By Rotary International

Kathleen Plaza’s own This Close portrait

By Kathleen Plaza, Rotary Scholar

I was born and raised in a rural barrio (neighborhood) in Mindanao, Philippines. I moved to Guam when I was about 18 years old. I became a member of the Rotaract Club of the Marianas in Guam when I was completing my undergrad degree in biology, and served as secretary in 2011-12 and as youth services director in 2012-13.

I moved to Hawaii in August 2015, and with a Rotary Scholarship funded by a global grant, began taking classes in public health, focused on disease prevention and treatment. I will finish my program in May 2017.

I have always been interested in ending polio and finding ways to help our club make a difference. Rotary’s This Close campaign is inspiring and resonates with my dream of developing and promoting programs that address health care needs and decrease the occurrence of communicable and vaccine-preventable diseases in medically underserved communities like the barrio where I grew up. As a humble immigrant from a developing country, I want, in my own way, to Be a Gift to the World.

The global grant scholarship is helping me achieve that goal. I have tremendous support coming from …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Students eagerly participate in a classroom where the teacher has received training.

By Quentin Wodon

Do teacher training programs make a difference in how much students learn in the classroom? If the training programs are well implemented, they can.

Experience around the world suggests that teacher training programs are most effective when they (1) focus on changing teaching methods and practices and not just on providing additional materials for teachers; (2) actually show teachers how to put new methods into place and provide mentoring for junior teachers; and (3) give priority to those teachers who need help the most.

In Nepal, an innovative teacher training program implemented by Nepal Teacher Training Innovations (NTTI), in collaboration with the local nongovernmental organization PHASE, has many of these characteristics, and it does seem to work. While a formal impact evaluation is not yet available, indications from classroom observation have been encouraging. In contrast to teacher-driven and student-silent classrooms, those with trained teachers more closely resemble hubs of learning.

Ashley Hager, founder and director of NTTI, shares a story that illustrates the difference the program can make. Before the training, Ashley says, observers watched a teacher lead a lesson Telling the students, “Today we are going to learn about …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

By Kyle J. Gomes, member of the Interact Club of Hugh Boyd Secondary

Every year, my Interact club — located in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada — looks forward to creating a video for Rotary’s Interact Video Awards. Last year, our video (above) was selected as the Best Video, earning our club $500 to use toward our service projects. One project very close to our hearts is Operation Christmas Child, and we were able to ship even more gifts and necessities to children in need this year.

Making these videos has been an amazing motivator for our whole club. The best part in making a video is being able to see the real and tangible differences that we make with the projects we support. The other Interactors and I all agree that the experience gave us a perspective on our projects, and showed that although we may be only high school students, we are making a difference.

In creating our video, we always try to work with as many people as we can. We understand that our sponsor Rotarians have much more leadership experience than we do, and that there is a lot we can learn from them. Our teachers also have experience in …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Kristin Brown, center, her husband, Mahmoud Ajamia, — who will also be riding in Tucson — and Marga Hewko at the bottom of a steep hill on a recent training ride.

By Kristin Brown

I am really excited to be returning to Tucson, Arizona, USA, this week for my second Miles to End Polio event and to join forces with the Rotarians cycling so that others may walk.

It has been an eventful year in the fight to End Polio Now. Nigeria achieved a milestone in July when it passed an entire year without a new case of polio caused by the wild poliovirus. And cases in the two remaining endemic countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan, are at an all-time low. But now more than ever, we need to keep the pressure on. One of my biggest concerns is that people will become complacent and fail to recognize the threat that remains if we don’t completely eradicate this disease.

I do two major fundraising rides a year: I kick off the outdoor riding season training for the Illinois Tour de Farms, a two-day ride of 150 to 175 miles in June to raise money and awareness for multiple sclerosis. I continue to train from …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Members of the Rotaract Club of Phulbari, Nepal.

By Hari Chandra Satyal

I am a civil engineer by profession and have been a member of the Rotaract Club of Phulbari, in central Nepal, since 2008. I consider myself a youth volunteer and young entrepreneur.

After completing high school in my remote village, I had a big question in front of me: How do I find interest and satisfaction in life beyond my studies? Each day, I had virtually the same schedule and contact with a limited pool of friends. I was not happy with the routine and wanted to expand my horizons.

Then, in 2008-09, I was introduced to a new world of serving others. Joining my Rotaract club, I became united with 18 amazing, enthusiastic, and dynamic youngsters in Phulbari who shared my passion for serving others and their community.

Taking risks
Living in Kathmandu for my studies, I had to travel 45 kilometers to Phulbari for the Rotaract meetings. But I made it work because of the joy of seeing the rest of my team. Sometimes we found the experience surprising, sometimes a bit terrifying, but almost always entertaining as we took risks and tried new things in our pursuit of serving others.

As we …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog