There is bravery in venturing out of one’s comfort zone. The Partnership Scholars Program in large part focuses on fostering this very bravery in our scholars, encouraging them to try new things, explore all possibilities and answer when opportunity knocks. Upon entry into PSP, many students in the program find it hard to imagine leaving their small communities, let alone traveling across the country. Some see the scholarship as a means to begin exploring the world. One such scholar is Jonas Anderson, recent Ukiah High School graduate and current Rotary International Youth Exchange Ambassador in Paraguay where he is studying for a year before starting college.

Jonas first heard about the Rotary Youth Exchange program two years ago when a friend applied. At the time, Jonas’s mother was working for a local nonprofit organization that was doing a presentation for the exchange program and asked Jonas if he was interested in applying. Having taken four years of Spanish in high school, studying in Paraguay or Argentina made sense to him. “Most people do their junior year of high school,” says Jonas. “I was a little late to that, so I got everything out of the way early.” Jonas completed all of his high school requirements last year and walked with the graduating class of 2016.  Essentially, his year in Paraguay functions as a “gap year” as he continues to take high school classes through the exchange program beginning college in the United States next fall. “Right now what I do is I go to school five days a week at a high school here and I try to follow along in Spanish and Guarani, the indigenous language,” says Jonas.
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