Exchange is ‘experience of a lifetime’ for students, host families

Two former exchange students recently told students, parents and Rotarians how their adventures abroad changed their lives.

It has been ten years since Tyler Lorey headed to Chile, and 12 years since Michael Lemp first went to Germany.  Now, both look back and say that the experiences made them global citizens with “family” around the world.  Now more than ever, they also see how their decisions to go abroad also changed their own families for the better (as their parents became host parents to students from other countries).

Lorey and Lemp said time has deepened and enriched their appreciation for Rotary and what it does for the world.

At the Rotary meeting listening to the two former exchange students were high school students who have chosen to go abroad, and their parents.

Lorey said his induction into the spirit of youth exchange started before he ever went abroad, when his family decided to host Lucas Grob from Switzerland for the last third of Lucas’ year.  (Rotary students have three families). “Lucas was extremely active and outgoing. He became and still is one of my best  friends in the world.  I can’t thank him and Rotary enough,” Lorey said.

When he became an exchange student in Chile, Lorey had “the most fun and eye opening year of my life.” He lived in a rural area with rolling hills of avocados.  People got places by walking; few had cars.  He was treated as a member of the family by his host parents.  “Talk about a lesson … my family was struggling (financially) but still opened their doors to me and showed me such love and respect.”

He learned the power of Rotary when his town experienced an 8.5 magnitude Earthquake.

“I wasn’t able to tell my family at home that I was ok for 48 hours … and I couldn’t talk with them for five days,” he said.  “Rotary Clubs came together from all over the world to help out,” he recalled.  Fundraising in Central New York helped his town be able to purchase four generators.

Lemp said his year in Hamburg, Germany, with Rotary impacted every part of his life, including his focus on international sales and his eventual job as a project manager at Welch Allyn.

He told the young future exchange students that going abroad isn’t always easy.  “There are many challenges –that’s what makes you grow,” he said.  “It is hard.  You are trying to acclimate to different foods, different rules, a different culture … and you can’t verbally express yourself.”

His biggest support system, he said, was his host family. “Through the hard times, I had the empathy of my host family,” whose own daughter was a youth exchange student thousands of miles away, he said. “It is comforting to know you are with a host family whose own child is experiencing the same thing.”

Lemp encouraged parents (especially parents whose children may go abroad) to “think about what you want for your own sons and daughters when they go abroad.”  Hosting, he said, is what makes Rotary a family.

Mike Lemp’s parents, Don and Christy, echoed his words.  “We treated the kids like we would hope our kids would be treated,” Don Lemp said. Hosting “changed our family dynamics forever.”

Even before the Lemps hosted, Rotary changed their family, said Christy Lemp.  Within weeks of when the oldest of their three children decided to become a youth exchange student their lives changed.  “We had kids from other countries (who were being hosted in nearby districts) visiting our house.  We started getting out of the Skaneateles bubble by experiencing cultural diversity immediately.”

In the end, all three Lemp boys went abroad, and the Lemp family hosted many times.  “It has been a mountain top experience for us,” said Christy Lemp.

Rotarian Roberta Williams has hosted more than a dozen times.  She has seen how students change and how families change.  Hosting is hugely enriching, she said.  “You don’t realize when you send a child abroad that it won’t just change your student.  It changes you,” she said.

For the 2019-20 school year, Rotary District 7150 will send two Skaneateles students abroad.  Eva Lombardi will go to South Korea and Shane Rutledge will go to Belgium.  Skaneateles will host two exchange students in return:  a boy from Switzerland and a girl from Mexico.  Each exchange student will need three homes (for 3+ months each), so a total of six families are needed.  If you are interested, contact Rotarian Gard Lorey at [email protected].