Preparation and Purpose

Today we met for some more practice, some editing of our presentation, and some consideration of our trip’s purpose.

Our training process over the past several months has had several points of focus: learning about Kansas so that we can present and represent it well, learning about Finland so that we can appreciate the culture better while there, and also learning about Rotary International and especially The Rotary Foundation, which sponsors the Group Study Exchange program. We’re very fortunate to have this opportunity within Rotary’s structure, and we will keep the “Service Above Self” slogan top of mind.

In the coming twelve days we will refine our stated purpose and our goals for the trip. We'll also keep this in focus as we share what we learned upon return.  Toward that end, our group (nickname to be revealed soon) has really turned into a team--especially if inside jokes are an indication—and presenting a unified theme will not be a problem.

The editing of our presentation was borne of our dress rehearsal at my Village West club last week. The team did a great job and we received plenty of feedback, most of it even constructive. We made some of those tweaks today.

Here is a photo of us at Dave & Buster’s, wearing one component of our uniform cold-weather gear.

And here we are this afternoon, proudly wearing our GSE team badges…and also some “Kansas City” baseball caps.