Rotary Club of Zionsville president Roger Oberweiser is hosting a special visitor.
As part of the Rotary Youth Exchange Program, Paul Massuard, from France, is staying with the family and attending Zionsville Community High School. The Oberweiser family is one of three he’ll stay with during the school year.
“He’s with us until after Thanksgiving,” said Oberweiser of Massuard, who arrived Aug. 2. “He’ll live with another family to around spring break, and then another one.”
The club hosted a female student from Finland last school year.
“We sent a girl from Zionsville to Italy last year,” Oberweiser said. “This is the second year we are back into hosting. We sent a student to Thailand probably five or six years ago, and before that I’m not sure what our last foray with this program was.”
The Rotary Youth Exchange is a well-run global program, Oberweiser said.
“For Rotary, it’s a huge benefit to build better young people,” Oberweiser said. “That’s what it’s all about, especially in today’s climate where there is not so much understanding of other cultures to send a kid from France to here.”
Oberweiser said the program is good for the exchange student and the students at ZCHS he interacts with daily.
Oberweiser said Massuard will attend Rotary Club meetings in Zionsville.
“He’ll get with the six other Rotary exchange students in central Indiana,” Oberweiser said. “They’ll do several things throughout the year.”
Oberweiser said Massuard’s English was a bit rough when he got here.
“He understands a little more than he’s able to speak,” Oberweiser said. “We used the Google translate app on our phone a few times, but for the most part it’s gone well, and it’s only going to get better.”
Oberweiser said Massuard was very surprised at the size of ZCHS, both the number of students and the actual layout.
“He said the people and culture were pretty much as he expected,” Oberweiser said.
Massuard was placed as a junior in high school.
“The good thing is that is the year all the kids take American history,” Oberweiser said. “The literature is all American literature. He has a full course load, so he didn’t take it easy.”
Oberweiser’s son, Aidan, is a ZCHS sophomore and his daughter, Ella, is a Zionsville Middle School eighth-grader. An older son, Graham, is a freshman at Purdue and daughter, Morgan, is a senior at Ohio State.
