The Pagosa Springs Rotary Club is currently hosting Tommy Nigro, a high school junior, from Zevio, Italy, who arrived in Pagosa Springs on Aug. 21.
Zevio is in northeast Italy, in the famous Veronese wine province and is a town of 15,000 inhabitants.
Verona, adjacent to Zevio, is a medieval city on the River Adige with more than 250,000 residents that is famous for being the setting of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” and also boasts the Verona Arena, a huge first-century Roman colosseum used today as a modern amphitheater.
Nigro’s family owns and operates a generational family groundwater drilling company, and he has an older brother, Aldo, beginning university studies.
At Pagosa Springs High School, Nigro is enrolled in typical American classes including U.S. history, English and math. He will also be taking technical drawing and science since he wants to pursue mechanical engineering, and he is in concert band to utilize his piano skills.
In Italy, Nigro played rugby for 11 years and is excited to play American football this fall. His first host family is Graham and Marcella Denen and their son Deglan, a junior, while other son Deiter is now attending University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
Last school year, Charlotte Duranton, from France, was hosted by the families of Gwen and Tim Taylor and daughter Lucy, and Carole and Dave Nasralla and their Anja.
Everyone had wonderful exchange experiences and made close family connections.
This year, Anja Nasralla is an outbound Rotary exchange student spending her year in Alicante, Spain, a coastal town in southeast Spain, on the Iberian Peninsula, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
The Rotary exchange program is always interested in talking with students that are interested in the outbound program and families that are interested in hosting a student.
Anyone who is interested in learning more about this opportunity should contact Rotarians Lisa Scott, (970) 749-4268, lisascott5680@icloud.com; Marianne DeVooght, (970) 731-2009; Ronnie Doctor, (970) 946-6367; or Granton Bartz, (970) 946-2827.
The Rotary clubs in Pagosa Springs have participated in the International Youth Exchange Program since 1991. Students apply for this opportunity through the local Rotary Club and are interviewed and selected by committees in each country. Once a student is placed, they spend 10 months in that community, attending high school, and live with two or three different families during their time abroad. This way, they experience different family environments and meet a wider variety of people.
Rotary clubs in Pagosa Springs include the noon club, which meets Thursdays at noon at Coyote Moon, and the evening club meets the first and third Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. at Ramon’s.
Rotary is always accepting new members and invites anyone who would like to explore the opportunity to make contact with any community Rotarian or the names listed above.
Rotary International is an international service organization whose purpose is to bring together dedicated individuals to exchange ideas, build relationships, take action, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. There are more than 46,000 clubs and more than 1.4 million members worldwide.
