September is the month in which Rotarians promote and celebrate our many youth programs.  Three programs - YES, Youth Exchange & YAIL - have some quickly approaching  deadlines.  Keep reading. 

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YES (Youth Engaged in Service) is a program which sponsors high school students on an International Service project (currently in Guatemala). Youth are required to perform volunteer hours throughout the school year, earning credit towards the cost of the trip (paid by a sponsoring Rotary club). Students are asked to join or form an Interact club following the service trip. 

YES has been so successful that we now offer two programs on both sides of the border. Contact Bev Harrington (
bev.harrington@msn.com) for the USA program and Keesha Rosario (keesha_rosario@yahoo.ca) for the CDN program. Note the YES application deadline is September 24.


Rotary Youth Exchange is a year long exchange program where a local high school student lives with Rotarians and goes to school in another country while a student from that country lives with our families here. The experience is life changing both for the students and the families that host them. Applications will be due this fall with interviews taking place in January. Contact Dave Sliman, Chair (
DSliman@waterstonelaw.com).


YAIL & RYLA are youth leadership programs that take place over a few days and can lead to life changing experiences for the participants.

YAIL (Youth Adventures In Leadership) is for high school students and will held January 17-19, 2014. Contact Ray Green, Chair (
rlg61@whidbey.com). YAIL is now accepting applications through its website at www.yail.org

RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) is for older youth (ages 18-30) and will be held April 16-20, 2014. RYLA also has a website (
www.ryla5050.org) and will begin accepting applications after mid-January 2014. Contact Jackie Smith, Chair (Jackie@uk2ca.com)


Interact and Rotaract are ongoing programs that are Rotary clubs for youth - Interact in high school and Rotaract for youth up to age 30. 

If your club has an Interact program or wants to get one started, contact Patty Klassen, Chair (
pattyk71@gmail.com).

We have four Rotaract clubs in BC and some interested in forming in WA. Contact Nick Stebbing, Chair (
stebbing@telus.net) & Jenn Petrichenko, District Rotaract Representative (spoo001@yahoo.com).


Further information on all of these programs are on the District website(
www.district5050.org) under the "Youth Service" menu item at the top of the page.