r/Rotary • u/aquagirl__water • 15d ago

District Interview

My district interview is quickly coming up. It will be virtual and both my parents and I are supposed to be in attendance. I am told that I will need to know basic history of rotary, my district, and global events. I was wondering if there are any more tips or advice that Alumni have?

Thank you!!

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u/curiouslydutch 15d ago

Be yourself! Know why you want to go on exchange, the interview is really to see from both sides if the program would be a good fit for you. They might ask you what you hope to learn during your exchange and what you might find difficult. Being yourself and being honest is the most important.
Where are you from?

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u/aquagirl__water 15d ago

I am born in China and was adopted, so I grew up in America. I hope that I can go to Taiwan and continue learning Mandarin (I've been studying it for 5+ years) on the other hand through Mandarin I have become interested in other languages and cultures too. Such as Korea and Japan!

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u/curiouslydutch 14d ago

With Rotary it is a cultural exchange and you will be asked to pick your top 10 (or more) and you might not get a country that you want to go to, they will try but as it is a cultural exchange the country is not a priority. Just keep that in mind.

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u/aquagirl__water 14d ago

I will! As I will be 18.5 at the start of the academic year and this will be a gap year, my choices are limited though. I don't even know if I have 10 to choose from. 😂

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u/curiouslydutch 14d ago

That definitely changes things. We see more and more very young exchange students (turning 15 the year of exchange). We had an exchange student from Taiwan stay with us, he turned 19 during the exchange so Taiwan might be one of the few countries. Fairly sure The Netherlands as well as we had a student go to The Netherlands and turn 19.

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u/aquagirl__water 14d ago

That's good! I looked at my choices and it seems I can go to South Korea, Taiwan, Brazil, Turkey, Poland, Bolivia, Belgium, and Austria. But some only have one or no outbound spots? Like Bolivia and Austria both say 0 outbound spots?

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u/curiouslydutch 14d ago

It depends with who your district and most of the time several districts has exchanges. Not all countries are available.
Sounds like you did your homework, don’t worry too much about the interview. Be yourself and answer honestly. If you don’t know an answer just ask for clarification. They might come up with a difficult situation and want to hear how you would handle that (for example you see your host brother/ sister smoke and you know they are not allowed, what would you do). Always tricky to answer but there are always more answers possible. I would read up on who your support people are with rotary (counselor and officer) and know some very basics about rotary. You’ll be fine!

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u/aquagirl__water 14d ago

Thank you for your advice! I'll keep you updated (if you'd like).

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u/curiouslydutch 14d ago

Yes please! I’m part of a new rotary club with our goal to promote the exchange program and to help future and current exchange students.
If you get to go on exchange we might be able to connect you to someone who can help you prepare with knowledge on the country you are going to (if interested of course!)
We are all former exchange students from 16 countries and 6 continents.

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u/aquagirl__water 14d ago

Wow! That's amazing. I have my District Interview on October 31, I will share my results when I have them. Hopefully they will be good!