Pictured L-R: Dale Forshey (Hershey Club Youth Exchange Chair), DG Paul Thompson, DYE Chair Jill Tenny, Ben Stafford (OB Exchange Student to Brazil 2023-24)

 

 

This month’s theme of Membership and Club Development is illustrated brilliantly by the Chair of our District Youth Exchange Committee, Jill Tenny. 

 

Among the many special Rotarians in our District who make measurable life-changing differences in the lives of others, Jill magically connects every element of our strategic priorities from expanding global outreach, enhancing community impact, and increasing member engagement, to constantly adapting to the ever-changing modes of youth interaction and communications.  As a school teacher, and consummate volunteer, she depicts a nurturing, compassionate, and compelling Rotarian, a model of leadership for the Youth Exchange Program.

 

Rotary’s remarkable role in student exchanges, (500 students from this District alone), embodies the essence of the Rotary object of ‘the advancement of International Understanding.’  Jill was one of those students in the early 1980’s (before the core value of diversity included female members in Rotary) and carried the exchange banner for a year to France. Years later, she joined the Harrisburg Club and encouraged her two children to experience their own exchanges.  Now she runs the District Program!

 

The dynamic scholars and ambassadors Jill and her highly dedicated team deal with are the first line of diplomacy for the greatest challenge facing the world—how to create lasting Peace. From those students come many a true Rotarian, such as Jill, and Brian Harris, who was an outbound student to Australia sixty years ago, recently joined the Hershey Club, and is now paying back in every way possible.  And, our District is connecting many prior exchange students by creating a Rotaract Club on Global Issues.

 

Whenever possible, Clubs should seek ways to sponsor and host 3 week short-term or 10 month long-term student exchanges.  Individual Rotarians should host, advise, and get engaged in the Youth Exchange Program, the future of Rotary, and the path to peace.  

 

Thanks for everything, Jill. What a legacy!