Rotary picnic salutes youth exchange programme District Governor Mike Slovak presented a scholarship award and a special recognition for meritorious service to RYE programme for developing goodwill and friendship across the world.
Victor-Farmington Rotary Club (New York, US — D 7120) held its July 2018 dinner meeting at Victor Municipal Park Lodge.
Rotary District Govenor Mike Slovak participated in the event that included a scholarship award and a special recognition for meritorious service to the Rotary youth exchange programme.
The 2018 Peta Franklin Scholarship Award went to Grace Morgan of Farmington.
Morgan, a 2018 graduate of Victor Senior High School who will study in Latvia through the Rotary programme, received a $500 scholarship to help cover her expenses abroad.
A Rotary club in Riga, Latvia, will host Morgan when she arrives in August.
The scholarship is named in honour of Peta Franklin, a Rotary exchange student from South Africa who attended Victor Senior HS in 1999-2000.
She was liked by all who knew her. Franklin died in a car crash two years after she returned home.
Past President Jim Crane, who hosted Franklin during her year as an exchange student, paid tribute to Franklin and spoke about her involvement in the local community.
Rotarian Nancy Loughlin, a member of the district youth exchange committee, spoke on the importance of the programme in developing goodwill and better friendships around the world.
She thanked Victor-Farmington Rotary for its support and active involvement in the youth exchange programme.
Loughlin discussed how the local Rotex (youth exchange alumni) programme helps prepare area students for their year abroad through counselling and mentoring from former Rotary exchange students on what to expect.
The current president of the local Rotex group is Melissa Moreland, a Bloomfield native who lives in Rochester.
Moreland was a 2011-12 Rotary exchange student sponsored by Bloomfield Rotary Club. She spent a year in Spain.
Moreland has served as Rotex president for the past two years.
She will relocate to Bloomfield, Indiana, to continue her doctoral studies at Indiana University.
Slovak introduced Moreland to the assembled Rotarians and guests.
She explained what the youth exchange programme has meant to her and why she is an active participant in the Rotex programme.
Slovak presented Moreland with a Paul Harris Fellow Award in recognition of her leadership and substantial contributions to the Rotary youth exchange program.
The club’s 2017-18 Rotary exchange student, Claudia Deiana, of Italy, is participating in a Rotary-sponsored tour of the western US.
Deiana will return to the local area before departing for home in August.
President Ross Cottone told Rotarians that the next dinner meeting is on Aug 15 at Mertensia Lodge in Farmington.
The dinner will feature a presentation by Rotarian Lynn Freshman, of Victor, on serving as a Rotary volunteer during a polio immunisation project in India.
Source: mpnnow.com
