Claire Harkness Returns for Youth Exchange Presentation

it is amazing to see the positive impact Rotary Youth Exchange can have on an individual. Claire Harkness' last slide on her well delivered presentation about her exchange to Australia summed it all up.

Claire said two things change her life over a year ago. The first was when club New Generations director Jan Southall called to tell her she was the club's selection for Youth Exchange. The second was when she received an email from the District 7090 Youth Exchange committee informing her that, "your country of destination is Australia."

She was hosted in the town of Belmont with four different families, each giving her different perspectives on the country and different travelling experiences. Being 9670 miles from home turned out to be pretty easy with reverse homesickness coming to the forefront upon her return home a year later.

Claire felt she was an excellent ambassador for Canada and developed a strong patriotism for her home country while on exchange. When she was away, the Rotary motto Service Above Self was put into practice as she was involved in many Rotary activities including prostate awareness, end polio, Mother's Day flower sales, neonatal fund raising, a science and engineering challenge and the Rotary District Conference.

Claire built strong connections with people including her four host families and the large group of Rotary Youth Exchange students in her Australian Rotary district and in District 7090. She closed her presentation with a comparison between Canada and Australia and noted that the beaver is Canadian while the kangaroo and emu are Australian. Both the kangaroo and emu are unable to walk backwards, are on the Australian coat of arms and fit the Australian motto to always move forward.

She thanked the club for selecting her as its first outgoing youth exchange student and presented the club with a banner from the Rotary Club of Belmont.