Outbound exchange students display flags for the countries they are visiting. Photo by John Stroud.

For the 2026-27 exchange year, our Long-Term Exchange Program (LTEP) includes 11 Outbound students from communities throughout District 5470 who are spending a year abroad in 10 different countries (Japan, Argentina, Hungary, Colombia, Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Argentina, and Brazil). 

On the Inbound (foreign student) side, we are hosting 12 students throughout the District from those same countries, plus Denmark.

Our Inbound students gathered in Durango shortly after their arrival in August for their official Orientation; a requirement of the US State Department for all foreign exchange students who obtain a J1 Visa to come to the United States. 

Although we're officially an Academic Exchange, Rotary Youth Exchange is equal parts Academic and Cultural. 

In addition to expecting them to keep up with their school work, and learn or brush up on their English, we work hard to provide our students with a multitude of opportunities for cultural immersion. This happens through travels with host families, school field trips, school sports and other extracurricular activities. Rotary also works with a company called Belo USA to provide different tour opportunities throughout the US while the students are here on exchange. And, our District Committee organizes other activities to help the students gain a better understanding of life in Colorado and the USA, including a weekend at X Games Aspen, and an April field trip to Denver to visit the State Capitol and view the Legislature in session.

Our Outbound students also spend a year attending school in their host countries, and taking part in many of the same types of cultural immersion activities.

We are currently in the final weeks of our Outbound student application (deadline is Nov. 1) and selection process. Our annual District Interview and Selection Weekend is in Grand Junction the first weekend of December. Here, applicants mix it up with our Inbound and Rebound (those having just returned from exchange) students for a Country Fair, where applicants learn about our various exchange partner countries, and select their top five for exchange. An interview and selection panel made up of our Country Coordinators and other District representatives makes the decisions, and the selected students go through their own Orientation process before departing next summer.  

The STEP program is a family-to-family exchange, where we match a student and their family from our district with a student and family in another of our exchange partner countries. The families work together to arrange a time for each student to travel to the respective country and stay with the other family, usually anywhere from 3-9 weeks. It's a great way to get a small taste of a new culture, and oftentimes our STEP students return wanting to do a full-year exchange. This past summer, we facilitated four Short-Term exchanges. The deadline to apply for STEP is Feb. 1, 2027.

For more information about Rotary Youth Exchange in District 5470, please visit our website: mountainandplainsrye.com