Al Kalter
St. Johns resident Al Kalter believes in the youth of today. In fact, he passionately believes a sharing of cultures and experiences among today’s young people are key to world understanding and peace, and he’s doing what he can to bring young people from diverse worlds together. Kalter heads up the Rotary Youth Exchange program for the Northeast Florida district. The 2007-2008 program will send 25 area kids, including five from Bartram Trail, overseas for a year while host families will welcome 30 kids to the First Coast. The now successful Northeast Florida program has grown in respect under Kalter’s leadership, and is now modeled by other districts across the state. Not bad for an all but defunct program that Kalter started turning around in 1999 after moving to the area.
How did you come about getting into the Rotary Exchange program?
I first got involved in Rotary in 1979 in Syracuse, N.Y. I got to know a lot of the kids who would come as part of the exchange program. In 1990 my wife and I were asked to be a host family. Overnight we went from being the parents of a three-year-old to the parents of an 18-year-old. One wonderful young lady, Sarah Hope of Sydney, Australia, opened our eyes to this incredible experience.
How has your participation in the exchange program changed the district’s involvement?
In ’01 we sent three students abroad and brought in seven. This year we’ll send 25 and bring in 30. We’ve become the largest Rotary Exchange program in the Southeast. There are 110 high schools in the district and Bartram Trail consistently sends four or five students overseas per year. Bartram Trail has been incredible and I just can’t say enough about them.
Where do you see the Exchange program in five years?
There are eight Rotary districts in the state of Florida. Right now South Florida is the only other district promoting the Exchange program. The district governors now realize what we’ve achieved and have asked us to help them. In five years, if every district is achieving the same level of success as we’ve accomplished, it would mean 150 to 200 Florida 16- and 17-year-old students studying abroad and making a difference in the world through their experiences. That would be an accomplishment.
What does your involvement in the Exchange program mean to you personally?
I ran into one of our former students who is now attending college. She’s going for a double major with a triple minor in foreign languages and international studies. She told me she wants to make a difference and to help change the world. I tell you that, and I get goose bumps.
— TERRY BROWN/My St. Johns Sun
