Sydney City Rotaract - Information Night 2010

Dear Members & Friends of Sydney City Rotaract,

Our Sydney City Rotaract Information Night 2010 is on Wednesday, 25th August 2010 and this is a GREAT night to find out about Sydney City Rotaract, connecting with one another, making new friends and getting to know the Sydney City Rotaract board of 2010/2011. We would love to see you there !

We will have special guests speakers John W. Grisham and John David Nehme. Both John and John are from the USA and are Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars of 2010, currently residing in Sydney.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Sydney City Rotaract Information Night 2010 ! :)

RSVP: 18th August 2010 to international@sydneycityrotaract.org

Regards,
Julie Cheang
VP & International Service Director 2009-2010
President Elect 2010-2011

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John W. Grisham

Hello! As for introducing myself to you all, I suppose it would be best to begin with my current whereabouts and goings on. On May 8 of this year, I graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. In less than a month, a friend and I had unpacked our dorms and repacked the car for a different sort of trek--one that would take us to the wilds of Northwestern Alaska, the land known here in the United States as the last frontier. I ended up on the island of Kodiak, and for the next 6 months proceeded to work aboard a 68-foot boat in both the salmon and halibut commercial fishing industries. There were many stories, glories, trials, and travails—needless to say, it was quite an adventure!

Despite how much I enjoyed my time in Alaska, I do not think that fishing is my calling in life. Rather, during my time at Vanderbilt, I discovered through a number of classes and personal experiences that my passion laid in the field of international health care. Perhaps most instrumental in confirming my interest in medicine abroad was the opportunity to be a part of several projects around the globe—in El Salvador, Zambia, and Burundi.

In Sydney, I will be studying for a Master of International Public Health. A few years down the road, I aspire to attend medical school here in the States, giving me the capacity to affect change in both the clinical and public health arenas of medicine. Following my time in Australia, I have plans to spend six months on the island of Borneo in Indonesia, working alongside an American physician at the hospital that he constructed. Few things excite me more than the opportunity to bring hope to those who have none.

And while my academic and vocational interests are focused primarily on international medicine, my range of interests is rather broad. I enjoy everything from rock climbing to writing, from playing the guitar to traveling simply for the sake of seeing something or meeting someone new.

John W. Grisham
Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar 2010
Master of Int'l Public Health - Univ. of Sydney
Vanderbilt University, 2009
www.livetothehilt.com

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John David Nehme

I’m a graduate of Georgetown High School, Class of 2005, and my family still resides in the Georgetown community in Texas.

While in high school, I served with a non-profit called the Georgetown Project as a member of the Executive Board of Directors and with the Youth Action Council. In this capacity, I played an integral role in a two year project culminating in the inception of a Teen/Senior Center within my community . I also captained both the football and track teams during my senior year, and was the president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes on campus.

After high school, I took off for Nashville, Tennessee, where I attended Vanderbilt University as an Ingram Scholar. I graduated cum laude in 2009 with a B.S. in Human & Organizational Development and a minor in Corporate Strategy. My time at Vanderbilt opened my eyes to the depth and urgency of human need around the world, and a desire to serve the international community was awakened. This service first began when I spoke at a conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil, entitled “Education for Values and Social Change”, and continued as I worked with the rural poor in Honduras and El Salvador. I also spent three months in London as a policy researcher for a think-tank called the Centre for Social Justice, publishing policies to strengthen the work of non-profits in the UK. Some other experiences include time in the northwoods of Minnesota as a wilderness therapy instructor and as a policy analyst for the State of Tennessee. Most recently, I worked for six months as a commercial fisherman in Kodiak, Alaska.

I’m studying Political Economy at the University of Sydney as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar during 2010. In July I’ll marry Rachel Weber, the most beautiful woman in the world and native of New York City. After the wedding, she’ll join me in Australia for the second half of my program. She is currently the Kolbe Fellow for Prison Fellowship International in Rwanda. We both enjoy rock climbing, canoeing, reading, traveling, and cooking.

John David Nehme
Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar 2010
Vanderbilt University: B.S. Human & Organizational Development '09
University of Sydney: Political Economy '10
www.johnnehme.com