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Defiance Rotary Club
"SERVICE Above Self"
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"SERVICE Above Self"
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Recently Defiance Rotary Club hosted and provided tours for The Group Study Exchange (GSE) program of The Rotary Foundation. The GSE is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for young business and professional men and women between the ages of 25 and 40 and in the early years of their professional lives. The program provides travel grants for teams to exchange visits between paired areas in different countries. For four to six weeks, team members experience the host country's institutions and ways of life, observe their own vocations as practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas. Northwest Ohio Rotary District 6600 has had Group Study Exchange teams from all over the world. This year the District hosted groups from Chile and Mexico and will host from France next year.
A GSE team consists of one Rotarian leader and four non-Rotarians between the ages of 25-40 who are engaged in different businesses and professions. Our visitors this year were Group Leader: GILBERTO GALAZ SALAZAR, who is a Communications Engineer; ANA MARIA SALAZAR GONZALEZ, who is an Architect and 27 years old,; CARMEN GRICELL VEGA VALDEZ who is a Computer Systems Engineer and is 25 years old; and ALFONSO MANUEL GUTIERREZ GARCIA who is a lawyer now working in the family optical business and is 36 years old.
Defiance Rotary Club had Host Families within a couple of hours, with John & Margaret Jacob hosting Gilberto. Rita and Jim Meijer hosted the girls, Ana and Carmen. Patty and Todd Anderson hosted Alfonso. All of the host families were very helpful and frequently offered to transport their guest to the next destination. The Group Study Exchange Team expressed how comfortable they felt here in Defiance and were surprised at how open and safe everyone felt in the community.
The Group Study Exchange Team saw many things during their visit to Northwest Ohio, they saw the Toledo Museum of Art, visited the city of Perrysburg, Bryan, Avon Lake and of course Defiance. While in Defiance, they toured Keller Logistics; our fellow Rotarian, Darline Clemens sat in a huge semi for the first time. Next stop was General Motors where one of the younger GSE members said, “It feels like we are in a Star Wars movie!”. After a wonderful lunch at Charlie’s Down Under, the GSE stopped at Close to Home Childcare Center and Preschool. The GSE team liked the cameras in the classrooms and outside for the parents to watch their children and wanted to stay and take a nap but they had a schedule to keep. Next stop was Defiance High School where the GSE really enjoyed talking to the Spanish teachers and students. They also visited American AG where they are making alternative fuel. Steve Vandemark gave a tour at the Cresent News where the GSE discovered that a newspaper must be highly organized to get out the paper in time for delivery. Vocational tours were provided by Ted Penner’s office and Alfonso had a great time talking to Judge Schmenk. Bill Brandt of Customized Information Systems provided the tour for Carmen and Gilberto, who wanted very much to stay and learn more. Jerry Overmeir of Beilharz Architects provided the vocational tour for Ana. Ana said “It was muy interesante and Jerry is very nice”. Last but not least, Connie Klingshirn took the GSE Kayaking with the local Kayaking club. They had a picnic and a campfire that lasted well into the night. A special thanks goes to Wes for providing a vehicle and to Kevin McDonald for offering to transport the GSE team back to Perrysburg.
To learn more about the Group Study Program, go to the Rotary International website at www.rotary.org. Then go to The Foundation and then to Educational Programs or contact a member of your local Rotary club.
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