“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page.”

— Saint Augustine

Hearing that a high school student repeated her senior year, most people might suspect serious academic problems — or that the student had made some bad choices in life.

But neither of those was true for Grascen Shidemantle, a 2013 Slippery Rock High School graduate who opted to repeat her senior year. Her rationale was definitely not related to academic troubles or bad life decisions. If fact, her choice reflected the opposite, a great decision and one that would doubtless help her academically — she would spend a year living abroad as a Rotary exchange student.

Reflecting on her time living in Ecuador last year, Shidemantle said, “It changed my life. It’s just part of who I am now.”

Those powerful words are a wonderful distillation of the value of travel — and the special rewards of the enduring Rotary exchange program.

Describing her experience in the Oct. 15 Butler Eagle, Shidemantle explained that she lived with two host families outside of Quito, the country’s capital city. And despite having taken four years of Spanish classes here, Shidemantle said it took several months there to become fluent.

Ecuador is a country of great geographic divesity in the northwest of South America. Alhough Shidemantle lived in high-altitude communities near Quito, she was able to travel to also experience coastal beaches, jungle rainforests and the unique biological diversity of the Galapagos Islands, a few hundred miles off the coast in the Pacific Ocean.

Her school experiences included a class on entrepreneurship, where students developed, marketed and produced their own product. In addition to those business skills being taught in high school she also noted that the students in her school spoke Spanish and English. In many, maybe most, parts of the U.S. it’s unusual to find bilingual people.

Though never feeling homesick, Shidemantle did appreciate the modern technhnology that made it easy to keep in touch with home. Software like Skype lets people talk, face-to-face through their computers, even if the they are half a world away from each other.

Now that she’s home, and majoring in biology at Slippery Rock University, that same technolgy lets her remain close to her two host families and the school friends she made around Quito.

Not only are her South American friends now part of her life, but Shidemantle made friends with some of the other 130 Rotary exchange students in Ecuador. Those friends too, will be part of Shidemantle’s life for years to come. It might be a while before she returns to Ecuador, but she might make trips to Oregon or Colorado or other places where fellow Rotary students live.

Many exchange students stay in touch with their host families for the rest of their lives. They might return to the country where they spent that amazing year or they might welcome their host families to their own homes during a trip to the United States.

Living in another culture and staying with a family is a special way to be immersed in another culture. Travel of any kind can open the eyes, mind and heart, but living in another country as an exchange student offers so much more than what regular tourist experiences.

Shidemantle’s comment that her year in Ecuador changed her life is inspiring and should encourage others to see and experience other parts of the world. Her gratitude for all that the time in Ecuador meant for her is also an endorsement of the Rotary exchange student program, which places 9,000 students in homes around the world every year. It’s a remarkable program and one that enriches thousands of lives every year while also making the world a better place by promoting global awareness and understanding.