This was actually an essay I had to write when I applied to do exchange so it's pretty formal, but it shows just why I'm so excited about RYE.
My path to Italy began sophomore year, with a marble jar activity the wellness counselors had every tenth-grade girl do. As they passed out papers with about a hundred words and a picture of a marble jar on them, I was reminded of kindergarten marble jars, where the class gets a marble for every good deed and extra recess when the jar is full. But the words on the paper were all values, and we had to narrow the list to our top three. The marble jar, then, represented our trust with someone – if their actions align with your values, you put marbles into their ‘jar of trust’. And for some reason, the values I picked wouldn’t leave my mind. Seeing them on paper – understanding, wholeheartedness, and vulnerability – made what I value more real.
But I didn’t realize I was living according to these values until I went to Ms. Luna to ask her thoughts on giving a speech I wrote about growing up with a disabled sibling on junior retreat. She gave me a piece of advice I will never forget: that as long as something aligns with my values, only good can come from it.
Then, almost a year after I gave my speech, college applications hit. It wasn’t until November 2nd that I could finally breathe without another essay hanging over my head. And of course, that morning my dad asked me about the Rotary youth exchange application, which was due in two weeks. I thought of how amazing sophomore year was, when my family hosted a Rotary exchange student. So, although I dreaded writing another essay, I pulled out my computer once more. And as I went through the process of researching and applying and preparing for my interview, something struck me: everything about Rotary youth exchange aligns with my values.
A Rotary Ambassador must, first of all, be understanding. Understanding encompasses so many other things, too: patience, awareness, acceptance. I don’t think anyone could survive a year abroad without the patience to learn a new language, or the patience to wait for your accent to (hopefully) fade. That patience, however, would mean nothing without the awareness that things will be different, and difficult, but that it will be worth it a thousand times over in the end. And I must be accepting, because I’ll need to embrace an entirely new culture.
An exchange student also must be wholehearted, because exchange is not something to be taken lightly. But seeing the way I throw myself into the things I love – like spending every weekend of spring semester at water polo tournaments – I know I will approach my year abroad with the openness it requires.
And finally, maybe more than anything, exchange depends on vulnerability. Thankfully, vulnerability is the value I believe to be more important than anything else, and the one I try my absolute hardest to live by. I actually took a class on vulnerability last year, taught by Ms. Luna. What I learned was that while it can feel as terrifying as jumping off a cliff, what being vulnerable really does is form relationships. Vulnerability is at the root of one of my favorite Rotary sayings: that it’s not a year in a life, but a life in a year. To live, or at least live meaningfully, means that you must be vulnerable. And if anything is living meaningfully, it’s exchange. So the value I place on vulnerability is what will shape that year-long life for me, and it’s what will give it meaning beyond compare.
Ms. Luna’s advice still hasn’t left me: that if something aligns with my values, only good can come from it. I’ve lived in that goodness for the past four years at St. Agnes. And I know that I will be surrounded by it when I am standing in the airport, about to go home for the first time in a year, looking at the people and place I will love, because I will live my year as my understanding, wholehearted, and vulnerable self.