Youth Services
Youth Exchange: A Fresh Start
Our club suspended our Student Exchange program during Covid and we are just now re-starting. A big change in the way we will proceed is that we have partnered with the Rotary Club of Wellington.
A Rotary Exchange program involves selecting a local high school student who is interested in living and learning in an other country for an academic year. The outgoing student must be either 16 or 17 when they leave Canada in late August of any given year. They return in late spring.
It’s called “Exchange” because not only do we send a Canadian student out, we also
simultaneously accept a student from another country. That student will stay with a series of volunteer host families and attend PECI for an academic year. Ideally we try to find four families to host our guest. We are looking for those families right now.
simultaneously accept a student from another country. That student will stay with a series of volunteer host families and attend PECI for an academic year. Ideally we try to find four families to host our guest. We are looking for those families right now.Our club started the Exchange program forty years ago. Dozens of students have exchanged since then. Many of our student visitors who are adults now have come back to visit us and Picton Rotarians have also visited our former guests in their countries.
For more details about this program, visit https://pictonrotary.ca/page/youth-exchange-program
Other Programs
We sponsor two separate learning trips for students in the spring of each year. One is Adventures In Citizenship, organized by Ottawa Rotary. It is a three day visit by a County student to Ottawa, where students get a first hand look at Parliament and what goes on there. Students from all over Canada go to the event.
The other is the Rotary Youth Leadership Symposium (RYLS) for which attendees are required to be 
young but not necessarily students. The 3-night Symposium provides an opportunity for participants to get to know themselves better and to cultivate the respect and trust of others. They are able to identify their own leadership skills and determine ways to make more effective use of their resources. The event is sponsored by Rotary and is held at Ganaraska Forest Centre.
young but not necessarily students. The 3-night Symposium provides an opportunity for participants to get to know themselves better and to cultivate the respect and trust of others. They are able to identify their own leadership skills and determine ways to make more effective use of their resources. The event is sponsored by Rotary and is held at Ganaraska Forest Centre.Picton Rotary is also active at school graduations in June. The main event is at PECI, where we present graduates a total of almost $8,000 in bursaries and scholarships. A major co-donor of these funds is the Stark Family Fund.