What makes someone want to spend his or her junior year 3,786 miles away from home? Simple: a true sense of wanderlust and “a great chance to explore my genealogy,” explained Fair Haven Union High School student Vivian Ladabouche, who is heading to Pori, Finland.
Vivian is one of eleven students participating in this year’s Rotary Youth Exchange study abroad program. The organization called Eastern States Student Exchange (ESSEX) is a consortium that consists of Rotary Districts in New England and the Middle Atlantic States. The Fair Haven Rotary Club is part of this association. Out of the eleven students traveling overseas, ESSEX has three placements for Finland–Vivian was selected as one.
Last summer, Vivian experienced her first international trip. Through a non-profit organization, she delivered supplies and clothing to a secondary school and orphanage in Kenya. Before her trip, in the spring of 2022, Vivian created a fundraising campaign for donations that were shipped to Kenya and later distributed there. “Spending two weeks in Kenya was so eye-opening,” Vivian said. “I knew I wanted to see more of the world.”
Although Kenya is roughly twice as far away as Finland, the Youth Exchange program will be a lot longer–twenty-five times longer! Vivian departs on August 5th and will not return home until mid-July, 2024.
Vivian began applying for this opportunity in November, 2022. The first step was an in-person interview with members from the ESSEX program. Upon passing the initial interview, she attended several seminars on the full process of the program. Next, Vivian wrote a letter introducing herself and sharing her reasons for wanting to visit Finland and what she hopes to achieve during her stay. This letter helped the organization place Vivian with her host family. In June, 2023, long after learning her placement, she participated in an overnight seminar on emergency situations and other “what-ifs.”
Upon arrival in Finland, Vivian will jump directly into a six-day intensive language camp. Immediately after, she will start school at Porin Lukio. Porin Lukio is an upper secondary school, where students range in age from 16 to 18 years old. There are over 1,200 students in attendance–a bit larger than Fair Haven Union High School. Porin Lukio has a specialized program in which some classes are taught in English. It was established to help Finnish
students learn English. Other classes are taught in native Finnish. When we spoke, Vivian had not yet selected her coursework.
Vivian will be living in Pori–the tenth largest city in Finland–with her host family, which has three children. The oldest child is also taking part in this program and will be spending a year in California. It is customary for exchange students to have more than one host family during their stay in a foreign country. Vivian will have two. She will stay with the first family until Christmas and will move in with her second host family shortly thereafter. Both families are located in Pori.
Although host families may choose to take their foreign exchange students to scenic recreational locations, it is not an expectation, since the Rotary program connects with third parties to arrange such excursions. In November, Vivian is slated to travel to the northernmost region of Finland, which is known as Lapland. While there, she hopes to see the spectacular northern lights, the midnight sun, and, of course, reindeer. In March, Vivian will travel to Sweden and then, in June, she will take a two-week tour of Europe–all thanks to third-party arrangements made by the Rotary Club.
We wish Vivian the safest of travels and the best of times. Stay tuned for follow up articles. Fair Haven Union High School will possibly be hosting a student from Paraguay. If you are interested in the Rotary Youth Exchange program, whether to take part, or be a host family, please contact Colleen Ringquist at ringquistcolleen@gmail.com or call her at 802-345-8510.