Sponsoring Inbound Exchange Students
Event Sequence and Check List for a Rotary Club to Long-Term Host
an Inbound Student from another Country
1. ___ The club as a whole expresses an interest in hosting a student from another country for a time period of ~1 scholastic year.
2. ___ The club Board of Directors looks at the expenses of hosting a student and whether there is sufficient actual club support (Host families) to go forward. These expenses are estimated in the Excel file “Rotary Youth Exchange Club Expenses Estimates”.
3. ___ If it’s a “Go”, then a Youth Exchange Officer, two Counselors and 2-3 potential Host families are chosen. Two Counselors are needed because of the importance of the position to the emotional well-being of the student; if the lead Counselor is out of town, the other Counselor can step in as needed.
4. ___ The Youth Exchange Officer (YEO) duties are generally outlined in the document “Club YEO Responsibilities”. There is some degree of latitude in these responsibilities based on club-to-club differences.
5. ___ DOS (Department of State) requirements. This is an online exam, access to which is through Jerry Tambe ( gctambe@yahoo.com ) who is the "Responsible Officer" for SCANEX. The exam is taken annually by essentially everyone in a position of responsibility within District Youth Exchange ( District Youth Exchange Officer, Youth Exchange Officers supervising Inbound and Outbound activities and Island Coordinators ) and is based on DOS publication 62.25.
6. ___ The Club Counselor duties are generally outlined in the document “Club Counselor Responsibilities”. There is some degree of latitude in these responsibilities based on club-to-club differences.
7. ___ A Guide for Host families (www.rotary.org/en/document/66101) is given to each potential Host family for study. The Host families are then interviewed by the club YEO and accepted (or not).
8. ___ The YEAH (Youth Exchange Administration Hub) Database. If your eyes are glazing over with the thought that it will be extremely difficult to keep track of everything, there’s hope. The YEAH database both contains all the basic information regarding each Inbound and Outbound student and also each Volunteer and Host Family (and much more besides). To begin the process of both individual vetting and putting such data into the YEAH database, Volunteers (anyone who would be alone with the student in other than a group setting) utilize this link: http://yehub.net/SNX-volapp . The Volunteer application will ask for basic contact information, three references and a background check.
8. ___ Host families that have been approved by the YEO follow this link: http://yehub.net/SNX-hfapp . The Host family application will ask for basic information, two references, a background check and a number of pictures of different parts of the Host family home.
9. ___ When the YEO and Counselor have been vetted through the Volunteer process, they will be given access to the YEAH portal which is the external, read-only portion of the YEAH database (via DCH). This access is extremely useful because it gives up-to-date information regarding the current status of Volunteers, Host Families, Outbound and Inbound students. A pdf file is included with the invitation and link to gain YEAH Portal access.
10. ___ An overview of the monthly activities of the YEO, Counselor and Admin is given by the Excel file D5000 RYE Full Rotary Year Draft.xlsx. The file allows a far reaching view of the activities of all players so that sufficient time and resources can be allotted to make sure that needed personnel, funds and human resources are available. This file is currently being edited. Request a most recent copy from DCH (kawika4rotary@gmail.com)
11. ___ It is highly recommended that the YEO, Counselor, Host families and any club members in contact with the student outside of group activities take the Sexual Harassment and Abuse training module via this link: http://yeoresources.org/Pages/ProtectionTraining.html It takes about 30-40 minutes and might even be a good group training event for interested club members.
12. ___ The club and district must also agree and adhere to the Youth Exchange Club Compliance which must be filled out and a signed copy returned to the District YEO (DCH). This takes a little time to make sure that all the information on the form that is requested has been collected and put into an available and useful format. The process should be started as soon as the club has chosen Youth Exchange officers/chairs.
13. ___ If this whole process had started in the late Fall before an Inbound student was selected, the YEO would have had the time to become familiar with the overall flow of operations during the course of the year. By the time Spring came around he/she would be able to participate in choosing an Inbound student from among a long list of candidates. Just as our Outbound students are selected using a series of interviews and form submissions, so are candidates from other countries. It is these applications which are sent to us for review. Since we are “competing” with the other eight districts which make up SCANEX (our multi-district Youth Exchange group) for students which appear to fit our program, we usually choose between four and six students, knowing that we may not get our first choice. It is the job of the club YEO working with the District YEO’s assistance (if needed) to make these choices.
14. ___ Once the YEO has been informed by SCANEX which of his/her choices is going forward, the first Host family is given the student’s contact information and they begin corresponding. At the same time the Inbound student is given a link to the SCANEX database. The student then fills in all of the information about themselves that they can. This information will be further updated with information about travel arrangements, current Host families and much more. At any time the club YEO and Counselor can see the progress of this by accessing the YEAH portal ( http://yehub.net/SNX-portal ) using their email and password (as described earlier).
15. ___ Here is a check list of the documents that the student and his/her family are required to submit to the District for input into the YEAH database:
As each of these documents are received, they are uploaded into the YEAH database. The progress of an individual student as well as their cohorts can be followed on a simplified screen:
This screen shows useful basic information about the student as well as the documents uploaded.
16. ___ A number of documents must be sent by the District YEO or the Inbound YEO to the student for them and their parents to sign and return. These include the District 5000 Rules of Rotary and District 5000 Permission to Travel. Students are also required to purchase travel and medical insurance from CISI Bolduc ( http://www.culturalinsurance.com/rotary/rotary_plan_options.asp ). THEY MUST CHOOSE PLAN B. There is also a file to send which describes the insurance required and the timing of the purchase of the insurance.
17. ___ In order for an Inbound student to obtain a J-1 visa, the District must begin the process by completing a Host club Guarantee form. This basic form outlines the District 5000 individual club responsibilities, monthly allowance, arrival date(s), club officers and Host family contact information. Once this has been completed and signed by the District YEO, it is forwarded to Jerry Tambe who is the SCANEX officer in charge of issuing the DS-2019 and SEVIS number for an individual student. The student needs the hard copy of the DS-2019 to show the embassy when applying for a visa. After the visa has been obtained, the student can then purchase insurance from CISI Bolduc as shown in section 16. There is both a SEVIS fee and a Visa fee. The SEVIS fee can be paid online at this link: https://fmjfee.com/i901fee/desktop/students/formSelection.htm . The Visa fee is paid at the embassy.
18. ___ In recent years, public schools in Hawaii begin on or around the 1st of August each year. In contrast, schools in Europe and the southern Americas begin about a month later. In principle that would mean that District 5000 Host clubs should have their Youth Exchange officers (YEO and Counselor), Host families and budgets all squared away many months before this. Except for the perennial YE favorites, the Rotary Clubs of Poipu Beach and of Kona, clubs new to the system struggle with these responsibilities up to the last minute, a situation which is stressful and should be avoidable.