December 7, 2006
Update and Recap on Building Our GSE Team to Germany.


Final GSE team to Germany selected. After observing a group of eight finalists for two months, the district governor has approved the recommendations of the team leader, team leader alternate, and GSE outbound chair for the four team members who will travel to Germany in April/May 2007. Selected to travel as team members were:

  • Karen Carmack: Nominated by the Rotary Club of Chambersburg, Karen is the human resources officer for a bank. She holds a bachelor of arts and master of science degrees, and speaks French.
  • Brian Newcomb: Nominated by the Rotary Club of State College, Brian is an emergency medicine physician. He holds a double major undergraduate degree in biomedical and chemical engineering in addition to his doctor of medicine degree.
  • Joseph Sanders: Nominated by the Rotary Club of State College Downtown, Joe is Senior Market Manager for Penn State University Distance Education. He holds an MBA degree in business.
  • Nicole Webster: Nominated by the Rotary Club of State College-Sunrise, Nicole is a faculty member of the Pennsylvania State University and works in research and extension. She holds a Ph.D., and speaks Spanish, French, and Kriol.

Leading this team will be Bob Schmmerling of the Rotary Club of Greencastle. He is ably assisted by his alternate team leader, Tineke Cunning of the Rotary Club of State College-Sunrise. Also serving as alternate team members (with their club sponsors) are:

  • Tim Fisler (Chambersburg)
Our team will be in D1850 (Germany) from April 27th to May 26, 2007.

Special thanks are due to all of the clubs who submitted nominations. Initially, nominations were received from Rotary clubs, as follows:
  • Chambersburg (5)
  • State College Downtown (2)
  • State College Sunrise (3)
  • State College
  • Bedford
  • Martinsburg, WV
  • Hagerstown Sunrise
  • Huntingdon, PA

Contact a local club about being a part of the exchange to Tunisia in April 2008.
Applications are accepted through summer 2007.


GSE goes to Tunisia in April 2008, Applicatiosn for it are due in August 2007.
The candidates from Martinsburg, Hagerstown Sunrise, and Huntingdon all unfortunately withdrew for personal reasons, leaving candidates only from Chambersburg, the State College area, and Bedford. All clubs in the district are strongly encouraged to actively seek candidates for every GSE team. While it is certainly true that not everyone can make the kind of commitment necessary for GSE, but one only needsJust one of the Rotary Clubs in Tunisia! to look at State College and Chambersburg to realize that there are almost certainly people in every community that would like to participate in this extraordinary opportunity. Next spring and summer, we will be recruiting for the next GSE which will be to the exciting and exotic country of Tunisia! Please help promote GSE in your clubs. When these folks return, they will know more about Rotary than many of our current members, and will make good prospects to join Rotary!


Glenn Smith
Chair, GSE Outbound to Germany
717-530-5490
highlandglenn@kuhncom.net

If you want to know what a previous trip was like, check out the power point slide show on the GSE trip to Korea in April 2004. This slide show takes a while to download so please have a broadband connection to the Internet. Also you can learn more about the GSE program from the Rotary International Web site at http://www.rotary.org. Applications are available at the Web site too. Search for GSE at the Web site.


Other recent GSE countries

2006 Italy | 2004 South Korea | 2002 Argentina | 2001 Kazakhstan
2000 Japan | 1999 Central America|1998 France | 1997 Finland | 1996 Australia

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Last update 1/17/2007