Rotary District 7150

Youth Exchange District Committee

2017-18

District Governor: Phyllis Danks

Co-Chair: Tom Taylor

Co-Chair: Dave Bauer

Outbound Vice Chair: Mindy Taylor

Inbound Vice Chair: Bill Rosentel

STEP Chair: Catherine Docous

Compliance: Elise Hereth

Student Protection: Pam Fallesen

Treasurer: Stuart Wood

Secretary: Colleen Weibel

Immediate Past Chair: Sally Fedrizzi

SEVIS: Tom Carafa

Webmaster: Michelle Brandstadt

YEAH Data Administrator: Randy Cooke

Country Contacts: Jenny Randall, Peter Cardamone, Matt Murphy,

Max Davenport, Rebecca Kohler, Colleen Weibel, Berlin Bauer,

Dave Bauer, Tom Taylor, Mindy Taylor, Tom Carafa, Bill Rosentel,

Randy Cooke, Randy Wilson

Gala Dinner Committee:

Mindy Taylor, Denise Cardamone, Deb Glisson,

Peter Cardamone, Pam Fallesen, Sue Reisman

Music

Will Fuegel and Jeff Swidowski

ROTARY DISTRICT 7150

YOUTH EXCHANGE

Saturday, January 6, 2018

Dear District 7150 Youth Exchange

Committee:

It is my pleasure to send greetings to

you on the occasion of your 50th

Anniversary as a Youth Exchange

Committee.

There are as many ways to get involved

with Rotary as there are Rotarians – maybe even a few

more. And each of us can find something different in Rotary

that adds something to our own lives. Rotary’s programs for

young leaders challenge us to become better people: to

become ambitious in the ways that matter, to strive for

higher goals, and to incorporate Service Above Self into our

daily lives. And when our unique talents are united by our

common principles and insistence on ethics as one Rotary

family we realize our true ability to make a difference.

It is my hope, and my wish for all of you, that the

satisfaction that you have found in the Youth Exchange

program will inspire you to continue on to a lifetime of

service, in Rotary and beyond. And I know that we can do

more together than we could ever hope to do alone. So let’s

work together and find new opportunities to make a

sustainable impact for our world, in our communities, and

in the lives of others as one family of Rotary: Making a

Difference.

I wish you all the best for many more years of creative,

engaging, and productive service to come.

Sincerely,

Ian Riseley

President, Rotary International 2017-18

Will Fuegel is a young Piano & Guitar player and songwriter who performed in two Syracuse Sunrise Rotary Youth Music Festivals:

2015 as Will & Kerry – a duo, sponsored personally by then District Gov. Deb Glisson & her Marcellus Rotary Club,

In our 2016 Rotary Youth Music Festival, Will then rose to a Solo performer & had our Festival Professional Music Mentors assist him with a new song composition & Studio recording.

Will plays tonight with a fellow young musician Jeff Swidowski.

Some of you may also remember enjoying Will’s music as one of the performers at our District Conference at the Saratoga Auto Museum evening event!

2017-18 Inbound Students

Argentina-Paraguay Mariana Reisdorfer Herkimer

Austria Annely Petz Dewitt

Belgium Arnaud Deliege Utica

Brazil Eduarda Freitas Skaneateles

Chile Ivan Marin Kuy. Valley

Denmark Nanna Fischer Fulton

Finland Salla Makinen Moravia

France Lucie Fleming Oneida

Germany Linn Butenhoff New Hartford

Hungary Istvan Persik Rome

India Kashyap Lalwala Skaneateles

Italy Luca Baruffaldi Baldwinsville

Japan Azusa Oda Cato

Netherlands Bariya Boskma Sauquoit

Spain Amalia Pereiro Castro Hamilton

Switzerland Tamara Luginbuehl Ad. Foothills

Taiwan Jen-Hsuan Chen Tully

Thailand Pimpisuth Sakulrungsap Marcellus

Rotary District 7150 Youth Exchange

50th gala Celebration!

Program

5:30-7:00: Cash Bar

Fellowship Silent Auction Passport Fair

7:00: Dinner

Pledge of Allegiance

Parade of Flags Welcome, DG Phyllis Danks

Invocation

8:00: Program

Co-Chair Tom Taylor

A remembrance: Mic Jenkins

A remembrance: Mike DeBottis

The Future: Co-Chair Dave Bauer

Happy Birthday—cake and video!

9:15: Auction Results and 50/50

9:30: Dancing and Fellowship

Best wishes for the continuation of a GREAT program from all of us in Marcellus.

Service Above Self

Fun Facts……………….

--Dr. Clarke Case, and his wife Ruth, from the Utica Club, left an endowment upon their death to fund scholarships for the District's Outbound students. The fund is managed by the Community Foundation for Herkimer and Oneida Counties. Enough interest is generated from this bequest to help support several students each year.

--In addition to our long term (academic year) exchange program, the District also participates in STEP (short term exchange program), which is a summer exchange program. Ask Catherine Docous of the Oneida Club, Chair of STEP, for more details!

--NAYEN is the North American Youth Exchange Network. Rotary Districts from Canada, the United States and Mexico exchange best practices and offer support and guidance to all Rotary youth exchange programs around the globe. Your District has been recognized as having an exceptional program by virtue of our receipt of numerous awards from NAYEN!

--District 7150 is a charter member of Empire State Youth Exchange, a multi-District youth exchange program comprised of the Rochester area District (7120), the Binghamton area District (7170) and the mid-Hudson area District (7210).

--In a recent survey, Youth Exchange was identified as one of the top sources of new members for Rotary clubs.

--Although the first "exchange" in Rotary occurred in 1929 (Denmark), it wasn't until 1958 in Lake Placid that the full, academic year concept was endorsed by Rotary.

--The District Youth Exchange Program has a new website (www.7150youthexchange.org), a Facebook page, and is on Twitter and Instagram. Follow us!

Musings from Chairs Past…………….

I had the pleasure of serving as D7150 Youth Exchange Chair from 1998-2000, after being part of the District YE Committee since 1991.

We had an excellent committee, filled with experienced and enthusiastic supporters of Youth Exchange – Linda & Ray Allen, Jenny Doane, Gerry Favro, Brymer & Wendy Humphreys, Herb Jerry, Dennis McDermott, Dave & Alice Peterson, Gary Ryder, Jack & Rita Scott, Randy Wilson, and my inspirational and motivational vice-chair, Scott Wisner. I’m sure I left out several others, and I apologize for that. With the help of these people and more, we hosted 30-35 students each year, and sent out just as many.

Inbound orientation weekends were held at a camp in the Adirondacks. I remember how the Latin American kids thought it was so cold up there, and they gathered around the fireplace … in September! The camp was on a lake, and a couple of committee members brought their boats to allow the students to try waterskiing and tubing. Wake-up time was signaled not by alarm clocks or a trumpet playing reveille, but rather by the sound of a large cherry bomb firework, set off in a metal trash can. The echo reverberated around the lake for what seemed like an hour. It was rustic, for sure, but we enjoyed it and bonded together as a group.

For our Outbounds, we took selection and training to a new level, and ROTEX was made a significant part of the process. Orientations were expanded to include cultural awareness training and simulations, and an emphasis on language preparation. Somehow, a guy named David Bauer made it through all of that to spend a year in Germany!

In 2000, I left the area for a job opportunity in Jacksonville, Florida. Scott took over as D7150 chair, and a couple of years later, I watched very proudly as he accepted the annual award as the best Youth Exchange program in North America at the annual NAYEN Conference.

None of this would have happened without the people in District 7150, whose long-standing tradition and experience in this program have enriched the lives of thousands of students, host families, schools, and communities. As we look back on 5 decades of service in D7150, on the hundreds of students we sponsored and hosted during my time there, on the 7 inbounds who have lived with our family, and on the great friends we’ve made around the world, I congratulate Tom Taylor and the current D7150 YE Committee for celebrating and continuing this critical mission, promoting Rotary’s goals of international understanding and peace.

—Al Kalter

Musings from Chairs past ………….

D7150 was recognized as the Outstanding Youth Exchange program in all of Rotary. That was due largely to my predecessor, Al Kalter, and my successor, Scott Wisner, with strong support from a Committee that worked tirelessly to earn that distinction. Looking back on it, my time involved with Rotary Youth Exchange was the best part of my experience in more than 40 years' membership in Rotary.

--Hon. Dennis McDermott

I grew up learning to share my life with others….from my Fresh Air siblings, to my Dutch "sister", I've recognized the importance of getting to know and understand other cultures. I became involved with Rotary Youth Exchange simply by volunteering to find a Host Family……which then led me to become YEO……..which then led to serving as Country Contact for France and Belgium…….which next led to Outbound Vice Chair……..and ultimately to Chair of the program.

--Sally Fedrizzi

The Chair when I got involved with Youth Exchange in 1976 was Edgar "Holly" Hollister. George Loomis took over as Chair when Holly left for N. Carolina. Shortly after George became Chair, he suffered a stroke and I became Co-Chair.

Baldwinsville, my Club, hosted its first student in 1976 (the student was actually sponsored by the Syracuse Club, but Baldwinsville hosted). Shinji Sonowa from Japan took the name "Noah" shortly before his arrival, because he felt that coming to a predominantly Christian country, he would fit right in with that name. He asked me soon after he arrived why no one else was named Noah. We took Noah to the NY State Fair, and he was spotted by a candidate for US Senate who came over to introduce himself with the press following taking pictures, etc.; Noah had no idea what was happening! We then took him to get some fried chicken, and my children had to teach him how to eat chicken with his fingers

--Mic Jenkins