We were joined tonight by several wonderful young people - Rotary Youth Exchange Students and their families! There were 25 Naples Rotarians and 10 guests.

 

President Jack started the gathering with the Pledge and the Star Spangled Banner. The inspiration was: "Sometimes your only closure is knowing that you had good intentions and a good heart."

 

Our guests today were Denise and Kevin Johnson, Emma Baker and her dad Chris, Lyra Inda and her parents Kyle and Jason, Grady Grove, Parker Smith and Albie and JoAnne's grandson Alliet.

 

Announcements: Dues are due! * Camp O Carnival is on Sunday, 8/17 * A trip to Camp O for lunch is planned for Tuesday, 8/19. See Frank. * Alex Leto's Celebration of Life is on 8/23 at Trinity Church, 12-4pm. Bring a dish. * Another Rotary Meet and Greet will be at Lynnie Lou's on Thursday, 8/28, 6-8 pm. *  The District One Rotary Summit is in Avon on 9/6, 8 to 12:30. * The fall Steak Dinner is Monday 9/8 at the VFW. * The District Golf Tourney is September 12th here at Reservoir Creek. Golfers and volunteers are needed. * Gananda Rotary has a Bike Rack fundraiser - info to follow.

 

Jill was happy to introduce our speakers tonight, Rotary Exchange Students Lyra and Emma. Jill showed us the 18 page form that applicants must fill out and described the process to become a Youth Exchange student.

 

Lyra recently returned from her experience in Thailand.

School there ends at ninth grade when students go on to vocational school. Most programs are in tourism, hospitality and hotel management. Lyra found it interesting to learn about those fields. She stayed with three host families. The first was a mom and dad whose son was away on an exchange program. Her second home had two younger siblings, 6 and 8 years old and a brother her own age. She was glad to learn about Thailand from talking with him. In her last family, the dad was a Rotary district governor elect. One son was on exchange in Brazil, another had been to Germany and is now with family in the US. Their Rotary District is very large compared to here. It took a 10 hour train ride to get to orientation. Most of the Rotarians were very wealthy, doing international projects. One was bringing dentists from Japan to care for poorer people in Thailand. The city Lyra lived in was Phuket with a population of 400,000. They have up to one million visitors a year. There are many beautiful beaches that draw tourists. Her school was 4000 students. Part of Rotary exchange are a lot of trips around the country. She visited many areas including Bangkok, the capital. She discovered she has a love of international travel and really loved the food. Her time abroad made her more self confident and less introverted. She worked this summer at the 4H camp and is going to FLCC for one year. She hopes to continue with college abroad.

 

Emma finished her sophomore year at Naples High. She will be leaving for her year in France this month. At first her mom said NO to her applying for the Youth Exchange program. She continued to ask and started the process last year. The huge application included a lot of time and meeting with many people. The interview process was particularly long and scary - especially Marty! LOL! 

She had to choose her top 5 countries that included Norway, Denmark, Belgium and France. She was selected for France. She learned in January that she will go to Metz, near Luxembourg and Germany. She has been busy writing essays and other tasks as part of orientation with 13 other students. She also gave a speech in French - luckily she's had 4 years of the language in school. She has been texting with her first family already. Her dad convinced mom that "they have done a good job as parents" that will help Emma succeed and enjoy her exchange experience.

Both Emma and Lyra did a fantastic job of speaking tonight despite their missing slide shows.  Congratulations!

 

The Ace of Hearts was $92. The winning ticket #9084 belonged to Sharon. Her card was appropriately the Jack of Clubs.

 

There were many Happy Bills for the phenomenal presentations by Lyra and Emma! Camp O is grateful to Naples for continuing support. The memorials for Betty Zillmann and Tane Robinson there were nicely done, including donated bird houses. Bills were given for RYLA's 14 kids, a great trip to Spain, thanks to the parents of exchange students for their support. Naples students are impressive and enthusiastic! Thanks to Jack for mowing a path to the creek for David's dogs and for a good transition in taking on the role of treasurer. 

Rotary Moments included photos of those helping with Camp O set-up, especially the moving of the heavy ceramic building equipment to the wrong place and then moving it again. Sam's Point was a beautiful place for the memorial service with 40-50 attendees.

Jill met several ladies at the pickleball court who thanked Rotary for the "awesome courts". 

 

We finished the meeting with the Four Way Test and adjourned at 7:08pm.