When asked what she was most surprised by about an American high school, Virginia Girello said jokingly, “People were not dancing on the tables and singing like in ‘High School Musical.’”

After she and her classmate and exchange partner, Tristan De Meyere, shared a laugh, they then relayed — one after the other — the same serious answer: Everybody here is very friendly and it’s easy to make friends here. 

The pair stood outside Sedona Red Rock High School, both wearing blue blazers adorned with a plethora of pins collected from their travels and events. The apparel communicates that they are part of the Rotary International’s Youth Exchange Program and are being hosted by Rotary District 5495, which covers all of Phoenix and the Verde Valley. 

Girello is from Saluzzo, Italy, whereas De Meyere hails from Charleroi, Belgium — their first languages are Italian and French, respectively. 

“Belgium is pretty flat, so we don’t have mountains and stuff, and so just seeing everything here is mindblowing and breathtaking,” said De Meyere, who went on to applaud the goldilocks weather of Sedona — “not too warm, not too hot, unlike in Phoenix.” 

“I knew about the vortex thing,” De Meyere said. 

He didn’t research much about the geography of the area beforehand so as to be as surprised and unbiased as possible heading into his new temporary home.

“It is a lot different knowing about the experience than when you are actually living it,” Girello said, who hadn’t anticipated the physical size of SRRHS’ building nor the relative ease of academically adjusting to an American high school’s curriculum.

Jennette Bill, who heads the Rotary Youth Program for Sedona, said that foreign students are often surprised by the ability to play sports in American high schools. De Meyere joined the swim team and photo club while Girello jumped at the opportunity to be a cheerleader and soccer player.

Bill said that most students she has interacted with over the years have told her that their schools back home don’t offer school-supported sports, and since academics are often more rigorous or time consuming in Europe, most students don’t have the time or money to join these external clubs.

“They come already knowing a good bit of English and so the classes aren’t the hardest thing for them,” she said. 

“They don’t get put into the hardest classes for one thing, nor is it a year that really counts toward their education back at home, so they play sports here to make friends.” “Our Brazilian student last year said ‘I’m going out for baseball, we don’t have baseball back home and I want to try this experience.’” she said. 

According to Bill, there are 12 exchange students throughout District 5495, De Meyere and Girello being the only two in Sedona. Bill recently hosted the 12, letting them camp out in her backyard before a big day trip to Cathedral Rock. 

The students also attended Rotary Youth Leadership Awards camp over the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, where they coordinated with other students both local and international on several fun and competitive games. 

“The teams were broken up country,” Bill said. 

“You had Team Italy and Team Belgium, so it was so much fun and the kids returned just so full of energy.” 

“We let these kids know they are ambassadors for their country,” Bill said. 

“We do feel like Rotary’s philosophy on it is — this how you bring about peace in the world, having friendships in the world and having people see that Americans are good people through these kids.” 

In order to qualify for the outbound program, Sedona students have to maintain a high GPA, complete several essays, excel in an interview process and demonstrate that they have been involved in community service.It is a true exchange program, meaning that while Sedona hosts De Meyere and Girello, two SRRHS students have been sent abroad. 

One of the two Sedona students came back early from Germany, but Miranda DeAngelo is currently in Sweden maintaining a blog of her travels within the country as well as to places nearby, like Copenhagen, Denmark. 

Bill said that, by far, the greatest benefit for Sedona students going abroad is that they will be hosted by a partnering Rotary International chapter that will help the student make lifelong friends. 

“They go home with this wonderful cadre of friends, and in today’s day and age they can easily keep in touch with each other,” Bill said. 

However, there is typically not a high amount of applicants from Sedona seeking to go abroad as part of the Rotary Youth Program. 

“It’s not for everybody. It has to be for somebody that is adventuresome and really likes that idea of travel,” Bill said. 

For those who want to dip their toes in the water first, Rotary offers a less intensive summer month exchange program. Bill said that this experience has often been the deciding factor for students as to whether they think they could handle the full-term exchange program. 

Bill said that Rotary District 5495 is looking to identify one more host family for a Sedona student looking to go abroad.Each hostee student rotates between three host families so as to help gain a more nuanced picture of the American lifestyle; the program requires that the outgoing student identify the three families to host the incoming student before they can be fully accepted to go abroad. Families who are interested in being one host family among three for a single incoming student can contact the Rotary Club of Sedona.