A Year in Brazil
Donation protected
Hi everyone! My name is Dasie, I am currently a senior in high school and, recently, I got accepted into a a program called Rotary Youth Exchange. Seeing as I'm graduating this year, I will be doing the exchange next year as a gap year between high school and college. This program is an amazing opportunity for high school students to spend 10 months completely immersed in a foreign culture.
In Rotary, we can go to countries all around the world and become fluent in the language and experts on the culture through a process called total immersion. If you don't know what total immersion is, its basically a process in which we (the exchange students) will spend our time with a family that lives in our country of choice, called a host family, and be treated as a citizen of that country for the duration of our stay. I, myself, will be going to Brazil, and am currently in the process of learning Portuguese.
This program is beneficial because, unlike studying abroad in college, we aren't sent over with a large group of English speakers, so we will be forced to use the language and to step outside our comfort zones a bit. Also, with the total price being around $4000, we will be getting more for our money, including insurance, a monthly stipend of spending money that will come out of our payment, longer than just a semester or two abroad, and potentially going on multiple vacations with our host families depending on whether they're going on a vacation and whether they want to take us with them or not.
I have always wanted to travel the world, so when I found out about this program, I was ecstatic. Despite coming from a poor family, I applied to the program and immediately got a job working at Bob Evans, determined to pay my way in case I got accepted. In school, I am in the International Baccalaureate Program, which is a set of highly rigorous classes taken over the span of two year, with extremely difficult exams at the end of our senior year which dictate whether or not we get the IB Diploma. I am also in several extra-curricular activities, such as singing in my church choir, Girl Scouts, and participating in Track&Field at my school. Because of these factors, I am unable to work all days of the week and I typically only get to work 11-13 hours a week. On top of this, my dad is currently in jail until April, which caused him to (obviously) lose his job, and my mom only makes a couple hundred dollars every two weeks from running an in-home daycare, most of which has to go towards bills and things for the house. Part of my earnings have to go towards taxi fare in order to get to and from work and occasionally buying household supplies on the weeks between my mom getting paid. After considering all of these factors, I decided to take the advice of a close friend and search for sponsors to assist in my payments.
I'm hoping that, with our combined efforts, I will be able to obtain this portion of the required money by the end of February and, I'd like you to know that even the smallest donation will mean the world to me. By giving me even the smallest bit of money, you would be helping to push me towards my dreams of travelling the globe and learning more about our world and the people living in it. If you do choose to assist me, I am so, so very grateful to you, and if you choose not to, then thank you for even taking the time to read about me. Regardless, I am thanking you with my whole heart.
In Rotary, we can go to countries all around the world and become fluent in the language and experts on the culture through a process called total immersion. If you don't know what total immersion is, its basically a process in which we (the exchange students) will spend our time with a family that lives in our country of choice, called a host family, and be treated as a citizen of that country for the duration of our stay. I, myself, will be going to Brazil, and am currently in the process of learning Portuguese.
This program is beneficial because, unlike studying abroad in college, we aren't sent over with a large group of English speakers, so we will be forced to use the language and to step outside our comfort zones a bit. Also, with the total price being around $4000, we will be getting more for our money, including insurance, a monthly stipend of spending money that will come out of our payment, longer than just a semester or two abroad, and potentially going on multiple vacations with our host families depending on whether they're going on a vacation and whether they want to take us with them or not.
I have always wanted to travel the world, so when I found out about this program, I was ecstatic. Despite coming from a poor family, I applied to the program and immediately got a job working at Bob Evans, determined to pay my way in case I got accepted. In school, I am in the International Baccalaureate Program, which is a set of highly rigorous classes taken over the span of two year, with extremely difficult exams at the end of our senior year which dictate whether or not we get the IB Diploma. I am also in several extra-curricular activities, such as singing in my church choir, Girl Scouts, and participating in Track&Field at my school. Because of these factors, I am unable to work all days of the week and I typically only get to work 11-13 hours a week. On top of this, my dad is currently in jail until April, which caused him to (obviously) lose his job, and my mom only makes a couple hundred dollars every two weeks from running an in-home daycare, most of which has to go towards bills and things for the house. Part of my earnings have to go towards taxi fare in order to get to and from work and occasionally buying household supplies on the weeks between my mom getting paid. After considering all of these factors, I decided to take the advice of a close friend and search for sponsors to assist in my payments.
I'm hoping that, with our combined efforts, I will be able to obtain this portion of the required money by the end of February and, I'd like you to know that even the smallest donation will mean the world to me. By giving me even the smallest bit of money, you would be helping to push me towards my dreams of travelling the globe and learning more about our world and the people living in it. If you do choose to assist me, I am so, so very grateful to you, and if you choose not to, then thank you for even taking the time to read about me. Regardless, I am thanking you with my whole heart.
Organizer and beneficiary
Dasie Nordick
Organizer
Wooster, OH
Jenny L Moser
Beneficiary
