If you are a student and have an interest in the student/youth exchange: Request information through your high school counseling office. Updated informational fliers are distributed in February. There is an application process, and local high school age youth are encouraged to apply.

If you are interested in becoming a host: consider hosting students from Jinju, Korea and help them experience the best of Eugene!

The Student/Youth Exchange travel opportunity

The itinerary for outbound youth delegates includes a homestay with a local family in our sister city of Jinju, South Korea. Some of the planned highlights are:

• Tour of Jinju Castle
• Temple stay at Haeinsa
• Historic sites
• Kimchi making, tofu making experience
• Traditional dance, Tae Kwon Do, and Archery

Dates: Exact dates, TBA. Typically the outbounds leave mid-July, stay in Jinju for two weeks, then the inbound return to Eugene for their stay in the USA for about two weeks. The Korean students then return to Jinju, South Korea about mid-August.

The itinerary for the inbound Korean students (4-6) includes a homestay with a local Eugene family (most often at the home of the Eugene teen who stay with his/her family). Some of the planned highlights are:

• Portland city tour
• Parks and Rec McKenzie River float trip
• Hiking Spencer Butte
• Biking along the Ruth Bascom Bike Trail
• University Tour

Cost: Pre-pandemic, the cost of the exchange trip was 1,500USD per youth traveler. This did not include spending money. This included roundtrip airfare, ground transportation, admissions to places as part of group tours, and most meals.

**Scholarships are available.

We are a volunteer run youth exchange program. We offer the chance for our local outbound delegates to accommodate their host brothers and/or sisters aka ‘inbound youth delegates’ following their Korean trip!