International Youth Exchange

The International Youth exchange committee coordinates and manages our Club’s inbound and outbound exchange programs. Annually we welcome one or two high school students from another country (Inbound) to spend a year attending school in Ashland. The Committee arranges housing with host families, and interfaces with the students on behalf of the Club while they are in Ashland. Additionally, in the spring the Committee interviews and selects one or more Outbound students from applicants at Ashland High School to participate in long term (academic year) or short term (summer) exchanges in other countries. Our exchange program operates in coordination with the exchange program throughout District 5110.

Ashland Rotary Club President, Melissa Anderson 2024-25,

poses with her son, Lucky Garcia, who is this year's outbound exchange student to

Namur, Belgium

August 24, 2023

Welcome Laura Goslar, our newest inbound exchange student, from Curitiba, Brazil! She will be with us through the school year 2023-24.

Laura is pictured with returning exchange student, Kate Harper, daughter of International Exchange Student Committee Co-Chair, Alan Harper.

              Inbound Student Noa Fagerstrand 2022

On August 17th, members and host families from The Rotary Club of Ashland welcomed their first international youth exchange student  to Southern Oregon since the Covid epidemic halted the program in 2020 . Eighteen-year-old Noa Fagerstrand is from a small island only a few kilometers north of Stockholm. He will live with three local families and attend the upcoming school year at Ashland High School.

The Rotary International Youth Exchange program's objective is to develop friendships, leadership skills and to promote global understanding and peace.

 Photo: Front Row, left to right: 

Kathryn Stringer, Michael Stringer, Noa Fagerstrand (Swedish exchange student), Alan Harper, John Harper, Dana Reynolds.

Second Row: Hank Stringer, Jude Reynolds. Photo by: Meredith Paige

                Outbound student Kate Harper 2022 (At right with best Friend, Lindsay Jenkins)

Kate is doing her Rotary Exchange living with her host family in Huy, Belgium.  She will be going to school in Hannut and attending a private school there.  It will be a “super senior” year for her, having already graduated from AHS in 2022.  A requirement of a Rotary Exchange is going to school and she is looking forward to the friends and learning opportunities, including a French tutoring session and an English class.  She has joined the volleyball club, which she reports is much more low-key than high school sports in Oregon.  She is looking forward to learning French and being a cultural ambassador.  She plans to return to Oregon and attend Oregon State but after just one week in Belgium she has been wondering if maybe university in Europe might be an option.  Time will tell.  Submitted by: Alan Harper