How we at D6690 solved our problem with “wimpy” American kids

Back then…

In January, 2008, half way through the exchange year, 50% of our outbounds were at risk of being sent home

Early return rates averaging over 10%

We obviously didn’t know how to select and/or train good outbounds

The “theory”: Our “wimpy” American kids are not as strong as the students from other countries. Too “cuddled” by their parents…

Results from the new approach

Immediate result:Home sickness decreased so dramatically that it was no longer a problem

Long term result:5 years (134 students) with zero kids wanting to come home earlyLast 5 years early returns: 2.4%Last 3 years early returns: 1.2%

Every student sends a report every month, and the reports tells about reality. Kids working through VERY tough situations, but never wanting to give up

A very high percentage of the students make very good choices

A very high percentage of students are recognized by hosting districts as great YE students

Our current overseas students are mentoring our new batch of outbounds

100% of the students attend the three day rebound weekend

In the words of one student…

“By the time we left, all of the 6690 students knew what was expected of them. I can honesty say that no other exchange students that I have met on exchange have had the amount of training we have had. When I tell them that we had 1 meeting per month they thought it sounded horrible, but in reality it's the complete opposite! I left for exchange feeling confident being backed by 6690 and everything that prepared me for my exchange.” Lily Perin, Brazil 2013-2014

Due to the size of your district, our solution might not be possible for your district, but maybe you can use some of it?

What we did

1. Dramatically increase pressure on students and parents2. Made every YE weekend mandatory for every student:

prospective long term and short term, in and outbounds3. Increased the dramatically the number of YE weekends:

(now 11 overnight YE weekends from August to July)4. Use the weekends to screen (and coach) outbounds5. Multiple training exercises at every weekend. 6. Always looking for and happy to implement new best

practices. (Special thanks to NAYEN!)

A “typical” YE weekend today

Timing: Saturday 1 PM to Sunday 9 AM

Ingredients: 30 outbounds, 20 inbounds, 3 rebounds, 10 committee members, food and shelter for 60+ people

Starts with a sharing exercise (i.e. fire place talk, shield exercise, etc.)

Activities: • Two formal training sessions• One informal training session• Service project (if a real project is available)• Activity with members of hosting club• Fun activity• Free time (also used for one-on-one talks with YE committee members)

processes we use

•Go “dark” for the first 30 days (both Long Term and short term), limit calls/Skype to home to 2 times per month, limit electronic communication after the first 30 days•4 research papers: Rotary, Home city/state/country, Host city/state/country, the deep culture of host country•6 Be’s (now 7 Be’s + Yes!) •YE student Creed + Tree of YE•Numerous Dennis White presentations: Inbound syndrome, Outsourced, etc. •Culture training games: Culture Experts, Puzzle, card game,etc. •Student’s PowerPoint presentations (pre, during, and post exchange)•Language camp•TED talks: “Your body language shapes who you are”, “Never, ever give up”, etc.•Dealing with host families•Resilience/grit test•Escalation process•Conflict resolution exercises•Staying Safe on YE•Rebound process

How it’s possible for us

Small district: 4 hours across

Comfortable putting pressure and requirements on students and parents

Paying for YE weekends (old way, new way)

Paying for R&D, training materials and experts (old way, new way)

Best practices from Multi-district, NAYEN, etc.

nayen.org

Our “goldmine”:

Walter Lundstrom

District 6690 (central and SE Ohio)

walterlundstrom@gmail.com

Please call or email with any questions