Vinings Cumberland Rotarians welcomed GRSP student Lucila Segantini’s mother and sister for dinner; pictured are (top row) Club President Ross Henderson, Bill and Brenda Borden, Kathy and Ray Gadd, Tony Lazzaro (bottom row) Jolene Northrop, Luci Segantini, GRSP- Lucila Segantini, Mariana Segantini, Juliann Northrop

ON STUDENT SELECTION

It is becoming very apparent that the students applying for the Georgia Rotary Student Program are very well qualified as a general rule. We cannot remember a time that so many of our choices decided to take other programs of study, sometimes four year scholarships. We will often wonder if this was truly the right decision for them, but it tells us that we need to do a better job in Sales. As the list of qualified student dwindles, some of our clubs are struggling to get a student, but as we have found many times, sometimes our first choice student may not be as good a student as the ones who were not chosen in the first round. One of our all-time favorite students were left on the board at the end of the first round and we wondered what to do. Finally, as a last resort and at the urging of several other trustees, we picked a student, worrying that the club would not be happy, since none of their 10 choices were available by the time the choosing came for them. Fortunately for us, the club understood the rules and happily welcomed their student in August at the airport with signs and balloons. We continue to hear from this student to this day and she won one of the most prestigious scholarships in the world because of her year in Georgia. She has continued to make everyone proud and we hope to visit her in Denmark this June.

STRATEGIC PLANNING

Many names were submitted to trustees for the Fanning Institute to interview, but unfortunately, budgeting only allowed for a limited number of interviews about the program. Questionnaires were emailed to all presidents and president-elects and the Planning Committee will be getting the results of the questionnaires and interviews on a Saturday in April. GRSP Officers, Directors and Trustees are looking forward to the results. We are hopeful that many people responded to the questionnaires, so that we can have a good representation of opinions across the state.

STUDENTS 2017-2018

This year has been another amazing experience for our students, our host families, trustees and clubs. The longest running annual student weekend with the Pelham Club occurred the weekend of March 24. Some students were on Spring Break, but chose to figure out a way to get to the weekend. As always, they enjoyed many different activities and even learned a few more things about Georgia while there, including a little about our prison system and a visit to an alligator farm operation. The next student weekend will be in Camden County (District 6920) the weekend of April 14, then District Conference. What an April!!!

Be sure to read Antonella Trabinino's remarks about what it meant to her to be a GRSP student.