From left are Rotarian and host father Chris Anderson, Tasmanian Exchange Student Heath Bounday and Marion Beckerink, past president of the Rotary Club of Jamestown.

Heath Bounday, a 16-year-old Rotary Youth Exchange student from Tasmania, Australia, arrived in Jamestown in January and will remain through Jan. 9.

He is attending Jamestown High School. Since arriving, Heath has had the opportunity to travel to Canada and Hawaii, with a present trip to the eastern part of the United States, including Massachusetts and New York City, Florida, and Washington, D.C.. Heath said he has a deep love for friendships, music and nature and brings with him a thoughtful and creative spirit.

Heath shared details about his personal life, including that he is from Hobart, Tasmania, and his career goal of being a musician and/or author. Some of his key accomplishments include being the lead presenter at his hometown Relay for Life rally for cancer awareness; serving on the student council; ranking among the top 2% statewide in English; and performing live music. His favorite season is summer, and his hobbies include listening to music, collecting records, writing, walking, photography, and enjoying nature.

Heath has several goals during his exchange year in the United States. They include discovering and experiencing American lifestyle and culture, strengthening his social skills, opening his mind and expanding his worldview, becoming more resilient, continuing to mature and becoming more independent, improving his physical health and developing better habits, and creating a diary/scrapbook to help record his time in the U.S.

Heath also provided details about his family and friends, sharing photographs of each family member and his best friend. He also offered details about his home region of Tasmania, which is an island off mainland Australia. He indicated that Tasmania has a lot of outdoor recreation opportunities, including 2,000 kilometers of walking tracks and 18 national parks. He said a popular site-seeing destination in Tasmania, Myrtle Forest Falls, is just a short walking distance from where he lives.

Heath said his biggest adjustment to coming to the US so far has been getting used to food portions, and people driving on the righthand side of the road. He said he also was surprised that so many Americans his age primarily listen to rap and hip-hop music. He said the biggest surprise so far is that everyone he’s encountered in the U.S. has been so welcoming and kind.