GROUP STUDY EXCHANGE TEAM SET TO GO TO INDIA!

Want Pilates lessons?  A loan?  A liaison to a refugee family?  How about help with Internet marketing?

Then you've come to the right place and Linda Groom, the distinguished Rotarian above, will introduce you to the young professionals she will accompany to Calcultta, India on January 4, 2011. 

Why are Mary (gray shirt), Melanie (yellow sweater), Shelli (helping Dave) and Dave (climbing on cab) posing in a pickup bed?  Because 3 of the 4 of them are ROCK CLIMBERS!.  So, it's not a truck bed they are in -- it's Elephant Perch in the Sawtooths!  (Use your imagination!)

What interesting young professionals our GSE Committee selected.  Let me introduce you to the team.

LEADER LINDA GROOM...RECIPIENT OF BURLEY CLUB SCHOLARSHIP, WORLD TRAVELER, BUSINESS OWNER, HUMANITARIAN

LINDA GROOM, leader, is a native Idahoan and University of Idaho grad where she studied political science and history.  She writes, "I graduated from the University of Idaho with the great help of the Ellsworth and Darius Davis Rotary Scholarship from the Burley Club. (My father was president of the Burley Club in the 60’s) so my Rotary roots extend to the past, and it’s a privilege to give back to the organization which has done so much for me."

She was a junior high teacher for four years, ran a yarn mill in Boston and is now a successful real estate broker with ReMax. Linda served as the first female vice president of the Chamber of Commerce in the early 80’s and was designated a “Pocatello Chief.”   She states on her website, "My philosophy is based on caring about people."

She writes, “I love to explore the world, especially with my husband of 45 years, Peter Groom. We’ve traveled to many places in Europe but have really enjoyed our visits to more ‘exotic’ places such as Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Turkey, China and Cambodia.  Often on those visits, I have had the opportunity to observe Rotary wells, but it was our second trip to Tanzania last summer which imbued me with the spirit of Rotary. Our native guide asked the group if anyone belonged to Rotary. Then, he proceeded to inform us what great things Rotary had done for the people of Tanzania. An inspiring moment, indeed!"

"And, someday, I will help build Rotary wells in Tanzania!"

(Linda and Peter have two grown children, Samantha and Cory. Samantha was recently married.  Linda is a member of the RC of Pocatello.)


MARY GEWARGES

Physical fitness buff MARY GEWARGES has a BS in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Outdoor Education and background in outdoor athletics and instruction.   She finds fulfillment in her current work as a yoga and Pilates instructor for Pocatello's Mind Your Body. 

What is Pilates?  The Mind Your Body website describes it thusly:  "The Pilates method is focused on training the body’s small interior muscles that support our skeletal system – rather than the large exterior muscles that weigh down our skeletal system. This builds a longer, leaner physique, while increasing strength, flexibility, and coordination." 

MELANIE DELASHMUTT

MELANIE DELASHMUTT has worked at the Pocatello Teachers Federal Credit Union where she started 16 years ago as a part-time teller but now serves as president and CEO.  Melanie is also president of Zonta International of Pocatello, an organization of female executives and professionals in decision-making positions willing to contribute to improving the legal, political, educational, professional, economic and health status of women.


SHELLI SONNENBERG

Police officer SHELLI SONNENBERG serves as a refugee liaison with the Boise Police Department, a position she helped create.  According to a Boise Weekly article explaining Shelli's work with refugees,"...she(Sonnenberg) explains everything from what to do when a police officer pulls them over, to how much it costs to call 911. Since many refugees are accustomed to dealing with corrupt cops who operate on a system of bribes and kickbacks, it can be hard for them to accept police officers in a non-threatening role."


She is quoted in the article as follows:  "When the new Americans get here, I teach them about the laws of this country and focus on the ones that are really different from where they're from. The big ones are probably domestic battery, child abuse, statutory rape. Depending on the countries that they come from, those are completely different laws that don't even exist."


DAVID ROMERO

Entrepreneur and "adrenaline enthusiast" DAVE ROMERO  is an analytical fellow.  He started a tea company after a trip to Argentina and imported the tea for about a year.  Then he started a Tsuvo (pronounced SOO-voh) with co-founder Derik Ellis.  A web story I found acknowledges "...they have helped about 100 business owners maximize their websites and Internet marketing. Romero created the Market Analysis software for that purpose, but as it evolves, he is finding more ways to use it."

What about the "adrenalin enthusiast?" Well, I came across a blog from Dave about his flying trip to the Idaho wilderness with his father, Capt. John Romero of Owyhee Air. 

Explained Dave, "We flew into Soldiers Bar - a backcountry airstrip in the middle of Idaho with a purported difficulty rating of 32. A backcountry flying guide book I reveiwed before the trip stated that this particular airstrip was to be used for “emergency purposes only”. Sweet. Us Romeros are always up for a challenge." 

Hint:  they made it in and out although they used 1,100 feet of the 1,200 foot runway to fly out, having lightened the load by leaving all their gear behind under bushes and a tarp.

THE TWO EXCHANGE GOVERNORS MET IN SAN DIEGO IN JANUARY 2010

Our GSE team will go to District 3260 where they will meet District Governor Narayan Mishra, a professor in the Department of Chest Diseases at Government of India Medical College.  Narayan has been a member of the Rotary Club of Berhampur Central since 2002.  In his leisure time, he enjoys sports, especially badminton and cricket.  His wife is Asha.

In this picture taken in San Diego in January, Narayan and I pose for the camera.


THANKS TO THE DISTRICT GROUP STUDY EXCHANGE TEAM FOR SELECTING A GREAT GROUP.
 

(Anna Ellis, left, and Denise Dunlap-Taylor,right are Outbound and Inbound Chairs respectively.)

Thanks to the Group Study Exchange Committee of Anna Ellis, Outbound Chair, Denise Dunlap-Taylor, Inbound Chair, Kara Yost, Dan Davis, Beth Markley, Blake Slater, Ryan Ward, Alisha Hoob ing, David May, Kevin Learned, Kathleen Simko and Terry Gilbert.

- Submitted by Terry Gilbert, DG with best wishes for a great trip!