Posted by John Lodal
During the weekend of Nov. 2-4, a group of D5400 Rotarian volunteers gathered in Buhl to complete our “Outbound” interviews for Idaho students hoping to go on exchange for the 2019-2020 school year. This is an event that requires a lot of planning as well as the participation of this large volunteer team. We engage comprehensive interviews with the students and their parents in our efforts to ensure that we are making exchange offers to the right individuals

D5400 has not had an early return of our Outbound RYE (Rotary Youth Exchange) students in the last 7 years and this is a result that we are very proud of. It starts with this interview process and continues with rigorous training of the chosen students before they depart the USA in August 2019.

The D5400 RYE Committee wishes to thank the Buhl Rotary Club and Jim and Marianne Barker for all of their hospitality in housing our Inbound students and in arranging two dinner gatherings for all of the volunteers who invaded Buhl that weekend. We had three past District Governors as well as our current DG, next year’s DG-E, and the 2020-2021 DG-N in attendance so this team consisted of a lot of district leaders to go along with a fabulous group of Rotarian and non-Rotarian volunteers.

We will have the results of these interviews within the next 1-2 months. If your club knows of a local student who might be interested in participating in Rotary Youth Exchange, please direct them to the webpage associated with the link below. If your club is interested in hosting an Inbound student in the future, please call John Lodal at 208-559-6507 or email the D5400 RYE Committee Chairman at jnlodal@gmail.com.

The photo attached here is of our current crew of 15 Inbounds and a number of the volunteers at the Buhl interview event. D5400 RYE wishes to thank all of the clubs in the district for their support of Rotary Youth Exchange.