Emily and her husband Abel, and children Arlo and Elora.
Last week, we had a surprise speaker, Emily Bove, Michael and Riva Holmes’ exchange student from 23 years ago! When our scheduled speaker did not make it, Emily agreed to tell us about her Rotary exchange experience. She is originally from France and grew up in a town in the Alps. Her mother was British, so she spoke English, but the culture in the U.S. was a lot different than in France, so there was much to adjust to. While an exchange student, she attended a Catholic high school in Wisconsin. She said she arrived as a child left as adult. The experience taught her how to adapt and accept different ways of thinking. It also taught her to be kind to those adapting to you. The friendships she made were important to her and were from all over the world thru exchange program. She also found the love from her host families to be a wonderful experience. The exchange program set her up for what she does in life; it led her to want to do good in the world and she now works in international development on women’s rights empowerment. She has worked in several countries including Cameroon and Indonesia. She told us fun stories of her exchange experience including traveling to Chicago to see the Rotary headquarters. She also told us how her mother was the first woman who joined the local Rotary club – she became its first woman president and she was involved in the exchange program in France helping coordinate the students’ travel. Emily is a prime example of why the Rotary exchange program is such a wonderful gift to students around the world!