Hartford Rotary Club Youth Exchange

07/08 Youth Exchange Student

Angel M. Cano Mejorada from Mexico

06/07 Youth Exchange Students

Gabriela Leano Gonzalez "Gabi"

Gabi is from La Serena, Chili and she enjoys playing guitar, practicing every day for the past three years! She is involved in sports such as tennis and volleyball. You can catch her on the weekends riding her bicycle or on the beach. Her educational plans include attending the University of Chile in Santiago. She would further like to be an exchange student going to France. Gabi hopes her experience in Wisconsin will help improve her English and knowledge of our culture. Gabi is very close to her family back home but being independent she is looking forward to her experience here in Wisconsin!

Pierre Bourgin

Pierre is from northern France. He lives approximately 150 miles from Paris. Pierre enjoys music, sports, computer video games and hanging out with friends. He plays guitar like Gabi, but not every day. The sports Pierre especially enjoys are golf and squash. Pierre's career goal is to be in the aeronautic field probably as an engineer. He likes mathematics and science, physics and chemistry as well as biology and genetic sciences. In addition, Pierre loves to travel and has been to Germany, Poland, Czech Republic and the United States.

Would you like more information on the Rotary Youth Exchange Program? For more information select below:

Rotary International Youth Volunteer Affidavit

Rotary International Youth Protection Policy

Rotary International Abuse and Harassment Reporting Guidlines

Youth_Exchange_Application-Host Home

05/06 Youth Exchange Students

Juan Bautista Betances

Juan is from the Dominican Republic and is 18 years old. His birthday is June 22nd. Juan has 4 sisters and 2 brothers. He comes from a city called "Moca." He arrived in Hartford August 2, 2005. He has been practicing English because prior to his arrival he had only ONE YEAR of English! Juan is a senior At Hartford Union High School. He is enjoying the teachers and his classmates. He likes the people he has met and enjoys playing baseball. Juan is on a baseball team with his friends in the Dominican Republic. For this reason, he is looking forward to spring high school and being on the baseball team. Juan has experienced snow for the first time and has tried cross-country skiing and ice skating. He likes cross country skiing better! Juan is enjoying his host family and has tried many different kinds of foods. He likes apples, cheese and corn the best. Indian food, however, is his favorite!
To email Juan- juanherr1@yahoo.com

Surinder Pal Singh Chadha (Suri)
2004 Exchange Student

Suri was born on February 6, 1988 in Mumbai, (Bombay) India.

Suri arrived in Hartford in August of 2004. He was a junior at HUHS and is active at school. He loves the weather (ha ha), the community, his Rotary family and is great with little children. He is enjoying our fine cuisine in Hartford--pizza burgers. And, fast foods are now part of his daily nutrition. He has learned how to ski and shovel snow-which is handy in Wisconsin! Suri enjoys TV production and public speaking.

If you would like to email Surinder, you can send your email to surinder1988@hotmail.com

Miss Lindsay Hall

Miss Lily Lobo Padilla

Pictured above is Miss Lindsay Hall. Lindsay is Hartford Rotary Club's outgoing exchange student. She is a Hartford Union High School sophomore. Lindsay participates in swimming on the girl's fall team and manages the winter boy's swim team at HUHS. Lindsay enjoys reading, swimming, roller-blading and spending time with her friends and family. Lindsay comments, "I am very excited to be going to Germany as part of Hartford Rotary's wonderful exchange program introduced to me by my grandmother, who is a Rotarian."

Lily is one of two inbound exchange students for the 2002-2003 school year. Lily is seventeen years old and is coming from Tariba, Venezuela. She has two brothers and both of her parents are biology teachers. She enjoys music, sports and the Internet. Lily is known as a girl who is very polite and extremely interested in foreign people. Lily enjoys school and is an excellent student. Her interests lie in Spanish, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and physical education. Welcome Lily!

Dasha Silantieva

Dasha Silantieva is also seventeen and comes from Penza Russia. Her mother, Svetlana came to Wisconsin in 1999 on an adult internship program to study the food service industry in southeast Wisconsin. During that exchange, Svetlana expressed Dasha's desire to be an exchange student. Through the wonderful new Rotary Club of Voronezh Russia and Rotary District 6270 in southeastern Wisconsin and Hartford Rotary Club, applications and "paperwork" were done on both sides of the ocean which took approximately one year to complete. And, what great results! Hartford Rotary members look forward to Dasha's arrival for the 2002-2003 school year at Hartford Union High School.

Dasha's mother is manager of a company which produces mineral water, soft drinks and sunflower oil. Dasha's brother, Anton, is in college studying business. Dasha enjoys playing keyboard, tennis and "hanging out" with family and friends. She has studied English privately. Dasha enjoys mathematics and literature. Her home is 650 kilometers southeast of Moscow. Penza is a large industrial, scientific and cultural center with a population of 500,000. Russia is in a period of transition and the cost of education is an important concern of students. After college Dasha would like to start her own business. Her family has taken vacations to Cyprus, Turkey and Spain. Dasha is looking forward to her year in Hartford to learn the culture, customs and language. Welcome Dasha!

Lindsay with her grandmother,
Rotarian Sandra Kelly