The following students have been selected to
participate in the Rotary Exchange Program:
Emily Churchill- Brazil: I have always loved to travel to
see new things and meet new people. As I got older, my love for
adventure grew not only broader but deeper. I discovered that what I
really want to do at this point in my life is experience something most people
don't get the chance to experience. I want to do my part to break down
borders between people in different cultures by traveling across the world and
being open to what is thrown at me. I have always been drawn towards
service work, such as the mission trips at Helias, but I would like to take
that further and I believe that my participation as a Rotary Youth
Exchange Student next year in Brazil could open doors for me to really make a
difference in the future. The teachers and administration at Helias are
very supportive of students who express interest in a gap year and I am so
thankful that their support helped me apply and eventally get accepted to
Rotary. Helias focuses a lot of energy to get students to serve others
through service hours and mission trips. These opportunities have allowed
me to see that anything helps and that when you help someone, the fact that you
made one person's life a little better even just for a moment is more than
enough reward. I hope to break down some borders all next year and
even more after I return.
Brooke Micke- Peru: I decided to participate in the Rotary
Exchange because I wanted to become fluent in Spanish. I plan on entering the
medical field and participating in medical missions in South America. I went on
a mission trip my sophomore year and fell in love with service. Helias has
helped me realize that my purpose in life is to help those who cannot help
themselves.
Erin Mills- Ecuador: Next year, I will spend ten
months in Ecuador. I am extremely excited to able to partake in this
amazing opportunity through Rotary Youth Exchange Program. This program
allows students to attend high school in a foreign country, experiencing a new
culture, host family, and language. I will be living in the city of
Cuenca which is in the mountains. I decided to make this exchange after
hosting a Swiss exchange student last year. The experience was so
positive and I gained a new friend as sister. I cannot wait to have an
experience of my own abroad, broadening my horizons on a different continent.
Nick Vellios- Belgium: Ever since I was young, I have
wanted to take an exchange trip of some sort. I have always loved to travel,
and to learn about other cultures and languages. Mrs. Zeitz and Jessica
Hilgedick were the ones who first introduced to me the idea of traveling with
the Rotary Club. Jessica, advised by Mrs. Zeitz, took a trip to Switzerland
during my sophomore year. Mrs. Zeitz had us write emails to her as part of
class, and I quickly became fascinated by, and slightly envious of the
experiences she was having. I have always wanted to be fluent in a foriegn
language, and when Jessica came back and talked to our class, her French
speaking skills had improved at least 1000%. It was at that time that I
realized that rotary was the program that I wanted to do my exchange trip with.
Also, that year, I started in Mrs. Arthur's spanish class. A very multicultural
and diverse program, Mrs. Arthur actively promoted foriegn travel, exchange
trips, and above all the rotary exchange program, which she helps coordinate.
She eulogized its cheapness, the wonderful experiences people had had, and the
new language fluency that they gained during their foreign sojurn. These two
Helias teachers are above all what made me decide to do my exchange
with the rotary program. Mrs. Zeitz's excellent French program, with all
of its speech practice and vocabulary, together with
Mrs. Arthur's brilliant grammar teaching method (which helped
me with French grammar, as well as Spanish) has made me very confident
that I will have few communication problems during my time in Wallonia,
Belgium.
Eric Weiler- Spain: Next school year, I will be a
foreign exchange student to the country of Spain. I do not know where I
will be staying in Spain nor with whom. I am sure that I will live in a
beautiful place and live with a wonderful host family. While on exchange,
I hope to visit Barcelona and Mardrid as well as the rest of Europe. I
would especially like to visit Germany and France. People often ask me
why I want to do this. My response is always- why not? I get to
live in Europe for an entire year! I will be experiencing a new culture,
learning a new language, and meeting friends from all over the world, all while
living in one of the most beautiful and culturally rich countries on earth.
Who wouldn't take advantage of an opportunity like that?
Justin White- Colombia: Next year I will be a Rotary
Youth Exchange student in Colombia, South America. People often ask me why I
want to be an exchange student. I am tired of doing the same thing over
and over, and just following the normal. I realized last year that I have a
desire to do something bigger than myself inside me. Not necessarily to change
the world, but to change myself. Right now I live in this sheltered world where
everything I could want has been given to me, but I want that to change. I want
to be put into a situation that is completely new to me, and to take full
control of it to see how it changes me and how I will grow as a person. This,
combined with the fact that the world and other cultures has always fascinated
me, has led me to choose to take the leap and become an exchange student.
Besides Helias introducing me to Rotary and the entire exchange option
via Mrs. Arthur, Helias has helped influence my decision because of the mission
trips. The mission trips, although short, have showed me that is is different
outside of the world of Jeff City, and has made me want to see it. While I am
not serving people in my year abroad, I feel the mission trips are a little
taste of what I will experience while abroad.
Two Helias seniors will spend next year serving as missionaries
with Heart's Home. Heart’s
Home is an international Catholic non-profit organization that works to promote a culture of compassion around providing intimate, one-on-one
support to individuals in some of the most deprived areas of the world.
Emily Allen- Argentina: I joined Heart's Home because sympathy is no
substitute for action. I joined because I have seen so much suffering and it
has shattered my heart, and I know pity gets you nowhere and means nothing. I
cannot sit here in my warm home with my full stomach and loving family knowing
such intense destitution and despair exists. Now that I have heard the agonized
cries of the most precious people in the world coming from the darkness, what
choice do I have but to go to them? Heart's Home gives me the opportunity to
serve these beautiful people in the purest and simplest of ways, by suffering
with them and being a presence with Mary at the foot of the Cross. And, I know
I am just one person, but that's all anybody ever is, and I know that through
me, Jesus can set the world on fire. Helias has played a huge role in
shaping who I am today. It was through Helias that I discovered missions and I
am thankful for that every day. I can't say what I would be doing now if I had
not attended this school, but I know I wouldn't be with Heart's Home. Helias
has given me the solid base I need to do God's work in the world.
Celina Aur- Brazil: Helias has influenced me greatly
in choosing to spend my next year devoted to service. Or better said, my dad
has influenced me greatly. Mission trips have been my greatest inspiration for
fulfilling my call to service, and without my dad, I wouldn’t have the
experiences with service and missions that I do. No one would. Also, Helias has
provided me, as well as the other students, with a multitude of service
opportunities. These opportunities have created a motivation in me to do
something greater than myself. That is where I was led to doing mission work. I
am very fortunate to have been surrounded by such a spiritually rooted
community at Helias. I am also very thankful in knowing that I will have the
support of my community during my mission through faith and prayers.
Please keep
these young people in your daily prayers. I'm very proud that they are taking a
leap of faith, willing to dream big, and have the courage to follow their dream.
Blessed Theresa of Jesus Gerhardinger...Pray for us!
St. John Baptist de La Salle...Pray for us!
Live Jesus in our hearts...Forever!