From Finland, with love: Stella gives her youth exchange presentation

“I want to thank all Rotarians,” Stella Pirskanen opened her Dec. 11 talk at her host club, Pearl Rotary.

“I’m so lucky that I have the greatest host families and have great friends. It’s like everything is perfect.”

Stella, who recently celebrated her 16th birthday and is a student at Lincoln High School, discovered the Rotary program at the Internet. She comes from a small city of 5,000 people, Vihti, located 40 kilometers north of Helsinki.

She shared pictures of her home, town, family and school in Finland…and her PowerPoint include smiling faces here of friends, families and youth exchange inbounds. The words she most repeated: “fun” and “cool.”

“People are so lovely here,” Stella observed. “I am very happy. Thank you to all you people for the great experiences.

“This is the happiest year of my life.”

Club Officer Dave Bangsund championed Pearl Rotarians for both financial and volunteer support for youth exchange. “Our club is recognized through District 5100,” he said. He also reminded all that PPRC will host and send two students in 2013-14, requiring six host families (three each for next year’s inbounds).

Following the meeting, nine current and past youth exchange participants gathered with Bangsund for a photo. They are (from left):

• Denise Ramsden, host mother to Stella, formerly in New Zealand
• Nadine Glowacz, a friend of Stella’s at Lincoln (here on a corresponding student program)
• Rotarian Darcy Cronin, who studied in Denmark
• Stella Pirskanen, here from Finland
• David Bangsund, club officer, Pearl Rotary
• Danielle Jewett, outbound in 2011-12 to France from PPRC
• Xavier Rodriguez, outbound candidate for 2013-14, Lincoln H.S.
• Elisabeth Fosler-Jones, outbound candidate for 2013-14, Central Catholic H.S.
• Rotarian Nigel Vanderford, who studied in Denmark
• Rotarian Kelly Morrow, who studied in Australia

“One thing we can’t give our kids is a look at American homes and families.”

With that sentence, German high school teacher Annika Seligmann saluted Pearl Rotarians for again hosting her students for a day during their two-week visit to Northwest USA.

During the past seven years, Seligmann (pictured here with student Hellen Berghorn) told Rotarians at their Oct. 23 meeting, “Thanks to Rotarians, 150 kids have visited homes on our family day.”

In the 2012 visit of 24 students from Stolzenau Gymnasium in Northern Germany, Seattle, Portland and the Oregon Coast were visited. Contacts were made with Lincoln High School; Pearl Rotarians also spoke or brought in guests to talk about American life, politics, society and religion. A synagogue was visited.

The students themselves, emulating Rotary’s “Service Above Self” credo, actually perform volunteerism. On the morning Seligmann and three of her students visited the club, pulling ivy near Linnton was on the students’ agenda. Old clothes and leftover food were donated to the William Temple House.

On the annual family day, Rotarians’ outings ranged from the touring the air museum at McMinnville to visiting Timberline Lodge in a snowfall.

President Dave Haack congratulated Seligmann on continuing the program (student and chaperone housing is based at the Northwest International Hostel). “The club looks forward to showing your kids around each year. It’s really a lot of fun. It’s great.”

Past President Don Barney and his wife, Jo, have been consistent hosts. “A great event,” he said, during the club’s weekly “Brag” session. “It’s wonderful that you bring the kids.”

Seligmann wrote in an e-mail just hours when the students returned to the hostel after the Oct. 21 outing:

“Thanks, Pearl Rotary, a million for giving our students your time again!

“The kids came back beaming and our feedback took forever because they just wouldn’t stop talking about their ‘best day in the US ever.’

“We are very grateful that you help us again and again to make this program happen and we hope that one day we can give back to you what you do for us. Come visit us anytime–we’d love to host you!

“If you are interested to see some our photos, check out Their Website and click on Galerie.”

Seligmann also had special thanks for Rotarian Jordan Weisman, the club’s international service director, who recruited the families to host the students. That appreciation was echoed by German Francesca Weinert, one of the students who came to Rotary and participated in “Brag”:

“This dollar is because I want to thank you for during such a great job with us.”

Our outbound student Tianmai Bishop will be leaving for a year in Cremona Italy on September 4. Tianmai is a student at Wilson High School.

Stella Pirskanen will be attending Lincoln High School this year. She arrived on August 9 to a host of Rotarians who met her at the airport. She and her host family have been traveling around the Pacific Northwest before school starts.

Stella from Finland

We will all miss Elisabeth. After a very successful year at Grant High School, Elisabeth has returned to Germany where she will continue with high school. Some of the highlights of Elisabeth’s year include participation in Cross Country, singing in the choir at Grant, and participation in the talent show at the Rotary District.

Elisabeth at the Airport

Youth Exchange students joined Pearl Rotarians Oct. 19 to cook dinner for 75 homeless men at Clark Center.

Wednesday after school, inbound student Elisabeth Gruner (here from Germany) and YEO David Bangsund headed out to shop for the ingredients to cook dinner for the men living at Clark Center in SE Portland.

At the center they were joined by Rebound students Lauren Hall (Finland) and Savannah Webber (Peru) who are back after a successful exchange last year, and Rotarians Lori Beight and Don Smith. After an hour and a half of choing, dicing, stirring and baking, they served a hearty meal of minestrone soup and freshly made cornbread to 75 hungry men at the shelter.

Between cooking and serving, Lauren and Savannah (now seniors at Lincoln H.S.) took the opportunity to tell Elisabeth, attending Grant, about their exchanges and give her a few pointers.

Pearl-backed youth exchange program sends, welcome students

August on the Rotary International youth exchange calendar marks both the end and the beginning for student participants. That’s true for Pearl Rotary, too.

Samantha, Lauren return

When Samantha Webber (to Peru) and Lauren Hall (to Finland) spoke to Pearl Rotarians Aug. 16, they shared pictures of their families, Rotary Clubs, schools, trips with other exchangers…and even coping with loneliness.

But their final summaries were the most memorable.

“We want to thank you guys,” said Samantha, about her year in Peru. “It was a life-changing and once-in-a-lifetime. It changes your life in every way. Everything is a positive, even those really tough days.”

Added Lauren: “Day to day, you don’t realize you’re doing this on your own–the language, host families.” Her first month was “traumatizing.” She asked herself: “What am I doing in Finland? But I got through that. It all worked out.”

Both Samantha’s and Lauren’s parents attended…and the students brought banners from their host clubs and presented them to club officer Dave Bangsund and President Lou Radja. And now the two students, who began the Rotary y.e. journey during their sophomore years, have started their senior years at Lincoln High School.

Pearl Rotary also sponsored high school students on the short-term program: Chris Meabe, Wilson high school, spent part of the summer in Austria. Catherine Wu, now a senior at Lincoln (and president of the Interact Club), recently returned from two months in Argentina.

Natalie, Dani depart

As the y.e. experience for Samantha and Lauren was ending, the adventures for two Pearl-backed students was just beginning.

In August, Natalie Kaiser (Lincoln high school) and Dani Jewett (Grant) flew from PDX to Europe. They are now with new families and sponsoring clubs in Finland and France, respectively. They are spending their junior years on Rotary’s long-term program before returning to Oregon for their senior years. Pearl Rotarians joined their families in farewells at PDX, after both had visited Rotary meetings here. Their selection occurred in late 2010 and they completed eight months of preparation through District 5100 before starting their actual exchange.

Elisabeth Gruner arrives

Sixteen-year-old Elisabeth Gruner, from Eisenach, TH, Germany, has had a busy two weeks since arriving in Portland as

Pearl Rotary’s inbound student. Hosted by the family of outbound Dani Jewett in Northeast Portland, Elisabeth has registered at Grant high school, joined the cross country team, been hosted at a swimming party at Rotarian Mike (and Judy) Rompa’s home, and visited Seattle with her host family. She was introduced to Pearl Rotarians by Dave Bangsund on Aug. 30.

In Central Germany, her parents are both professional musicians. She has a younger brother and sister.

In Portland, Elisabeth will have three host families. Her counselor is Sarah Kaiser, the mother of long-term participant Natalie.

(Pearl Rotary had expected to host two students in 2011-12, but the process for a student at Lincoln H.S. from Argentina was not completed.)

’12-13 Y.E. participants sought

Club officer Dave Bangsund has announced that the process for selecting Pearl Rotary’s outbound student for 2012-13 is underway. Applicants must be sophomores now, in good academic standing, and be available for orientations throughout this school year.

Attached is a preliminary application to complete and return to Bangsund.

Pearl Rotary’s June 21 gathering was the final club meeting for our two long-term youth exchange students in 2010-2011–Ice from Thailand and Clo from France.ice

Both had previously given longer programs. Tuesday’s session found Clo, a singer and guitarist, playing for Rotarians as her farewell.

President-Elect Lou Radja presented both with two club banners–one for our exchangers, the second for their sponsoring clubs.

Their year in Portland, and as students at Lincoln H.S., is ending. Both are flying home this week. Below is a further report from Dave Bangsund, club officer for youth exchange, on a celebration with their host families held last weekend.clo

Further update: Savannah Webber has returned from her long-term exchange to Peru; coming home soon will be Lauren Hall, from Finland. Pearl participants in 2011-12 will be outbounds Dani Jewett and Natalie Kaiser, to France and Finland, respectively. Our club will be hosting students from Germany and Argentina, expected to arrive in August.

And now, this from Dave:

Exchange students return home

After a year of new experiences, new friends, three new families, and a new culture, our exchange students Budsarin “Ice” Avasongkram (Thailand) and Clotilde Fourrier (France) are headed home. Both girls participated in graduation ceremonies at Lincoln High School and are now spend their last few days in Portland saying good-bye to friends, their three host families, and Portland Pearl Rotary Club. After a year of mastering challenges like getting used to a different culture and becoming fluent in English, they have one remaining challenge – figuring out how to pack everything they have acquired over the past 10 months into two suitcases.

On Saturday June 18, PPRC hosted a dinner at The Spaghetti Factory for Ice, Clo and their host families to celebrate the completion of a successful year of Rotary Youth Exchange.

Pearl Rotary’s 2011-12 outbound long-term youth exchange students now know where they’ll spend their year abroad.Outbound Students

Dani Jewett (center), a sophomore at Grant High School, is destined for France…while Lincoln high sophomore Natalie Kaiser (right) is bound for Finland.

They are pictured, holding the flags of their new countries, with PPRC y.e. advisor Dave Bangsund (2/15/11).

Bangsund reports that PPRC’s youth exchange committee should soon learn the origins of two students who will be assigned this fall to Pearl Rotary. Host families are now being sought. Currently, the club is hosting two girls; both Clo, France, and Ice, Thailand, are attending Lincoln High School. On the outbound program in 2010-11 are Lauren Hall, in Finland, and Savannah Webber, in Peru; both will return this summer for their senior years at Lincoln.