Early Meetings

After I was selected as a future outbound (or as they like to call me: an outbound candidate), I was invited to attend weekly Rotary club meetings. They’re actually really fun, even though almost everyone is at least four times my age! We talk about community service as well as international issues. Everyone there likes to talk to me and the other outbound candidate, Henry. They’re first question is always “where are you going?” Sadly, I won’t know where I’m going until February, which feels like an eternity away. In Mid-October, I attended a meeting for all of the students in my district… District 5100. There are about 30 other students in District 5100, which covers all of Northern Oregon and Southern Washington (see photo). At this meeting, we learned how to fill out our 20 page long applications that were to be due by the end of the month. This meeting was strictly informative, so not much socializing went on between the future outbounds. After going home, I began to work on my application. I didn’t finish for a few weeks, but after turning it in I was scheduled an in-home orientation. In late November, a country officer (a Rotarian who is in-charge of assigning students to their countries) came to my home to talk to discuss the ins and outs of the program with me and my parents. I learned lots and it made me even more excited for my exchange. I’ve been immersing myself in blogs of current outbounds, specifically the blog of the girl from Sherwood in Argentina (http://cosetteadamson.tumblr.com) and the girl from Sandy in Finland (http://jennifersrotaryexchange.blogspot.fi). I can hardly wait until January, when I get to learn more about all the countries and meet all of the future outbounds and current inbounds (the students from other countries that are currently in the US) of District 5100.

Getting Selected

I guess I’ll start by introducing myself. My name is Kira McNeil, and I currently live in Portland, Oregon. I am a sophomore at Lincoln High School. I am what is considered an “outbound candidate” for the Rotary Club’s International Youth Exchange, meaning I have been accepted by my local Rotary Club to be sponsored as an exchange student for my junior year. To get to the position that I’m in now, a few things had to happen. First, my Spanish teacher handed out little half-sheets of paper on the second day of school inviting all sophomores interested in a foreign exchange to attend an informational meeting in October. Living abroad has always been a dream of mine, so of course I immediately ran home and begged my parents to take me to the meeting. They were hesitant at first, but after hours of pleading, my mom agreed it would be okay for me to hear more about the program. I counted down the days to the meeting, and it finally came. In the meeting we learned that in order to be an exchange student we would have to fill out an application and then go through an interview. My local club (Portland Pearl Rotary) only accepts one to two students every year. This freaked me out, considering there were probably 15 other students at the meeting. After getting home, I begged my parents for hours for permission to apply and set up an interview. Fortunately, they (reluctantly) agreed. I emailed in my application and an interview was set up. I walked into the interview with my mom and dad, but the board of 3 Rotarians immediately pulled me away from them and began questioning me. Apparently I impressed them, because a few days later they called me to tell me I was selected!!! I was ecstatic, to say the least.