sarah nguyen

My parents are possibly hosting an inbound student through the local Rotary district, and I just received an email from Don Fox, one of the people in charge of Rotary Youth Exchange in my area:

Good Morning Sarah,

The applications for the inbounds are starting to arrive and we have the opportunity to select from among them. In other words, although we assumed that we would be hosting a student from Germany, that is not necessarily the case. Your parents (and the other host families) could review a number of applications
and select the student who perhaps shares a hobby, etc. most interests them in some way - perhaps shares a
hobby, etc.

On the other hand if they have their hearts set on a German girl I can see if one is available.

Please let me know as soon as possible.

Thanks,
Don

I forwarded the e-mail to my parents - I think they’re pretty open, though they might want to host a boy more - Don probably got mixed up when he wrote ‘German girl.’ Through Rotary, my parents would only host for one semester, and another family would take care of the other one. I’m excited to look at applications, even though I won’t be around to welcome them, sadly. Sounds super fun!

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On Wednesday I got a call from Sandy Chase to confirm that I received the following email:

Dear Candidates,

The Congress-Bundestag interviews will be taking place on Saturday March 1st, at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, 2440 West El Camino Real, Suite 300 | Mountain View , California 94040. Attached are directions.

** If you are an AM candidate, please arrive at 8.30 a.m. Interviews will begin promptly at 9 a.m. and end between 12 and 12.30 p.m.

** If you are a PM candidate, please arrive at 1 p.m. Interviews will begin promptly at 1.30 p.m. and end between 4.30 and 5 p.m.

The committee has reviewed your CB applications and we are looking forward to meeting you in person. The committee’s scholarship recommendations will go to the regional office on Monday, March 3. They will then notify all scholarship winners within a week. If you or your parents have any questions about the program, please feel free to e-mail me or call me.

Below is the list noting who is an AM or PM interview:

Name AM or PM

Samuel Vxxxx AM
Joe Axxxx AM
Sarah Nguyen AM
Salim Txxxxxxx AM
Kira Sxxxxxxx AM
Bianca Txxxx AM
Eugene Kxxxxxx PM
Jonathan Pxxxxxxxx PM
Michaela Sxxxxx PM
Gavin Sxxxxxxxx PM
Sophia Mxxxxxx PM
Connie Ix PM

Regards,

Sandy Chase CB Committee Chairman
ASSE International Exchange Student Area Rep

At the end of the call, she said “I’m really glad someone from Lynbrook is applying because…” and I mentioned that my cousin Jennifer knew her daughter, which is kind of weird, but cool.

So from this e-mail it looks like I’ll know by March 10!

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Here are my lovely photo pages that I made for the CBYX application. I used Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0, which has a neat option to make a photo collage and formats everything for you. I highly recommend it if anyone has a similar project. =D

Page 1

Page 2

PDF Format Copy

1) Yes, my room IS that neat.

2) Everyone at Lynbrook is Asian. =(

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On Thursday I got a lovely letter in the mail (not e-mail). Here it is, word for word:

February 6, 2008

Congratulations on becoming a CBYX semi-finalist. The next phase in selection is the mandatory interview. A committee of teachers, ASSE representatives, and community members will conduct the individual and group interviews in your state. You must attend this interview meeting to be considered for the CBYX scholarship.

Due to the size of some states, you may have to travel some distance to the interview location. For this reason, we schedule the interviews on a Saturday. Please find following more detailed information regarding your interview:

Committee Name: Mountain View, CA

Chairperson: Sandy Chase
(408) xxx-xxxx
xxxxx@sbcglobal.net

Date: Saturday - March 1st, 2008

Time: The Chairperson will contact you regarding your arrival time.

Location: Silicon Valley Community Foundation
2440 West El Camino Real, Suite 300
Mountain View, California 94040

We encourage your parent(s) and/or guardian(s) to accompany you, as facilitators will be on hand to answer questions they may have about the program while you are being interviewed. If you will not be able to make it to the interview, please call and let the Chairperson know.

If you have any other questions, you may contact me via phone or email. Good luck!

Best regards,

Nancy Foster
CBYX Program Director
(949) xxx-xxxx
Nancy
xxxxx@asse.com

Luckily for me, it’s only about 20 minutes away from my house. Woe to anyone who has to go further - ASSE is in charge of all NorCal. Anyway, it should be fun/interesting to meet some other kids going for this. Guess I have to hurry up and finish the second part of the app now. =T

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