Chairman: Max Rumbaugh

 If you would like to schedule an activity with any of our current Youth Exchange students, please contact Max

Seniors, juniors and sophomores attending Scottsdale area high Schools:

Applications are available to study overseas for one year as a Rotary Youth Exchange student for 2012-2013.

• Have you ever thought about living and studying abroad?
  
• Think it would be exciting to be a youth exchange student?
  
• Looking for a unique experience that will help prepare you for college?
  

• Travel and see the world
  
• Experience another culture
  
• Master a new language
  
• Return home having had a life changing experience
• Be hosted by a local Rotary club of business and professionals

Too often, young people say, “I wish I had known about Rotary youth exchange when I was in high school.”  Be sure and let your friends and contacts who are now in high school know about this opportunity before it is too late for them to consider participating in this fantastic program. 

For more Scottsdale Rotary information visit:  www.scottsdalerotary.org

Left to right: Kari Baker, Max Rumbaugh, Janette Griswold, John Thornton, Maxime Goffinet

Maxime Goffinet came for the school year 2008- 2009 from the French speaking part of Belgium, near Liege.  His primary objective was to perfect his English.  While here he attended Desert Mountain HIgh School and played on a local rugby team.  In September, 2011 he visited Scottsdale Rotary, his two host families and Flagstaff.  He is currently a college sophomore in Belgium, studying law.

Lily Departs

Lily Strider left for Paraguay in August 2011 for her year in the same town as Nathalie Gimenez (see below) lives.   She graduated from Chaparral High School prior to going on her RYE year.  In preparation for going she and her family hosted a RYE student (Hanna Handler from Austria) and participated in many Scottsdale Sister Cities youth programs, including going to Mexico.

A student from Finland arrived in August and is attending Chaparral High School. Due to new State Department and Rotary International rules, the name of inbound students can no longer be posted on this website until they leave. 

Sarah Hagerman spent the 2010 – 2011 year in Ecuador.  She returned for her senior year at Coronado High School where she had decided to study German. 

Exchange Students in Ecuador: Sarah Hagerman is on the right.

Andy Ward was the senior class president at Coronado High School prior to going to Argentina for the 2010-2011.  He had a wonderful time in Argentina, getting to travel to the most southern tip of South America.   He has returned and plans to attend college in South Carolina.

          Natha and Andy     

Natha Giménez was also here for the year 2010 – 2011.  Natha was our first ever inbound student from Paraguay and attended Coronado High School.  Her first host family was the Horrigan family: one host sister, Jessica, participated in many Scottsdale Sister Cities youth activities.  Natha’s second host family was Max and Annette Rumbaugh.  Natha was active in sports while here: a volleyball team manager, a first string of the girls basketball team and on the track and field team, where she won a letter.   

Victor Fachin was here from Brazil for the 2010-2011 school year.  He attended Saguaro High School and lived with the Torres family.  Alina Torres, Victor’s host sister was in Sweden during 2009-2010 year.   Victor arrived speaking on Portuguese, and left doing very well in both Spanish and English.

Alina Torres returned to school at Saguaro for her senior year.   She had a wonderful year in Sweden. 

Jennifer Kempton is enrolled at Arizona State University after returning from Braunschweig, Germany.  She is the first Rotary exchange student from Coronado High School to complete a year overseas. 

Peter Li was our first student from the orient.  He came from
the city of Miaoli in Taiwan during 2009-2010.  While here he made many friends and had a wonderful sense of humor.  His first family had only boys, so he learned early in his exchange year how to enjoy “horse playing” with his friends.  He attended Coronado High School.

Maria (MaFer) Giler came to Scottsdale for the 2009-2010 school year from Portoviejo, Ecuador.  She is the kind of person that everyone likes.  So she made many friends and her parting  was particularly sad for all who know her.  She participated in the graduation exercises at Saguaro High School in May and returned to her home in Ecuador in June after a wonderful year in Scottsdale. 

Laura Sanchez came to Scottsdale from Granada, Spain, which is a city with about the same population as Scottsdale.  She was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Granada.  A dedicated tennis player, she had played for 5 years under the tutelage of a coach and had successfully competed in Granada and Spanish competitions for the 3 years prior to coming in 2008.  While playing for Saguaro High School she was great addition to their team.   Her interest was in Journalism and Mike Ryan provided her an opportunity to write an article for the Scottsdale Republic.  In the summer of 2011 she returned to Scottsdale and gave a short report to the Rotary Club.  She expects to graduate from high school in Spain in 2012.

Maxime Goffinet came in 2008 from the French speaking part of Belgium, near Liege.  His primary objective was to perfect his English, though he has had eight years of English.  He enjoys sports (rugby, soccer and skiing) and music.  He played rugby while here.  He has already traveled to Spain, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Tanzania and had a short exchange experience in Northern Ireland.  He attended Desert Mountain High School.  He plans to visit Scottsdale in September 2011 and to attend Rotary while here.

Riana Del Vecchio went to school and lived in Sardinia, Italy for the 2007-2008 school year.  Her family has its roots in Italy and the exchange gave her the opportunity to learn Italian.  She also enjoyed living and studying while learning the culture of her Italian grandparents.  She says she actually learned to enjoy shopping and coffee there.   Riana returned to Scottsdale to finish her senior year at Desert Mountain High School.

Janelle Brown was the other of our club's 2007-2008 outbound exchange students who spent the year in Belgrano, Dolores, Argentina.   She went the year following her graduation from Saguaro High School.  To summarize her year, she says she loved the experience and learned so much.  She now has a second family, her host family in Argentina.  She says, “Thank you for this opportunity.”  The summer after her return, she worked at the Sugar Bowl for Carroll Huntress.  She is attending BYU and went on a missionary trip to Washington DC where she used her Spanish skills. 

 Herbert Ellerbusch came to Scottsdale for the 2007-2008 school year from Blielefeld in Northern Germany.   He attended Coronado High School.  During the year he enjoyed attending the Diamondbacks game with Rotarians, hiking up Camelback Mountain with John Wintersteen, and going to RYLA camp.  He enjoyed Arizona, but wanted to be sure and visit the East Coast of the US.  He had that opportunity, participating in the Rotary organized East Coast trip between the end of school and his return to Germany in early 2008.  Aaron and Isley Kern were his third host family.

Matthias Matenaer attended Saguaro High School during 2006-07. He came to us from Germany. One of his highlights of the year was skiing with John Auran in Colorado.

Carol Lima de Mello was our 2006-2007 inbound exchange student from Brasil.  She attended Saguaro High School while in Scottsdale. Carol found her hike up Camelback Mountain with John Wintersteen to be challenging. She began to study medicine upon her return to Brasil.

Samantha Quenneville was one of two 2006-2007 outbound exchange students sponsored by Scottsdale Rotary.  She went to Peru.

Katy Roe returned to Scottsdale the summer of 2007 from a year in Denmark.  She spent her junior year there and returned to finish her studies as a senior at Desert Mountain High School.

Morgane Chalon was our exchange student from Belgium during 2005-2006.  She returned to study medicine in the university in Belgium.  She finds her studies to be hard and to take a lot of time.  She really likes it!  She sends a hello to all Scottsdale Rotarians.  She wrote that she would be visiting Scottsdale in 2010, but no contact was able to be made with her if she came.  When she wrote she said, “I thought it would be nice to say hello to the Rotary club that made my exchange student year possible!”

Spencer Russell  spent the 2005-2006 school year in Ecuador.  He went there the year after graduating from Saguaro High School.  He found it interesting that they use the US dollar in Ecuador.  He returned to begin his studies at Arizona State University.

Wendy Redford, who is also from Saguaro High School, spent the 2005-2006 school year in Argentina.  She had a fabulous time traveling and learning Spanish.  When she returned, she attended studies at Arizona State University.  She is now working as an RN in trauma/orthopedics at St. Joseph's in Phoenix, and just recently started the doctoral program at ASU to obtain a DNP degree and become a Family Practice Nurse Practitioner.  She recently reported, “thanks to my time in Argentina, my Spanish has gotten good enough for me to take classes to become a certified medical interpreter.  Things couldn't be better.”

Antonio Conato was our inbound exchange student from Naples, Italy in 2004-2005.  He attended Horizon High School.  One of his host families was Mark Walker and his wife Ligia.  Antonio writes to his Rotarian friends periodically.  He reports that he still misses Scottsdale and thanks the people here who made his life so wonderfully different than it would have been otherwise.  He says, “He left a piece of his heart in Scottsdale.”

Dessa Shuckerow spent school year 2004-2005 in Denmark.  She went the year after graduating from Saguaro High School.  The Danish language is a difficult one, but her host family’s young children were a tremendous help in her learning to speak it.  She returned to attend Boston University, where she felt she was accepted to a large extent because of her youth exchange experience.  She continues to be a good global citizen, doing social work in Chile. 

Patrick Roe went to Belgium for his exchange year in 2003-2004.  This was during his junior year.  He particularly enjoyed the opportunities his Belgium Rotary hosts gave him to visit many cultural sites in Europe.  In Scottsdale, he attended Desert Mountain High School, where he returned for his senior year and graduation.  He and his sister, Katy who went overseas in 2006, were the first brother and sister to be Scottsdale Rotary Exchange Students.