask me about Peru, I tell them that it was like having a whole life in a year.”