The Austin Rotary Club will host a Youth Exchange Weekend Friday through Sunday.

Wednesday, October 25, 2000

The Austin Rotary Club will host a Youth Exchange Weekend Friday through Sunday.

Each year, Rotary districts sponsor weekends for inbound international students.

Seventy-five students will visit Austin to build better international understanding and receive the chance to get to know each other and share their experiences with others.

There also will be group team-building and cultural events designed to help students adapt and support them as they face the challenges of living away from home in a foreign country for a year.

The weekend also gives the hosting club an opportunity to "show off" their hometown and introduce the 75 guests to some native cultural experiences.

Special Rotary guests from District 5960 and 5950 will assist local Rotarians in the weekend’s events.

Former international exchange students and host families will also be a part of the weekend’s schedule of activities.

Forty countries will be represented, including China, Sweden, Switzerland, India, Poland, Brazil, Latvia and Denmark.

Most of the exchange students have been in the United States for only six to eight weeks.

The Austin Rotary Club’s committee includes Bernie Benson, Jeanne Sheehan, Kathleen Campbell, Amy Baskin, Maryanne Law, Lon Krueger, Kathy Stutzman, Belita Schindler, Dan Hooker and Dan Hewitt.

The committee has recruited local Rotarians for duties such as hosting the students, chaperoning, decorating the Ellis Middle School gymnasium for group activities and cleanup afterward.

Because it is October and Halloween will be celebrated soon, pumpkin-carving, a costume contest and observing fall colors will be an essential part of the Austin "experience."

The students will arrive Friday afternoon and will be welcomed before a full evening of dinner, activities and socialization.

Saturday’s schedule includes breakfast at Bethlehem Free Church, meetings, lunch with Rotarians, free time and more fun.

The weekend’s schedule concludes with breakfast Sunday morning, "goodbyes" with host families and other friends, a group picture and departure by bus.

For more information about the Rotary Youth Exchange Weekend sponsored by the Austin Rotary Club, contact committee chair Stutzman at 437-6827.