Beginning in the summer of 2015 SCANEX has transitioned from hand-written or typed forms to data entry directly into the YEAH (Youth Exchange Auxiliary Hub) database. The link to begin the application is here:  http://yehub.net/SNX-obapp . This portion of the application is the first eight (8) pages or photo requirements of the Long Form. Filling this form out will take time and thought, especially the student and parent letter portions.
 
After this initial application has been finished, it will be reviewed by a committee from the Rotary club which is sponsoring the student. If the material that the student has entered passes this review, then there will then be interviews with the student and parents both together and separately. We are indebted to District 5080 for sharing their interview questions for both the parents and student with us as well as their summary form giving the results of the interview.
 
It is important to remember that this initial interview is to determine the suitability of the student applicant to be an exchange student. Given that the district must generally accept an Inbound student for each Outbound student, there still needs to be found a club or clubs willing to Host an Inbound student as well as Host families for that same Inbound student. 
 
While some clubs have done many interviews of students in the past, others have not. The following approach is offered as a general guideline which individual clubs may modify to suit their situations. The form which includes the summary and questions for parents and students can be downloaded here: Club Interview All Files.
 
How the interviews are conducted will depend on the number of applicants and the availability of interviewers. If there are only a few applicants, the interviews can be held in someone's home. A larger number of applicants may require reserving several rooms in a more public venue.
 
Who should conduct the interviews? The Department of State (DOS) requires that anyone looking at Inbound student application files must have a background check. Querying YEOTalk, a Yahoo discussion group composed of Youth Exchange Officers from all over the world, the consensus was that for viewing Outbound student files a background check was also generally required but that this varied from district to district. As a compromise for District 5000, we suggest that those who have a background check can see the student files and those that do not have a background check can ask questions but not see the files. In general those having background checks would normally include a club president, New Generations chair, the Rotary Youth Exchange chair and others dealing with Interact students and RYLA activities. Those wishing/needing to have a background check should contact Joanne Laird, District Youth Services Chair.
 
When the interviews have been finished and the summary forms filled out, the review committee chair should then contact the District YEO with the preliminary results. When club sponsorship for an Inbound student and at least two of the future Host families have been found, the District YEO should again be contacted so that SCANEX can be informed and the formal exchange process begun.