People across the world are as curious about us as we are about them. To understand other cultures, many of us choose to travel to gain a snapshot of how people live and to learn how their world views are shaped, but there’s nothing like complete cultural immersion to completely understand a country and its people. Each year, the Carson City Rotary hosts several lucky students to live with three families over nine months to immerse themselves in our western culture by attending a full year at Carson High School and becoming a part of each host family for the duration of three months. During the pandemic, the program was abandoned and today is starting up again as the world puts the pandemic behind them. Students between the ages of 15-18 are chosen to become an ambassador of his/her home country as each local host family is an ambassador of our area, state, and country to allow them to experience our lives. Rotary believes strongly, “seeds of a lifetime are planted to create international understanding,” on both sides. According to Peter Fishburn, Rotary District 17 student exchange coordinator, 38 Rotary International Exchange students have been hosted in our city since 2008, with many students still in touch with their former host families. Risa Lang has had a number of exchange students and can’t say enough about what a wonderful experience has been for the entire family. “My family has had fun meeting and learning about how our students live in their own county and as a bonus, we have had the chance to view our own community through their eyes.” Lang had been an exchange student in Italy in 1984 and loved the experience so much she enrolled her daughter in the program to study in Argentina in 2017. The Lang family has made lifelong relationships with their students and has traveled the world visiting the student families from Brazil, Taiwan, Italy, Sicily, and more, and the students keep in touch with them. Becoming a host family can mean a lifelong relationship between student, their family, and the local host family. The commitment is three months of room and board and assuring the student attends classes at Carson High. Fishburn adds, “Treating students as a member of your family makes for a successful exchange.” Exchange students are vetted by Rotary for their scholastic records, language capability, involvement in their home community, age, and their potential as a cultural ambassador. “Rotary values diversity and celebrates the contributions of people of all backgrounds, regardless of their age, ethnicity, race, color, abilities, religion, socioeconomic status, culture, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Rotary will cultivate a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture in which people from underrepresented groups have greater opportunities to participate as members and leaders,” as declared on the website http://www.rye5190.org/ Students pay their own expenses to come here, and Rotary provides a monthly stipend of $150 to the student for personal expenses. A host family can be from all walks of life and include those who are retired or single. Fishburn states, “A host student is meant to be treated as part of the family for the time they are here.” Carson City Rotary, too, will monitor the progress of the student and have them provide periodic updates to the club. Becoming a host family will enrich you, your family, Carson High, and our community as we learn from each other how to become better global citizens. Fishburn is hoping you will open your doors for three months to host a student for the 2022-23 school year. He may be reached at pfishburn@brownandbigelow.com. Complete information may be found on the website listed above.
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