Though Adriane Stoner admits she's a nervous air traveler, anxiety will not keep her from making an 18-hour, once-in-a-lifetime trip to Taiwan next month.

Stoner, the senior director of health and wellness at the Sewickley Valley YMCA, was selected to act as a YMCA of the USA faculty trainer for students and faculty involved in exercise science at the National Taiwan University.

She will be arriving in Taiwan on June 2 and coming back home around June 18.

"It's an opportunity of a lifetime, not only for me, but for our Y," Stoner said. She is a staff member at the Sewickley YMCA and a volunteer for the YMCA of the USA.

During her stay overseas, she will teach health and fitness training in two separate weeks of classes which students will earn certification. The certification, she said, "is considered license to work" in Taiwan.

"In Taiwan, the YMCA of the USA is recognized as the leading training organization," said Stoner, adding that it directly affects the students' future ability to get a job.

"What we bring is the practical learning."

Elaine Gustafson, director of development and communication, said Stoner received the invitation to teach in Taiwan based on her training work in the United States as well as a recommendation from another YMCA of the USA member.

"This is a big honor for Adriane and the Sewickley Valley YMCA," she wrote in an e-mail.

Stoner has been on staff at the Sewickley Valley YMCA for 16 years. For ten of those years she has worked with the YMCA of the USA.

The opportunity to travel abroad opened her eyes to the effect of YMCA's around the world.

"We don't realize just how big we are. And our mission ...we're really about affecting people. It will be interesting to be able to do that across the globe."

Stoner expects up to 200 people to attend the training classes she will teach through an interpreter.

Though she will miss three weeks of work, she's thankful that the local YMCA is supporting the trip.

"Dave Stevenson is very much about bettering programming at the YMCA," she said of the facility's executive director.

Stoner also hopes her trip will open doors to form an international collaboration between other YMCAs.

"I'm very proud of this opportunity. It's a true honor for me to be selected to go," she said.

"I'm proud to represent the Sewickley Valley YMCA and the YMCA of the USA."