Our Vision: To develop leaders who promote understanding and peace around the world.

New GRSP Website Unveiled at Conclave; First Class of 2019-20 Newsletter is Out

The new website provides a fresh new look at what it means to be involved with GRSP. Every week new content is added to the website, so please be sure to check it out at www.grsp.org.

And don't miss the first newsletter created by our new class of GRSP students - outlining what they've experienced and what the GRSP experience already means to their lives.

Oslo Scholarship for Summer of 2020 - Applications Due December 31, 2019

All expenses paid for six weeks in Norway available because of Georgia Rotarians’ commitment to the Georgia Rotary Student ProgramRotary Clubs in Oslo, Norway sponsor three students from Georgia every year (generally one for each Georgia Rotary District) for the six-week International Summer School at the University of Oslo. The only expense to the student is spending money and this upcoming year, the dates are June 20 through July 31, 2020. English is the language of the summer school. There are numerous options for classes during the six weeks and the students will also spend a week with a Rotarian family in Norway. More information on the scholarship can be found at www.uio.no/english/studies/summerschool and you may read about last year's District 6900's experience in the September 2019 newsletter.

Applicants must be single and age 20-24 and must have completed their college sophomore year. The application can be found at www.grsp.org/resources subtab Rotarian Resources, subtab Oslo International Summer School Application Form. The application form must be submitted to the GRSP office by December 31, 2019; District 6900's GRSP trustees will select the winner and the deadline for application is December 31.

Barbara M. and Donald L. Thomas Peace Award

The Roswell Rotary Club will once again sponsor the Barbara M. and Donald L. Thomas Peace Award, which is awarded to a deserving GRSP student who exhibits the spirit of GRSP and who is in need of additional financial assistance. The application and additional information can be found in the appropriate boxes under the same Rotarian Resources tab as the Oslo Scholarship. The application deadline for this most generous scholarship is February 15, 2020.

Columbus Hosts First Student Weekend for all Districts

After a very successful conclave a few years ago, the Columbus Rotary Club got the bug to host a student weekend. After careful negotiations with the Clubs hosting the September weekend for many years, Columbus started planning. The weekend was packed with white water rafting, an outdoor concert and a service project. The students got a chance to bond with each other, as well as the wonderful weekend host families in Columbus. Thanks, Columbus area Rotary Clubs, for hosting this year. Plans are for the Maynard Knestrick Weekend to continue in Clayton County next year with the area clubs to swap with the Columbus area clubs each year. Next month the students will travel to Savannah for a last weekend of the calendar year. If your student needs transportation to Savannah, meet with your trustee to work out details for catching the bus.

Host Families and Trustees

Most Georgia Rotarians understand that it is the host family that make this program unique, as well as successful. We have constant reminders from our students of their love of the host families in our district. It takes a special person or family to agree to host a student for an entire year. No, they will not be spending every night at your home, as they have a dorm at the university, but the love and support that a host family gives to the student makes lasting impressions. I was reminded of this when my student from last year wrote me the most incredible and heart-warming instant message. He misses Georgia, his host families, his friends, his university. He believes that his year in Georgia has made him “more human”.

I have always thought that the United States in general was a very seductive country for the students. We are huge consumers and the prices of our goods cannot be matched anywhere, except perhaps in third world countries. Everything is gigantic here in the USA – from our houses to our stores to ourselves. If you order eggs, you can get them cooked in so many ways, it is unbelievable. How many different kinds of ice cream can we think of? We have access to every kind of food imaginable and we love our large trucks and automobiles. Seeing America through the eyes of a student is something special. And if you are lucky enough to become a trustee for the Georgia Rotary Student Program, then you can see our country through the eyes of many students from all over the world.

Being a trustee has been the most agonizing and the most joyful thing I have ever done, perhaps with the exception of raising my own children. When a student (like your own child) gets in trouble, it is at least as heartbreaking and when your student gets an award, it is a most joyful event. To be able to see them grow and mature over the year is indescribable. And if you are lucky enough to meet the parents as well, then it is like having another family yourself. Every Christmas, I receive a call from one of the parents of a Sri Lankan student our club sponsored years ago. I speak to her father and her mother and her mother always tells me that even now, when she misses her daughter the most, she takes out the letter I had written them when their daughter received word of her scholarship. She has my letter even now – 15 years later.

We have 12 trustees in District 6900 and they are responsible for getting information to the clubs and being the back-up plan for the students in the event a host family is unavailable. I have known passionate Rotarians throughout my Rotary career, but there is nothing like a committed trustee. Happiness is when a trustee has served his or her maximum 2 term limit and doesn’t want to leave the program --- we see that all the time. When that happens, we find a position for them and that is where we get our advisory trustees. You can see our trustees listed on the District 6900 website and their pictures are shown here with their students at this year’s Conclave. The greatest pride of the trustee is obviously the student. No one enjoys working with the GRSP Endowment because as Rotarians, it seems we are always asking for money. Tuition has increased at the speed of light and the forethought of trustees from years ago is the only thing that is keeping the program alive today. The law requires that an endowment can only spend the income. We have been blessed with 10.4% return on our investment, while the Rotary Endowment only has a return of 8% for the same period according to our investment counselor. If you are interested in investing in the future of Peace, please consider becoming a Will Watt Fellow with an investment of $1,000 or attaining your next level in sponsorship. Ask your GRSP trustee how you can use matching money in your club account in order to attain a Will Watt Fellow or your next level at up to half the cost. It is easy and that is part of the information that your trustee has for you.