foreign exchange student feature and description of program with sunrise rotary estes park
For the past ten months, 17-year-old Lucia “Lucy” Miano has made her home in Estes Park, Colo. She is from Genoa, Italy, more than 5,000 miles away.
Miano was chosen to be a Rotary youth exchange student through the Estes Valley Sunrise Rotary Club of Estes Park and the Rotary Club of Estes Park.
When Miano arrived last August, she was taken aback somewhat in that Estes Park seemed so rural to her.
“Where is your Target and your mall?” asked Miano.
Once she discovered that those familiar shopping spaces did not exist in Estes Park, she quickly learned about Dollar General and Dollar Tree. Of course, she was always very excited to go down in the valley so she could do more of her favorite shopping.
During her first few months in Estes Park, she lived with Dr. Jim and Joannie Jonell. They quickly became very attached to her and truly love her as their own. After Christmas, she moved in with her second host family, Randy and Karis Kemp and daughter Bennett. Her third and final host family was Devon and Stacey Jacobs and their daughter Delila. All three host families had dogs around to keep her from missing her dog in Italy too much.
All three host families took her to new and exciting places in Colorado and nearby states to see as much of America as possible. She was also very much a part of the Rotary District 5440 Youth Exchange student activities across northern Colorado. This group of Rotary District 5440 Youth Exchange students finished their stays with a 10-day private coach trip to California prior to returning to their home countries.
Miano really enjoyed attending Rotary meetings with both Rotary Clubs in Estes Park and volunteered for some of the community service projects. While in Estes Park, she helped with a Rotary Interact club that was piloted at the middle school and will become a formal Interact club next year. This club is for students who have a desire to practice the Rotary motto: Service above Self.
Students are invited to attend an official Rotary meeting with the Sunrise Rotary Club to experience how a meeting is conducted.
“Rotary makes the world smaller, and I now have friends from all over the world,” said Miano.
This comment sums up the mature, positive attitude she showed while here. There were difficult times in the beginning when she wondered if she would adjust to smaller town U.S.A., but in the end it was quite bittersweet to say goodbye.
She was also able to participate in projects and activities to support other nonprofits as well, including Crossroads Ministry. For this article she shared these experiences helped her learn the culture and the U.S. traditions.
One of her favorite things she mentioned was pumpkin spice. She had not enjoyed that flavor in Italy and likes it in coffee, pie and pastries. She also became especially fond of the Thanksgiving holiday foods and traditions.
Miano commented that she had many great experiences, but one that will always stick with her was her experience in high school in Estes Park. She loved the football games, homecoming and prom, and the activities from her many family and Rotary trips: rafting, attending ice-hockey games, surfing, visiting a few hot springs and being able to be out in nature much of the time.
“Being a part of an exchange program is an amazing opportunity for growth and maturing, and while there can (and usually are) some hurdles or obstacles that seem difficult at the time, they were all learning experiences that made any new challenge seem less monumental,” said Miano.
It was very clear to her counselor/advocate from Estes Valley Sunrise Rotary Club, Stacey Cole-Winsor, that she had the best attitude and acceptance for things as they’d occur and continually had an open mind to work through challenges.
While Miano was in the U.S., her parents hosted an exchange student from South Carolina in their home in Italy. Her parents visited Estes Park in May, when Lucia had the privilege to graduate from Estes Park High School, even though she will have a rigorous final year of high school in Italy this fall. Lucy was delighted to be their tour guide and show them parts of Colorado that she had experienced and had become favorites for her.
The Rotary Youth Exchange program is available to students who are interested to learn a new language, discover another culture and truly becoming global citizens. Exchanges for students ages 15-19 are sponsored by Rotary clubs in more than 100 countries. If you are interested in knowing more information about becoming a host family for an inbound student or being a Rotary sponsored outbound student, please see or contact Stacey Cole-Winsor at [email protected].
The Estes Valley Sunrise Rotary Club meets on Tuesday mornings for breakfast and a meeting. The Estes Park Rotary Club meets at noon on Thursdays. Both groups meet at the American Legion Post #119 located at 850 N. St. Vrain Avenue, Estes Park.
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