When the Rotary Club of Dunwoody said goodbye to this year's GRSP students on Sunday afternoon, we had a lot to celebrate with regard to the GRSP Leadership Weekend, including:

• 20 years of hosting the weekend over a 22-year period ... over that time, we have shared the message of how one person or one group can make a difference in the world and the lives of others with more than 1,000 GRSP students. We missed two years ... one for a big snow storm in Atlanta and one for COVID in Atlanta
•  opportunities to serve ... last Friday we packed more than 10,000 meals for Rise Against Hunger and on Sunday, we promised $1,000 to the winner of the Shark Tank competition, which will go to help further recycling efforts in Zimbabwe by starting a program at a local school. We learned that recycling by individuals is very expensive, but the GRSP students hope that providing these services through a school - with students volunteering to sort the trash - will provide a cost effective alternative and teach future generations the importance of recycling.
• courageous leadership ... with workshops led by Dr. Ryan Maltese about the civil rights movement, and by Roswell Rotarian Michael Sutton specifically addressing courageous leadership
• fun and fellowship and helping each other ... from the 50+ Rotarians and Rotaractors who welcomed students in their homes and volunteered to help with parts of the weekend (thanks to Atlanta Rotaractors for leading Shark Tank and to Warren Turner of Atlanta Metro for the team-building exercise) ... to fellowship over pizza and s'mores on Friday night and at the homes of Rotarians Cathie Brumfield, Jennie Stipick and Carter Stout on Saturday night.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen! And, if you missed the weekend, mark your calendars now for Feb. 9-11, 2024 when we'll do it all again!