Rotary Wishes "Bon Voyage" to Exchange Student
The Rotary Club of Kemptville has selected Katherine Sorrell-Kirkpatrick (shown above centre), who attends St. Michael’s High School, to be our outbound Youth Exchange Student to Portoviejo, Ecuador, for the upcoming school year. Wishing her “bon voyage” on behalf of the Club are Rotarians Jennifer Franssen, Club Chair of New Generations (left), and Dave Pelletier, District Secretary for the Rotary Youth Exchange programme.
Katherine will be leaving soon for a year of adventure in learning a new culture and lifestyle, while keeping up her regular school subjects—in Spanish—at Colegio Cruz de Norte. The purpose of the program is to expose potential youth leaders to experiences that will enable them one day to make a contribution to better world understanding.
Katherine will be living with host families chosen by the local Rotary Club in Portoviejo. She told Rotarians that Ecuador was named after the Equator, which divides the country into two approximately equal halves. The city that Katherine will be living in is best known for its coffee, cattle, and fishing. With an average temperature of 25°C and with only two seasons, wet and dry, she will be missing winter.