Youth Exchange students often say their experience abroad was the best time of their lives. Being part of the program can be life-changing for Rotary members as well.

For more than 40 years, Rotary Youth Exchange has been one of Rotary’s best-known programs. As an official program, it dates to 1975 — but by that time, Rotary clubs had already been sending students abroad for decades with the aim of promoting international understanding and friendship.

What the program offers to and asks of participants — an openness to new ideas and experiences, a willingness to adapt and to gain new perspectives, and an opportunity to make new friends and learn new ways of living — are the same values that define Rotary itself.

The major goal of Youth Exchange is to dive into another culture,” says Rotary President Holger Knaack, who served as chair of the German Multi-District Youth Exchange; he and his wife, Susanne, have themselves hosted dozens of students. “Youth Exchange is an opportunity for the kids to experience something new. And it has enriched our own lives.