The Rotary Club of Osoyoos has “adopted” Sylvia Mott, left, a teen from Summerland, who they are sponsoring as an “outbound” student on a youth exchange to Germany. At right is club president Brian Rawlings. (Richard McGuire photo)
When Sylvia Mott flies to Germany this week for nearly a year, she’ll be thrust into a culture she’s never yet experienced and a language she barely knows.
But the recent high school graduate will find herself adopted by a family ready to welcome her, thanks to the Rotary Club Youth Exchange.
Mott, from Summerland, has also been “adopted” by the Rotary Club of Osoyoos as this year’s “outbound” student. There were no applicants from Osoyoos this year, even though the local Rotary club tries to sponsor both an “outbound” and “inbound” young person each year.
Mott was guest speaker at the Rotary Club of Osoyoos weekly lunch meeting on Thursday and she gave the Rotarians a preview in English of a presentation about Canada that she plans to give to her German host club.
Mott applied to the Rotary Youth Exchange program last year, hoping to go to South America, but she was unable to win a spot. So this year she applied again, hoping to go to South America or Asia.
The exchanges are open to people between the ages of 15 and 19 who have demonstrated leadership in their school and community, are willing to try new things, are open to cultural differences and who can serve as an ambassador for their own country, according to Rotary International.
“Actually Germany was never on my list, but with Rotary it’s a bit of a tossup, so you have to be willing to go anywhere in the world,” Mott says. “I was, and so I was surprised to find out I was going to Germany, but I am really looking forward to it.”
Mott wasn’t chosen for Summerland this year – she was the runner up – but because Osoyoos didn’t have a local applicant picked this year, the club here agreed to sponsor her.
She’ll be going to Heiligenhaus, a town of about 27,000 people between Düsseldorf and Essen, not far from the Netherlands. The name of the town means “Holy House.”
It is the ancestral home of the late U.S. author John Steinbeck, known for such books as The Grapes of Wrath.
Mott has been to Europe before with her family, but never to Germany. Asked how much German she speaks, she replies: “Ein bisschen” – a little – and says she’s been practicing with friends from Germany and with Duolingo on the internet.
Her exposure will be eased by the family she’ll be staying with. Every member of the family except the baby has written her to welcome her.
“I’ve been in contact most with the host father and he speaks very good English,” said Mott. “So he’s been writing back and forth.”
She’ll take the place of the family’s own daughter, who is on an exchange to the United States.
Although Mott has already graduated high school in Summerland, she’ll be attending a German high school in the equivalent of Grade 10 – she chose that because the higher grades are more geared to graduation preparation and are more intense.
“That’s fine,” she said when asked how it will feel to go back to Grade 10. “They’ll be the same height as me and they probably won’t know I’m any older. And I’ll be speaking like a two-year-old.”
Mott said she’s wanted to travel for a long time and looked into various exchanges.
“The Rotary one really stood out for me,” she said. “You really get to meet local people and be immersed in the local culture and not just the holiday culture. But with Rotary, not only do you have your host family and your host school and community to be part of, but you have the whole Rotary community.”
She hopes to have an opportunity to volunteer and travel a bit around Germany.
“These Rotary clubs are very welcoming and they want to give students as many opportunities as possible to experience things like that,” she said.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
