Georgia Rotary Student Program Chair Ian Bond honored Frank E. Bentley, Jr., Rotary Club of Sandy Springs and M.A. “Doc” Jaleel, Rotary Club of Peachtree City as well as J. Milton Heard, IV, Rotary Club of Macon, with respective resolutions and proclaimed them each as Trustee Emeritus members at GRSP's late January trustee meeting.

More than 50 GRSP Trustees along with the GRSP Foundation Board of Directors met in Macon to discuss administrative and financial reports as well as honor members in the Winter Business Meeting. GRSP Foundation President Terry Adkins also thanked Bentley for serving as the Foundation’s financial advisor for the past 30 years and presented him with a crystal bowl etched with an outline of the world map and the GRSP logo for his dedication to the program.

Bentley, son of Past GRSP Endowment Chairman Frank Bentley, Sr., is a Jim Brim Fellow with the GRSP Foundation, which represents contributions of $15,000 or more. Bentley, as well as his wife Earlene, has been a counselor, adviser and friend to countless students and other Rotarians. They have each demonstrated through service to Rotary and the Georgia Rotary Student Program continuous commitment and dedication to the ideals of “service above self” and “world peace through understanding.” To view the three Trustee Emeritus resolutions in full for Bentley, Jaleel and Heard, please visit www.grsp.org/history.

 Jaleel served District 6900 as District World Community Service and 3H Grants Chair from 1985-1993 and as an Area District Governor from 1998-2001. He and his wife Christy served three times as a GRSP host family, six years as a GRSP Trustee and several years as an Advisory Trustee. Heard was appointed as a Trustee in 2011, and later named as District 6920 Director of GRSP. He is a Ronnie Waller Fellow with the GRSP Foundation, which represents contributions of $10,000 or more. Heard, along with his wife Laura, has been a host family and documented multiple GRSP Conclaves and events with his passion for photography.

A moment of silence was held in memory of two GRSP Emeritus Trustees this year, Karl Waechtler, Rotary Club of Rome and Larry “Frog” Frosteg, Rotary Club of Pelham. Both men continued to support GRSP after their respective roles as a Trustee, investing both time and finances. Both died in 2024.

The Trustees also selected students in the meeting before a final training session. Rotary Clubs within Georgia have pledged to sponsor 37 students for academic year 2025-26 while a handful of other clubs have expressed interest. GRSP has provided one-year ambassadorial scholarships to international college students for the past 79 years under the vision of Founder Thomasville Will Watt, Rotary Club of Thomasville. Students who applied last fall will receive notification of their scholarship application in early February and those who have been offered scholarships will begin the process of applying for acceptance to the college determined by their sponsoring clubs as well as applying for their visa to study in the United States.