Hello Rotarians, lets catch up, it's been a while!
September 8th 5:30PM Meeting
Rotarians met at the library on the evening of the 8th, announcements were made and we heard from Lucian Casey a Montpelier High School graduate on his experience as a Rotary Youth exchange student in Chile.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
At this meeting it was shared that the District Conference was coming up and all were encouraged to attend. We did have some Barre Rotary members in attendance and those who went said the programming was very good and said they learned some new things.
HAPPY $$
Tony was happy for his son's upcoming wedding. He said he was asked to give a speech at the wedding and he had to submit the speech to his son for approval. He then shared with us that this speech was a decoy and it wasn't the one he would be giving at the wedding.
Eddie was happy for the US Open being played in NYC. He also shared that his niece, who is a social media influencer, was invited to attend but couldn't make it as she was in Sicily.
Eddie was also happy to have won some money playing golf that week.
NEW MEMBER
Our newest prospective member was presented to the membership one more time, Matthew Denton. Tony made a motion to accept Matthew's application, Eddie seconded. There was no further discussion and it was a unanimous vote to accept Matthew's application.
Welcome to Barre Rotary Matthew! 🎉
GUEST SPEAKER
Our guest speaker for this meeting was Lucian Casey, Lucian is a Montpelier High School graduate who had the opportunity to go on exchange through the Rotary Youth Exchange Program to Chile. The Montpelier Rotary Club sponsored Lucian.
Lucian shared that one of the biggest changes was that having only taken one semester of Spanish he was placed with a family who spoke little to no English. One of he best ways to learn a new language is by immersion though and by the end of his time in Chile Lucian was much more fluent in the language and could easily carry on conversation and did give a presentation to his Rotary club in Chile about himself.
Lucian shared that he was able to meet with the other students on exchange several times over his stay. He made many friends and said it was beneficial to have other exchange students who were also going through the same experience there to talk with. During these meetings with other youth exchange they also traded pins with each other and had a jacket full of pins, each unique to the person who traded it.
When sharing about how life was different in Chile, Lucian shared that he was lived in a multi-generational home with parents, children and grandchildren. They also had several larger BBQ type gatherings a week with the whole family. He also attended a private Catholic School which was normal for most if they wanted to receive a good education. The school that he attended was quite small with only about 300 students pre-k through 12th.
Lucian shared that many of his favorite things he did while in Chile was getting to travel and see more of the area, some of his favorites were going to Patagonia, Easter Island and Santiago for a concert with friends.
