What if your next school year began not with a familiar classroom, but with a new country, a new language and a host family waiting to welcome you into their home?

For students willing to take that leap, Rotary Youth Exchange offers something far bigger than a trip overseas. It offers the chance to become part of another culture and, in the process, discover a little more about yourself.Applications are now open for the 2027-28 Rotary Youth Exchange program, giving students in our region the opportunity to spend an academic year abroad through Mountain and Plains Rotary Youth Exchange.

During their exchange, students live with host families, attend a local school and experience everyday life in another country. They learn customs that may initially feel unfamiliar, try foods they cannot pronounce, navigate conversations in another language and form friendships that can stretch across oceans and last for decades.

And somewhere along the way, the unfamiliar begins to feel like home.

More than studying abroad

Rotary Youth Exchange has been creating international connections for generations, but the heart of the program goes well beyond travel.

Exchange students develop confidence, independence, adaptability and a deeper understanding of people whose lives may look very different from their own. They also serve as young ambassadors, sharing their own culture while learning firsthand that friendship can cross borders, languages and backgrounds.

A year abroad can make the world feel both much larger and surprisingly smaller.

Students return with stories, certainly. But they also often return with a broader view of their future and their place in the world.

Is there a future exchange student in your community?

Rotarians can play an important role simply by sharing the opportunity.

Think about the students you know through your family, schools, Interact programs, churches, community organizations and neighborhoods. Is there a young person who is curious about the world? Someone willing to stretch beyond what is comfortable? Someone who might thrive with an adventure that asks them to be brave, flexible and open to something entirely new?

They may simply be waiting for someone to tell them this opportunity exists.

Applications are due November 1, 2026. A local interview is required, and the District Selection Weekend will be held December 4-7, 2026, in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Students and families can find application information and additional details at mountainandplainsrye.com or contact the Mountain and Plains Rotary Youth Exchange team at outbound@MountainandPlainsRYE.com or districtchair@mountainandplainsrye.com.

For students, Rotary Youth Exchange begins with an application.

What follows might just change the way they see the world forever.