Youth Services

Rotary Youth Exchange inbound student Feli from Argentina is a keen sports fan so a highlight of his spring school holidays was an outing to the Bledisloe Cup, his birthday gift from the club. However, Sam was the only member pleased about his choice of shirt!  He also went to the Perth Royal Show and travelled to regional WA, visiting Katanning and Busselton. He was most impressed with the Australian bush. Finally, the holidays finished with a camp for the inbound students organised by Rotary Youth Exchange WA.

RYLA is an intensive eight-day program designed for 18-28 year olds with leadership potential and a commitment to community service. This a unique opportunity aimed to bring participants out of their comfort zone and challenge them to think outside the square, while actively using and building on their existing skills and knowledge. RYLA 2025 will be held at the Serpentine Camping Centre from Saturday 10 January – Saturday 17 January 2026. Karrinyup Rotary prefers to sponsor young people who are already volunteering in the community. Contact Eddy Giacomel.

Youth Director Eddy Giacomel introduced Daniel Stayt, who attended the 2025 London International Youth Science Forum (LIYSF). Currently studying Frontier Physics at UWA, he was Karrinyup Rotary's 2024 National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) participant in Canberra, while in his final year at Warwick SHS. Daniel was jointly sponsored to participate in the London event through the collaboration of the Karrinyup and Scarborough Rotary Clubs. Community Director Jerry Pilcher from the Rotary Club of Scarborough is seen here with Daniel and Eddy.

Mambwe Nsanje introduced Zari Reed, a Karrinyup Rotary participant in the September 2025 Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment (RYPEN). Our 2025-2026 Rotary Youth Exchange student, Feli Villaro, also completed the program. Mambwe had completed the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program for 18-28 year olds earlier this year and has since become a coordinator for the younger participants' program. RYPEN is for Year 10 students who have leadership potential and demonstrate other positive personal attributes and who are actively involved in the community.

Youth Director Eddy Giacomel introduced our 2025-2026 Inbound Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) student, Feli, from Argentina. Feli has been an active member of our club since he arrived in Perth in late July. Dressed to impress in a traditional gaucho costume, Feli told us about himself, his country and his town. He described the history, geography, climate, wildlife, some famous landmarks, sports, culture and traditional foods. As a special surprise for everyone to enjoy after the meal, he had prepared alfajores, sweet treats comprising two cookies joined with dulce de leche. They were delicious!

Karrinyup Rotary 2025-2026 Rotary Youth Exchange inbound student from Argentina, Feli has been in Perth for just under two weeks. In his first report to the club, he related some of the highlights of his first experiences. These included seeing kangaroos up close, his first day at school - where he found everyone to be very friendly, an outing to Toastmasters with Eddy and Murray, finding taekwondo to be quite different to what he is accustomed to in Argentina, visiting the Stirling Farmers Market - where he got to ring the bell, cooking empanadas for Eddy and Jenny and, best of all, going to the Eagles game with Mick. He is now a fan of AFL! 

The Rotary Club of Karrinyup was delighted this week to welcome 2025 - 2026 Inbound Rotary Youth Exchange student Feli from Argentina. While Feli has been in Perth for a few weeks, this was his first chance to meet most of the club members. During his exchange year, Feli will stay with several different host families to broaden his cultural experience of our country. He is attending Warwick SHS, where he has already made friends. Karrinyup Rotary has supported Rotary Youth Exchange for most of our fifty-plus years.

'Dzien Dobry' from Ellen in Poland, who sent a copy of her report of her activities over the last two months. Along with other exchange students from all over the world, she participated in a two-week tour around Poland, organised by Rotary. A highlight was a visit to a campground in Lodz, where, as well as enjoying camping and bonfires, the students had a wonderful time enjoying water sports such as kayaking and jet skiing.

Trish Lynch introduced Karrinyup Rotary's 2024-2025 Inbound Rotary Youth Exchange student from Austria Viki to give the final presentation on her exchange year in Australia. Viki described her expectations of Australia, how they differed from the reality, some cultural differences, what she will miss the most when she goes home, some of her amazing experiences and how her Rotary Youth Exchange year has changed her as a person. Above all, she expressed her sincere gratitude to all her host families and to the club for making this life changing experience possible.

Over the past several weeks, Karrinyup Rotary members have been preparing a welcome banner for the arrival of our 2025-2026 Inbound Rotary Youth Exchange student. A group of club members, together with his first host parents, gathered at Perth Domestic Airport for the arrival of Feli from Trenque Lauquen, Argentina via Buenas Aires, Santiago and Melbourne. Feli was delighted to be here and is looking forward to spending an amazing year with us. See Facebook photo.

At her farewell to the Karrinyup Rotary Club, Viki expressed her grateful thanks with flowers to host parents Jane & Chris, Kay & Peter and Samantha & Michael for providing a warm family home during her exchange year. Unfortunately, her fourth family, Emma and Gareth, were unable to be present. Without the generosity of our wonderful host families the Rotary Youth Exchange program would not be possible. It is a wonderful experience for both the family and the students. If you would think you might like to be a host family, please contact Youth Director Eddy Giacomel for further information.

Youth Service Director Eddy Giacomel introduced Mofya, a Karrinyup Rotary participant in the May 2025 Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment (RYPEN). This program is for Year 10 students, who have leadership potential and demonstrate other positive personal attributes, who are actively involved in the community. In thanking the club, Mofya spoke positively about her experience saying that she had gained good leadership and problem solving skills to help her grow in confidence and work better when out of her comfort zone.

Karrinyup Rotary's Inbound Rotary Youth Exchange student, Viki from Austria, shared highlights of her amazing experience on the Northwest Safari, which took her to Mount Magnet, Karajini, Coral Bay, Monkey Mia, Kalbarri, Sandy Cape and the Pinnacles. As well as forming lasting friendships with fellow exchange students from all over the world, she celebrated a birthday to remedber, while on the road.

Ellen reported that she has not only been having a great time in Poland on exchange, but has recently had the opportunity to go on an amazing tour around Europe. Rotary organised the trip for all the exchange students in Poland, who travelled by bus, passing through several different countries, viewing a lot of iconic scenes and sights. She said it was also lovely to meet so many different people from different places and she has made some great friends. She expressed her gratitude to the club for sponsoring her to go to Poland and have all these one in a life time experiences.

Youth Exchange student mentor Trish Lynch introduced Karrinyup Rotary's 2024 Outbound Rotary Youth Exchange student to Germany Ewan Upson. Ewan, who is the club's first post COVID outbound student, described his amazing year outlining some of the different aspects and the highlights. Ewan also described how he had changed during the year. He mentioned that around the six month mark, the language just clicked with him. He has also become more confident and independent. He said he will be eternally grateful to Rotary for this amazing experience.

Ellen says 'Dzien Dobry from Poland! Here are some photos of my time in Poland this last month or so. Recently I have changed my host families. I am now with Darek and Ania, whose son Filip will be going on exchange to Perth with the Rotary Club of Matilda Bay! They took me to a very nice city a couple hours West of Warsaw called Wroclaw! We also had a trip organised by our youth exchange officer to the Polish news company’s studio.

Currently the Rotary Club of Karrinyup Youth Services group has a small budget to provide funding for local youth organisation volunteers, who reside or volunteer in 'our patch'. The purpose is for them to complete initial or refresher training to gain or maintain such qualifications they may require to perform their volunteer role. Audrey Repsevicius completed the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program through Karrinyup Rotary in 2021 and serves the community as a volunteer Girl Guide Unit Leader. She used the grant to fund a required update to her First Aid qualfication. Audrey thanked the club for the support. 

In this week's update, Viki told us all about her adventures during the school holidays. These included: a trip to the zoo, where she decided her favourite animal was the numbat, a day at the Royal Show with friends, a visit to the beach, attending Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment (RYPEN) camp, a Rotary Youth Exchange briefing weekend and an outing with her host parents to the King's Park - The Trees Speak. She was most impressed by this event, which portrayed some amazing visuals.

As part of our Youth Service, Karrinyup Rotary again sponsored three students to attend the 2025 National Youth Science Forum (NYSF). Our 2025 students, Isobel Gomez, Joshua Polmear and Toby Iglio, all currently attend Warwick SHS. In their presentations, the students each described their experience at NYSF, an annual program, which brings together hundreds of Year 12 students from all around Australia. The program is designed to encourage young people in their passion for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

Rotary Youth Exchange Coordinator Trish Lynch introduced our 2024-2025 Inbound Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) student Viki, from Austria. Viki has been an active member of our club since her arrival in Perth in late July. Our students' presentations, where they describe themselves and their home country, are always most interesting and Viki's presentation was outstanding. It was lovely to have her host families, District Placement Officer, our 2025 RYE Outbound student Ellen and Mandurah District's Inbound RYE student Eliane from Switzerland join us for the evening.

Youth Director Eddy Giacomel introduced our graduates from the 2025 RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) program. Mambwe and Shaun shared of their experiences of the week long course, which they attended in January, sponsored by Karrinyup Rotary. The pair spoke glowingly of a jam packed, sleep deprived week with many highlights. These included new learning experiences, the amazing diverse group of thirty nine participants, making new friendships, experiencing teamwork, public speaking and gaining a huge boost to their self-confidence.

In her second update to the club, Viki shared how she has now made a few friends at school. She particularly enjoyed the sports carnival day, as she doesn't have anything like this in her Austrian school. While she did not excel at the sporting activities, she had fun participating with her friends. She has now moved to her second host family. She thanked Eddy for taking her to a Toastmaster's Meeting, where she was challenged to give an impromptu two minute speech. 

The Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program offers young men and women between the ages of 18 and 25 years an opportunity to attend a residential seminar designed to develop their leadership skills. RC Karrinyup sponsored two worthy participants to the 2025 RYLA program held recently. Shaun Giacomel and Mambwe Nsanje seen here with club members Eddy and Nchima. Shaun and Mambwe will present an account of their experience to members at the club meeting on 11 March.

Karrinyup Rotary's 2023-2024 Rotary Youth Exchange Inbound student from Poland, Karolina has now been with us for six months. She gave an extended report telling us it has been a lot of fun and how much she has learned. Her time has been filled with amazing people, new homes, new adventures and new amazing friends for life. There have been so many firsts, including surfing lessons, Christms away from home, a selfie with a quokka and loads of photos to record her experiences. Check out the pdf of her presentation.

Karrinyup Rotary has a long history of Rotary Youth Exchange and is excitedly looking forward to meeting our second Inbound exchange student since COVID terminated the program in 2020. At the end of July, we will welcome 15-year-old Viki from Austria. During the year she will stay with four different host families. Her first family wil be Kay and Peter Durrant. She will attend Warwick SHS. Her hobbies are volleyball, tennis, guitar, reading, drawing and crafts. She has also expressed an interest in cooking, swimming, surfing and sailing. Club members are encouraged to invite her for meals and/or to participate in family outings, most especially during the early weeks, when she has yet to make friends. In this way, she can get to know us better. Contact her mentor Trish Lynch to organise.