Down to business with the new team.

Hi to members and friends of Macquarie Park Rotary,

Well, the first meeting of the year was held last week, and all the new directors are settling into their new roles. We held a Club Assembly last week and many members had their say. Thank you for your contributions. We still need to finialise our service committees. If you want to help Roseanna with Community Service, Trina with Vocational Service, John with International Service, Greg with Youth Service Millie with PR, Diedre with membership or Leo with projects, please let them or myself know. It helps to spread the workload and fill in the gaps when people are away. Many hands make light work. Please consider, as they say.

Also at our last meeting we had a surprise visit by Epping High School student, Ahmed Dalkic. Ahmed was our candidate two years ago at RYPEN, a Youth Leadership program for Year 9 students. He was so impressed with that program that he has applied for the National Youth Science Forum, a week long program held in Canberra every January for Year 12 elite science students. His presentation impressed us and we agreed that the club nominate him. There are thousands of applicants from around Australia applying for about 400 positions, so we wish Ahmed luck in the next round. Thanks to Greg Jenkins for arranging all the necessary paperwork. 

This week's meeting will be one not to miss. Theo Glockemann our district youth chair, accompanied by five young professionals spent a month in Germany with Group Study Exchange. One of those young people was Dean Egger. Dean was sponsored by our club, and he will be speaking to us on Tuesday.

On Friday night Roseanna and myself attended the District Changeover, where last year's District Governor, John Cameron handed over to George Papallo.

It was nearly as good as our changover! There were hundreds of people there and it was quite an enjoyable night. There was even some entertainment from the Rotary Choir.

Can you spot an Immediate Past Preseident lurking in the front row?

Our own member Greg Jenkins will be speaking at a Ryde Business Forum breakfast this Wednesday 7th July at Dunmore Lang College. He will be speaking on "So you think you can mentor?". Please support Greg, as gaining a group of mentors is vital to the success of his next training program, of which our club will reap benfits and possibly new members. More details are available from the Ryde Business Forum website.

Finally, we end on a sad note. The mother of John Alexander, our newest member passed away recently. We send John and his family our club's condolences. Thank you Roseanna for arranging a card on the club's behalf.

See everyone on Tuesday.

Ross