This document provides introductions from members of a Rotary Club exchange program visiting from Australia. It includes: 1) An introduction from Steve who thanks the district for their hospitality and provides background on the district. 2) An introduction from Jo who thanks her sponsor club and host families, and shares some of her experiences and highlights visiting Texas, including vocational opportunities and enjoying the people and food. 3) An introduction from Jenny who thanks her host families and shares some of her experiences and realizations from visiting, including developing new passions and beneficial vocational meetings.

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2. G’Day, I am Steve, member of Rotary Club of Booragoon, This past year has
been full time Rotarian and part time work as Mechanical engineer working as
Business Process Team Lead on an SAP implementation. Married to Moira with
two children Christopher and Natasha.

3. Introduce our team and thank you for welcoming us to your District and clubs.
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4. We come from all parts of our District
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5. I bring you greetings on behalf of our District and our DG Jodie Sparks. The
district spans the lower area of Western Australia with approximately 1500
members in 52 clubs

6. Thanks for listening and I’ll now hand over to my team mate Jo
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7. Hi everyone,
My name is Jo Vinci and for those of you I haven’t had the chance to meet yet, I
live in the coastal city of Fremantle and I work for the a State Government
agency called Main Roads Western Australia – similar to TXDoT.

8. When I’m not working I love spending time with my family, going to the beach and
travelling.
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9. I was able to attend this Group Study Exchange thanks to the support of my
sponsor club – the Rotary Club of Rossmoyne. As well as having many
Community and Vocational projects, one of their major International projects is
providing sustainable housing and education in Cambodia, which is 4957km
(3080 miles) north of Perth
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10. The last five weeks have been one of the most amazing experiences of my life,
and were it not for the generosity and hospitality of my wonderful host families,
this experience could not have happened – so thank you to Don Ray and Lynda
George, Fred and Cathy Morgan, Dr Janine Aman, Tony & Lynda Plumlee, Larry
and Susie Jackson, Carroll and Bill Sharpe, David Huffman & Caroline Frazer,
Glenda & Don Brookes and Grant & Andrea Sparks
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11. I have been given some amazing vocational opportunities while on the GSE,
including visits to TXDoT in Austin and Yoakum, road construction projects in
Marble Falls, Williamson, Harker Heights and Burnet Counties, Austin Community
College and KVUE TV.
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12. One of my highlights was getting to sit at the KVUE TV News anchor’s desk!
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14. My absolute favorite thing about Texas is the people. I love that they are so
welcoming and friendly and that they call you ma’am. I also love that everything
really is bigger in Texas! The BBQ, the cars, the freeways, the sunsets, the
camping stores, the bulls balls and best of all….
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15. The Pie!
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16. Some of the personal highlights of my trip (I couldn’t just pick one) – were San
Antonio and the Alamo, standing on the flight deck of the USS Lexington, riding a
horse, shooting a gun, flying in a Cessna 150, seeing a day-old fawn and getting
to sit in the driver’s seat of a red mustang convertible.
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17. We’ve had a lot of laughs on the trip but I’ve been able to narrow it down to two –
the first involved a hungry puppy in Marble Falls who managed to eat two pairs of
my shoes…
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18. and the second involved my first ever experience at shooting a gun. Both feet left
the ground so thank you to Carroll and Bill Sharpe for introducing me to the 12
gage shot gun. I don’t think I’ll have a shooting career any time soon!
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19. I can’t farewell you all without mentioning the fantastic organization that is Rotary.
I have come to realise that Rotarians are quite special people – they are a
selfless and giving bunch, who all seem to have a common attitude and
community spirit. My life will certainly not be the same from this point on and I am
richer for having met each and everyone one of you. I thank Rotary International
so very much for the opportunity I have been given.
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20. Hi everyone – My name is Jenny and I live in a place called Kalgoorlie, which is a
Gold Mining town in land from Perth, with a population of approx 33000 pp. I was
able to attend the GSE experience through the Rotary Club of Hannans. You can
see here the President, Esther Roadnight, with 2 RYLA participants
I am a self employed HR consultant and am 36 years of age

21. Kalgoorlie was founded in the late 1800s by a man called Paddy Hannan, who
was searching for gold in the desert. He found gullies of gold and within a week
1000 gold prospectors fled to the area and settled Kalgoorlie.
Kalgoorlie is now home to the Southern Hemisphere’s largest open cut gold
mine, producing 850 000 tonnes of gold per annum
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22. As you can see from the map I live quite a distance from my family with my Mum
living furthest away in Tasmania, which is 2200 miles from me.
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23. GSE has been an amazing experience and I would like to take this opportunity to
say thank you to my host families. In this slide are Crystal and her three boys;
Elih, Adain and Keenan who live in Killeen, then there is Janey and Bill Rives who
live in Marble Falls, Janetta from La Grange, and Landis in Fairfield
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24. Here are Rich and Susie Barbee who live in Georgetown, Doris and Bob in
Hallettsville, and my final host family Carlos and Christine with Sexy Lexi in Onion
Creek.
My hosts generously opened their physical homes up to me. But they did more
than that; they opened their hearts to me as well. They shared their life stories
with me and allowed me the opportunity to feel like I had a second family, well in
this case 7 new families I honestly believe it was staying with each host familythis case, 7 new families. I honestly believe it was staying with each host family
that made my GSE experience what it was. It was spending quality time with
each member of the host family, one on one that I definitely got the most out of. I
find people intriguing and love to hear how people have gotten to where they are
in life as well as their life’s journeys.
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25. Other life realisations I have made on GSE include discovering new passions.
Steve asked me what I would like to see and do in Texas before we left, and I
didn’t really know how to answer, but the things I have enjoyed most have been
the:
- Architecture
- Contemporary and model day art
- Animals
- And of course, Fine Dining
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26. The next most beneficial experience for me was the vocational days, especially
time where I was able to sit down, again, one on one, with experts in my field of
work. These included Tim Sadler who is a Business Consultant specialising in the
Birkmann Methodology, which is a personality profiling technique, and Crystal
Dyer, who is a key note speaker on leadership development and HR
management.
I visited with Social Media experts at ACC who gave me some fantastic ideas onI visited with Social Media experts at ACC who gave me some fantastic ideas on
marketing techniques and social media advice, and also met with people who
work with American Natives and people in low socio economic areas. An area to
note was that I was able to tell these people about methodologies utilised in
Australia and how that may benefit them also.
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27. I think the most memorable fun times that Texas and that Rotary offered, were
watching people’s faces when they ate vegemite, spending time in the
countryside on the back of a Harley Davidson with the wind in my hair, and
enjoying time with my host families watching how much they love their animals.
But the most memorable moment was when we went to Fort Hood for the day.
We went through a simulation room where threats and non threats were shown
up on a screens and we had shoot the baddies but keep the goodies alive Mickup on a screens and we had shoot the baddies but keep the goodies alive. Mick
and I went in and Mick went guns a blazing! Little did he realise but they hadn’t
reset the last simulation so he was shooting enemies that were already dead.
Took him two rooms to get through before he worked it out!
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28. And finally, thank you to ALL of the Rotary teams who hosted us and to Rotary
International as a whole. I consider our team extremely lucky in the fact that we
got along all so well and have shared some fun times together.
On a final note, I will be joining the Rotary Club of Kalgoorlie on my return.
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29. Thanks for listening and I’ll now hand over to my team mate Kylie
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30. Hi Y’all, my name is Kylie Morrow. For those here that I have met, it’s great to
see you again. For those I haven’t met, I look forward to that opportunity this
weekend.

31. I am here today thanks to the Rotary Club of Katanning. It has 29 active
members made up of farmers, local business owners and community members.
Projects that the club is involved in include Nathan Drew Memorial Trust for
Coastal Safety and The Anak Anak clinic for Children in Bali providing volunteer
doctors and dentists.
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32. During this trip I have been in the homes of some very loving and caring people
who have treated me like another family member. I would like to thank Kent &
Barbara Miller, Sam & Nancy Golden, Bill & Edra Edwards, Don & Mary Jones,
Billie-Joe & Bobbie Hobbs, Donna & Rich Tyus, Glenda & Don Brooks and Erica
Garza for your kindness, support, fun and friendship we have shared. Without
you and my fellow team mates I would have been homesick within a week of
arriving.
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33. I have had some excellent vocational visits during this trip to gain an
understanding about banking and farming in Central Texas. Many of our lending
policies are similar but the biggest eye opener was how many banks are here,
which many of them were only local and only operating in a few locations. One
thing I would like to take home is the drive through ATMs and I would like to leave
a message that internet banking is easier than cheque books and not as scary as
you think.
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34. This trip was full of highlights, memorable, funny and moving moments. It is hard
to just pull out one highlight to share with you.
The most touching visit was early in the trip at Heroes' Night Out where the
Centennial Club were our hosts. This is a place setup in Cedar Park by Wes and
Judy Pierce which is a non profit organization with a mission to provide wounded
heroes dinners, a day or night at a sporting event, or any other venue that gives
them a well deserved break from their every day routine in addition to workshops
to improve life skills. Without the heart of the individuals involved andto p o e e s s t out t e ea t o t e d dua s o ed a d
sponsorship from clubs, including Rotary the project wouldn’t be possible.
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35. Texans sure know how to have a great time. We have been spoilt with excellent
food, great beers and fantastic company.
I was aware that the economy isn’t in great shape, thus Mick and I took it upon
ourselves to boost the beer economy over the past five weeks, and I think we
have achieved.
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36. The GSE experience has enabled me to meet many new and interesting people
as well as see some sights that not many people, including locals, have seen.
As many before me have said, this is a money can’t buy experience and will stick
with me and the team for many years to come. D5870 have welcomed us to
Texas with open arms from our arriving party at the airport and Salt Lick BBQ
through to being here today.
I thank all those that have been involved in planning, organising and executing
this amazing adventure especially Karen Bogisch Thanks to my team matesthis amazing adventure, especially Karen Bogisch. Thanks to my team mates,
Steve, Jo, Jenny and Mick, I have enjoyed sharing this adventure with you, I
have laughed constantly through the trip on the silly things we have done but
most of all pulled each other through as a good team does.
I look forward to joining the Rotary family when I return home and sharing this
experience. If you ever drop in on the land down under, drop in for a beer and
barbie.
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37. Thanks for listening and I’ll now hand over to my team mate Mick
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39. Introduction
• G’day my name is Michael (Mick) Quirk and I am a 34 year old from
Rockingham, Western Australia.
• I am proud to be here in Texas through the support of the Rotary Club
of Rockingham from District 9465 in Western Australia.
Rockingham
• Rockingham is a fast growing, coastal City located approximately 25
miles from the Perth CBD
• Approximately 108,000 people currently live in Rockingham but this is
projected to reach more than 170,000 by 2031projected to reach more than 170,000 by 2031
• This photo shows many of the natural features that make Rockingham
a popular destination – the protected waters of Cockburn Sound, the
retained bushland on Point Peron and the marine life within Shoalwater
Marine Park and Penguin Island.
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40. Rotary Club of Rockingham
• Chartered on 10 June 1967 the Club currently has 35 members
• Medical Equipment Project – the Club sources medical equipment and
supplies from Western Australia and distributes it locally, nationally
and internationally. Wheelchairs, crutches, electric beds, trolleys and
chairs are sent to a Burns Hospital in Vietnam and Tanzania Amana
H it lHospital
• Rotary Mart – is the main source of funds for the Club and attracts a
large crowd to the Rockingham Waterfront each Sunday. A large
percentage of funds raised are returned to local projects, schools and
hospitals.
• Fundraising – the Club raises funds to support numerous causes
including Canteen (helping young people living with cancer) and Camp
Quality (a children’s family cancer charity)
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46. We have traversed the four GSE areas of your district. Making presentations at
club meetings on 12 occasions involving at least 16 clubs and some members
from additional clubs, attended many social functions and visits to places of
interest. All hosted by the wonderful Rotarians and families from District 5870.
Your members have have treated our team like royalty, leaving us the richer for
many new friends and for the wonderful memories that we will carry with us for
life.

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48. We are all able to take away the benefit of personal and professional
development as a result of the visits arranged for us. Mine from the McComb
School of business to Freescale Electronics and Caterpillar and to some world
class businesses hidden away in Shiner, Texas
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49. I found Rotarians everywhere with the same friendliness and characteristics, that
I have found in other countries. A chance to see projects in progress, characters
and new ideas that foster different clubs that can increase membership, see old
friendship rekindled and new ones formed. Great ideas like your roll of Fame that
I will take with me. And clubs having fellowship because you invited us here.
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50. My personal highlight was history everywhere we went and being able to relate
back to previous reading
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51. Jenny meets Sherriff Buster Brown, day 1. Jenny learns a new word. Spelunking.
Rick Stacey entertains and we all laughed the night away. Jo meets Zebra and
jumps out of her skin.
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52. We found so many reasons for fun and fellowship. We experienced some of the
great rivalries of your state and nation, Republican / Democrat: Longhorn vs
Aggie and still you were able to share a laugh with us comparing the biggest and
best States in the world.
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53. GSE happens because of a lot of hard work both in daily activity but also in
preparation and behind the scenes. Our team thanks Karen her team of Area
coordinators and all the Rotarians and family members that have touched our
lives in so many ways over the past five weeks.
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54. Many people express a desire to come to Australia. We look forward to seeing
you at the RI convention in Sydney in 2014
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55. But also come for friendship. Come to Perth, the State capital of Western
Australia, enjoy the city, the Swan River, and nearby the Fremantle Markets and
the wonderful beaches like Cottesloe
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56. The beautiful Island of Rottnest awaits you and then further south to the wine
region of Margaret River and the nearby the fabulous beaches and coastal
features of Dunsborough. We look forward to the possibility that some of our new
friends will join us for friendship in 2014 so that we can show you some of our
cities and State.
The ties and scarfs worn by the team during our visit are Australian indigenous
art They are available for purchase on the silent auction for those that may like toart. They are available for purchase on the silent auction for those that may like to
enjoy them or just like to collect apiece of Australian GSE memorabilia. There are
also a number of the Western Australian landscape photos available. Please
consider buying these items and supporting our Rotary Foundation.
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