International Night

On a beautiful Monday evening Rotarians from across District 7950 came together to celebrate our International Youth Exchange Programs. The program was started by our club 22 years ago when Rona Mann was a member of the Westerly Club. The very first evening was at a restaurant on Misquamicut Beach. Since then we have invited other clubs to join us as co-sponsors of the event and moved it a few times. It has been at Whites of Westport for several years now. 

Rev. Bob Anthony (a former member of our club and now a member of the Osterville Club on the Cape) served as Master of Ceremonies. He introduced the Presidents of the sponsoring clubs including or own President Doug Rayner. Each of the Presidents then shared some congratulatory remarks toward the students who were present and expressed their gratitude at being part of the program. The other sponsoring clubs include; Cumberland/Lincoln, Martha’s Vineyard, Woonsocket, Naugset/Orleans and North Kingston. 

Rose Russo and I had the honor of joining President Doug at the District Governor’s table with DG Valerie Perry, Father Bob and his lovely wife. Co-ordinators Dorcas McGurrin, Jill and Phil Albright then took turns introducing the students and inviting them to share with the group.

Yvonne Tsai of Taiwan and Ayse Mutlusen of Turkey are our two inbound Exchange students. Our outbound and short term exchange students are Amelia Larson (Spain), Monica Carrol (France), Juliana Goldman (Either Italy or Belgium), Isabelle Ruesch (Chile), Anna Yeun (South Korea) and Willa Vigneault (France). Five of the six were present for the evening. Rona Mann than closed the program with her “Itchy Feet” segment where she shared some letters from former or present exchange students with words of advice for the current group. It was very moving and a fitting end for a great night.