Petaluma teen heading to Taiwan on exchange program

Petaluman Desiree Champagne-Terrell has always been an active part of Casa Grande High School, playing on the school’s varsity volleyball and softball teams, writing for the school newspaper and leading a community service group while balancing a 4.3 GPA.

Despite her deep involvement in her high school community, the 17-year-old won’t be returning to Casa Grande in the fall. Instead, she’ll be finishing her education thousands of miles away at an international school in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Terrell’s study abroad trip is being sponsored by the Petaluma Rotary Club, Petaluma Sunrise Rotary Club and Petaluma Valley Rotary Club as part of the longstanding Rotary Club Youth Exchange program, which places students with host families from more than 80 countries worldwide. For Terrell, who has always wanted to travel, being selected to participate was a dream come true.

“I found out about Rotary and all the things they do and their core values and I fell in love with the program; it’s the best, most supportive and safest program I have ever encountered,” she said.

When she applied for the program at the beginning of her junior year, she says she never imagined she would be accepted. But to her surprise, she continued to advance through the application process, and in January she received notice that she had been selected as the Petaluma Rotary’s student sponsor.

Paulie Johns, the Rotary club host family coordinator, explained the club chooses students it feels will represent the country in a positive way, and who will be willing to undertake an adventure.

“We prefer students who are articulate, curious, enjoy trying new things and meeting new people, and who are polite and respectful,” Johns said.

A month after she was notified of the decision, Terrell attended a ceremony with students who had been chosen by several other Rotary clubs in Northern California, along with teens from Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Taiwan, and Thailand, who had spent their year abroad studying in California. There, Terrell was told that she would be spending her senior year abroad in Taiwan; since then, she has been working to make contact with her host family and prepare for an adventure half a world away. Another Petaluma student, Talia Morones, is traveling through the Healdsburg Sunrise Rotary Club exchange program and will be studying in Sweden this fall.

Already interested in international affairs, Terrell said she’s thinking about studying foreign languages and majoring in Asian cultural studies, an area she would not have considered prior to joining the Rotary Youth Exchange.

“Studying abroad means expanding your horizons exponentially,” she said. “I have learned more about myself in the year leading up to this than I have learned in all my 17 years.”

Students that have gone through the RYE program can attest to its transformative nature. In 2013, Kate Lane traveled to Alcalá de Henares, Spain, as part of the gap year program.

“I would say that Rotary Youth Exchange empowered me to be an advocate for myself, be comfortable with myself, understand how much of my identity is shaped by my culture, and I learned to listen, observe, and interact with people across cultures,” said Lane, who now studies at Macalester College in Minnesota. “My time in Spain challenged me in ways that I could not have anticipated, and it was a beautiful and formative time as a result.”

While in Kaohsiung, Terrell will be studying at the National Kanghan Agricultural and Industrial Vocational Senior High School, where she’ll be able to choose from one of 12 fields of study. The Rotary, which provides a small living stipend, requires that student ambassadors attend school regularly and participate in the Rotary meetings of their host district each month.

Learning and being open about the culture and lifestyle of another country is the primary emphasis of this program, since many international credits don’t transfer onto an American high school transcript. Terrell proved her resilience when, in December, she completely altered the track of her junior year and took steps to ensure that she could not only study abroad during her senior year, but that she could also still graduate on time. This spring she took classes at Santa Rosa Junior College to fulfill her credit requirements for a high school diploma.

Despite the adjustment, Terrell is looking forward to getting a global perspective, she said.

“(Taiwan) is an amazing overlooked gem in this massive world we live in,” she said. “I hope to see all Taiwan has to offer, taste every food, and experience every corner of the country.”

Now, with only two months remaining before she leaves, Terrell plans on keeping up with Mandarin and raising money to fund to cost of insurance, travel documents, airfare, and additional traveling. To make a donation and support her trip, visit gofundme.com/cs8a3zdg.

(Contact Ella Ban at argus@arguscourier.com.)