1994-95 District Governor
A review of the year I served as District Governor brings many fond memories. The year began by visiting each of the sixty-three Rotary Clubs that made up District 5300. A whirlwind tour of Southern California and Nevada where Marge and I had the opportunity to make the acquaintance of three thousand Rotarians who shared our vision of.
We witnessed several major successes within the district during the Rotary year of 1994-95. Included within that list of successes was the idea of a five-fold increase in the scholarships awarded by both the Stover Music Awards and Four-way Speech contest to $5000. A simple matter of promoting participation in these events and charging an entry fee. what Rotary was capable of.
Ambassadorial Scholar
During the Rotary year, our district hosted a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar from the non-Rotary country of China. Yu Zhao from Nanjing University was selected by a special committee of San Marino Rotarians to study business at The University of Nevada Las Vegas campus. Our high hopes of her returning to Nanjing and building bridges of friendship were dashed when political upheaval in China forced her to seek refuge in Canada at the end of her studies in the United States.
Peace Conference
Another accomplishment of the Rotary district 5300 was an outstanding Peace Conference fuels at Beckman Auditorium at Cal Tech, featuring Dr. Arthur Chilangarov, the Vice-Chairman of the Russian Duma. Over one thousand Rotarians from several districts throughout Southern California participate in this event of increasing international understanding.
Practical Rotary Leadership Seminar (PRLS) program for leadership development. The program was based on the idea of increasing Rotary knowledge and leadership skills among Rotarians long before they are nominated to leadership and president of their Rotary club. A good beginning for a program that we hope will eventually grow into one of the key reasons why people join Rotary.
The district celebrated the beginning of the Interact Symposium, another program that would grow over the following years into a major three-day training event for incoming Interact club presidents and advisors. This event was chaired and financially supported by district 5300, while participants came from all seven districts in Southern California and Nevada.
1994-95 District Conference
The Rotary year was completed with a District Conference at the Sheraton Grande Hotel in La Jolla, California. More than 600 Rotarians and spouses participated in the celebration of a year of success for District 5300 of Rotary International.
