In Gear | Rotary in Southern New Zealand Issue 1 | Page 37

Ambassadorial Scholars
group study exchanges

Rotary Youth
Exchange

FINDING THE FUTURE

Gilly Oppenheim

IN OUR PAST

Clubs throughout District 9980 are
being encouraged to reach out to
those who were introduced to Rotary
through a Group Study Exchange
(GSE), but who have since lost touch
with our organisation.
District Alumni chair Gilly Oppenheim,
of the Rotary Club of Timaru, says
Alumni Reconnect Week, which will
run between October 9 and 15, is a
time that’s been nominated for clubs
to hold special meetings and invite
southerners who had benefited
from their involvement in Group
Study Exchanges over the years.
Gilly was appointed to her role last
year, and tasked with tracking down
GSE alumni – a list of those she’s
found so far has been uploaded
to the members’ area of the
ClubRunner website.
While many who had initially become
involved with Rotary through GSE
had since signed up as Rotarians,
others had become busy with jobs
and families and lost contact.
“As well as checking in and
reconnecting with the alumni, we’re
hoping many of those we track down
are keen to become members.”
Gilly says her own club held a hugely

successful Alumni Reconnect Week
last year.
“The participants who attended
really enjoyed reminiscing and
sharing their experiences – GSE was
an ambassadorial exercise based
on cultural understanding and good

ALUMNI
Reconnect
Week
OCTOBER 9-15,
2016
will, and obviously benefited these
people when they were younger.

To date the emphasis has been
on reconnecting with people who
had been involved in Group Study
Exchanges, which have since been
replaced by a totally new concept,
Vocational Training Teams. (VTTs
are groups of professionals in a
particular field who travel abroad
to learn about their own field and to
help with vocational training. Funded
by Rotary global and district grants,
VTTs increase the capacity of the
host community to solve problems
and improve quality of life.)
However, Gilly is now broadening
the focus this year to start also
reconnecting with participants from
other programmes, including Rotary
Youth Exchanges and Ambassadorial
Scholars, and has already started a
register.

“One of them went on the very first
Group Study Exchange to Chicago
in 1969 and met (famous American
entertainer) Eartha Kitt.

However, she’s calling for clubs’ help,
as many of the names don’t have
current contact details.

“For those who aren’t familiar with
GSE, it was a wonderful programme
where four or five outstanding nonRotarians, aged between 25 and
40, were selected to visit another
country for four or five weeks with a
Rotarian leader.”

“It would be great if club members
can go to the list on ClubRunner, and
email me (gillyoppenheim@hotmail.
com) with details if they know the
whereabouts of those listed who
don’t have contact information
beside them.”

DISTRICT 9980

Check out our new website: www.rotarydistrict9980.org