By Michele Owen—
MUNCIE, IN—For many high school students, junior year is about college visits, summer jobs, and SATs. For 16-year-old Jimmy, junior year is about adventure.
Thanks to the Muncie Rotary Exchange program, Jimmy (full name Te-Chan Yang) has travelled all the way from Taiwan to live and study in Muncie for 11 months. He is currently attending Muncie Burris high school, and staying with Mayor and first lady Dan and Sherry Ridenour. So far, Jimmy has accompanied the Ridenours everywhere – to local festivals like Fire Up DWNTWN, to triathlons and family trips to New York. “We joke that we’re his honorary grandparents,” Sherry laughed. “It’s been fun to have someone young in the house again.”
Mayor Ridenour was eager to volunteer as a host family, despite his busy schedule. “Growing up, my family always volunteered to host or foster when needed. It’s just a value I was raised with,” Ridenour commented. “And of course I’m proud to introduce an international student to Muncie.” Ridenour has been an active Rotary club member for years, and has been a supporter of the youth exchange program before. In 2019, he and Sherry took an Indian exchange student to the Indy 500 to help her finish her Indiana sightseeing list.
Jimmy is a talented pianist, and still deciding what he wants to do after his exchange trip ends. “My grandfather was a pharmacist, and my father is a pharmacist,” Jimmy said about his future career goals. “I don’t have a plan yet.”
Jimmy will stay with the Ridenours through Thanksgiving, at which point he’ll transition to another host family. Jimmy will live with three families over his 11 month stay. He is the first Rotary Exchange student in two years, although the club hopes to welcome many more students in the coming years.
Here Jimmy is pictured with other Rotary Exchange Students (staying with different host families throughout Indiana.) Photo by Sherry Ridenour
