Rotary Club of Horsham East


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YOUTH SERVICE

Report for 2008-2009

The emphasis on assisting youth which has been a feature of Horsham East Rotary Club’s service over many years was continued by the Club during this Rotary Year.

The Youth Committee consisted of Pam Capstick (Director from July to October 2008 when she resigned from the committee), myself (Director from November 2008 to the end of April 2009), Brydie Scollary, Barry Bell, Stan Hawker, David Leembruggen, Margo Motton, Andrew Price, Leigh-Anne Sharrock, Peter Freckleton, Sue Van Every and Penny Flynn.

The Club provided a wide variety of opportunities for youth as outlined in the programs listed below.

Youth Exchange
The Club welcomed inbound exchange student Kevin Amtmann from Switzerland in July 2008. Brydie Scollary, as Kevin’s counsellor handled the arrangements for Kevin prior to the 2009-09 Rotary Year and was responsible for Kevin whilst hosted by our Club. Whilst with our Club, Kevin has been hosted by the Scollary, Eastwood, Ponton/Capstick and Freckleton families. The Club thanks these families very much for their care of Kevin during his time here. Kevin is a regular attendee at Club meetings and will soon return home.

Assistant Governor Gary Green handled the selection arrangements in 2007-08 for the 2009-10 outbound students. Those selected were Ashleigh Freckleton, to Switzerland, whose counsellor is Rotarian Graham Ponton, and Lucy James, to Denmark, whose counsellor is Rotarian Judy Colyer. They left for their exchanges in January 2009 and will return in January 2010. A feature of these exchanges has been the regular reports that have appeared in the Wimmera Mail Times of their experiences.

Our inbound exchange student for 2009-10 is Victoria Thomsen from Denmark. Victoria will arrive in Australia in July 2009. Her counsellor will be Rotarian Pam Capstick. After Club members had agreed to host a student, preferably from Denmark, I handled the arrangements in 2009 necessary for the certification of the Club, as required by the District 9780 Youth Exchange Committee, to host Victoria. This involved interviews with the host families, checking the facilities available for the student, checking the referees and finally informing the three host families of their acceptance, and accepting the prospective counsellor Pam Capstick. Pam Capstick then accepted all responsibility for the inbound student including interviewing and accepting the fourth host family.

I applied, successfully, to the District 9780 Youth Exchange Committee for certification of our Club to host Victoria. She is to arrive in July 2009 and will be hosted until July 2010 by the Van Every, Muldoon/Forrest, James families and one other family to be decided. I wish to thank those families most sincerely for offering to host and care for Victoria.

Outbound Students in 2010 - 2011
The Board agreed to sponsor two outbound exchange students in 2010. Rotarian Stan Hawker accepted the responsibility, with Graeme Cox of Horsham Rotary Club, for the selection of the Outward Bound Exchange Students for 2010 - 11 and for obtaining two Horsham east Rotarians to be their counsellors. Stan and I were responsible for interviewing, checking referees and accepting the two counsellors, Rotarians Louise Brennan and Penny Flynn for those students. When that was completed, I applied, successfully, for certification to the district committee for the Club to sponsor the two outbound students. I wish to thank Stan for the work he did in relation to the outbound students and to Rotarians Louise and Penny for accepting the responsibility of counselling them. However prior to the first district selection weekend in April, one of the selected students withdrew so the Club will now sponsor one student, Billie Sander, if she is successful at the District interviews in May.

RYPEN (Rotary Youth Program for Enrichment
Whilst every opportunity was given to the secondary colleges in Horsham to nominate suitable students for this worthwhile program, no nominations were received.

NYSF (National Youth Science Forum)
There was one application for this prestigious forum held in Canberra in 2009, but unfortunately that applicant was unable to attend. The Club will need to make a decision as to how many students it will sponsor to this forum next year.

Siemens Science Experience
The club nominated James Wimbury and Brendan Frew to attend this program at the University of Melbourne and the University of Ballarat respectively. Brendan was unable to attend but James Wimbury wrote to the Club thanking us for supporting him and indicated that the program was very beneficial.

Secondary School Debating
The Club hosted the final debate of the 2008 series of the Horsham College Senior Debating competition in August. The topic was, “ That the pen is mightier than the sword.”
The affirmative team members were Rupert Christie, Toobah Mollah and Shrey Singh who were coached by teacher Mr. Shane Murphy.
The Negative team members were Mursali Juma, Irma Khan and Lara Bush coached by teacher Miss Emma Hewitt. After the debate, the Rotarians were given the opportunity to ask questions of the members of the teams. The Negative team won the debate.

The Bill Davey Rotary Club of Horsham East Award
Our Club and Mrs. Kay Davey and her children make two $500 study awards available to two secondary students, one boy and one girl, selected from those nominated by Horsham college, Murtoa college and St. Brigid's college. The students are also interviewed by a panel of Rotarians. This year the Awards were presented to Casey Horgan and Nathan Nuzum of Horsham college by Mrs. Kay Davey and President Gillian Vanderwaal at the club meeting held in November. I wish to thank Rotarians Andrew Price and Brydie Scollary for assisting me in organising these awards.

The Rotary Murray-Darling School of Freshwater Research
The Rotary Murray Darling Schools of Freshwater Research, a major initiative in the Preserve Planet Earth Program, developed by the Rotary Club of Albury has received a number of Awards including a citation from the President of Rotary International. It is designed to involve Rotary in environmental issues in a positive way. The program, a five day residential school in April is practice based providing the students with direct involvement with scientists and lecturers.

This year students Hayley McDonald from Horsham College and Jacob Osborne from St. Brigid’s College were sponsored by the Club and GWMWater. Thanks to Rotarian Andrew Price for his involvement in actioning this Program and securing transport to and from the School.

Primary School Public Speaking
The Club hosted the Inaugural Primary Schools’ Public Speaking Competition at a meeting in October, Each Primary School in Horsham - Holy Trinity Lutheran School, Horsham 298, Horsham North, Horsham West and St Michael and St John’s had a speaker from year 6 in the competition. The speakers and their topics: Bradt Hedt from Horsham North Primary school spoke on the topic, “The World’s First Feature Film”, Georgia Boehringer from Horsham West Primary School spoke on the topic, “Singing and Music” and Ally Leaver from Holy Trinity Lutheran School spoke on the topic, “The Courage of Australian Women.”
Craig Britten from Horsham 298 Primary School spoke on the topic, “Australian Animals” and Danielle Fogarty from St. Michaels and St. John’s Primary School spoke on the topic, “Gold Rush”

The winner of the Competition was Craig Britten from Horsham 298 Primary School. Craig received a cheque for $50, a medallion and had his name engraved on the Horsham Primary Schools’ Public Speaking competition Shield which will be held at Horsham 2987 Primary School for that year.

I wish to thank the Principals and teachers at the five primary schools for their interest and assistance in staging this Competition.

Rotary Club of Southport Holidays
The Rotary District 9780 Drought Relief Committee, in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Southport in Queensland, offered short holidays on the Gold Coast for ten to twelve children from drought areas. Thanks to the work of Brydie Scollary, Amy Millar of Rainbow Secondary College and Brayden Anderson of Hopetoun Secondary College were selected and enjoyed a holiday.

Thank you to committee members for their willingness to take responsibility for these programs and to the Club for the necessary financial support. I sincerely hope the Club will continue to serve, support and encourage our young people in the future.

Past President John Nunn,
Youth Director




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