District 5300
Rotary International Foundation
Group Study Exchange

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About the Group Study Exchange Program
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  2011-2012 GSE Program
Information About the 2011-2012 Trip
District 5300 Team Leader for the 2011-12 Team

2010-2011 GSE Program
(Trip Posponed to 2011-2012)
Information About the 2010-11 GSE Trip
District 5300 Team Leader for the 2010-11 Team
Members of the Outgoing 2010-11Team
Members of the GSE Committee

 


2011-2012 GSE Program
Northern Chile

District 5300 and District 4320 from Northern Chile are beginning to plan for the 2012 cultural and vocational exchange between their countries. Mary Ann Avnet from the Rotary Club of Las Vegas has been chosen to lead the team from our district. They will depart on March 17, 2012 and arrive in Arica, a beach town at the very tip of northern Chile. Because our seasons are the opposite of each other, our team will arrive in Chile at the beginning of autumn. During their five week visit to District 4320, the group will travel south throughout the district and end in Valparaiso, located in central Chile near Santiago, the capital city. District 4320 contains 66 clubs and over 1200 Rotarians.

District 5300 Team Leader

 
Mary Ann Avnet

Mary Ann has been a Rotarian since 2006. During her time as a Rotarian she has been actively involved in many youth projects including serving as a Rotarian advisor at TLC twice, one of the advisors to the Las Vegas Rotaract Club, the club chair for their Sole Power project which provides shoes and socks to needy children in acknowledgement of weekly speakers at her club. Mary Ann is one of the co-chairs for the 2012 RYLA program. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Rotary Club of Las Vegas for the past three years and is currently the club secretary. In 2011 she participated in the Rotaplast mission to Guatemala as a non-medical volunteer from our district.

Members of the Outgoing Team


Julia Long

Julia Long is so excited and honored to have been chosen as a Team Member for the 2011-2012 GSE trip to Chile! Julia is passionate about travel, and has visited much of North America, Europe, and Australia. She is looking forward to exploring South America and learning more about the role Rotary
plays in the lives of Chileans. Julia grew up in Pasadena, California, but moved to Canada to attend the University of Toronto. After completing her Honors B.A., she returned to Los Angeles to work at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising Museum as their Study Collection Manager. After 2
rewarding years there, she moved to Oxford, England to complete a Masters degree in History of Art and Visual Culture. Julia is interested in Museum and Heritage Studies, and is now working on a Postgraduate Certificate in Heritage Management. She is currently working with Korman & Co. as a
Production Assistant, helping to engineer various artistic projects all over Southern California. Upon her return from England in 2010, Julia became involved with the Pasadena/Foothills chapter of the United Nations Association. She now proudly sits on their Board of Directors, and works to raise
awareness and interest in the worldwide work of the U.N. through local events and fundraisers.


Oscar Quiroz

Oscar A. Quiroz completed his BS degree in Industrial Engineering in Mexico City at the “Universidad Panamericana”. He started his professional career in his second university year and finished working as the co-packer coordinator at The Gillette Corporation.

In 2004 Oscar moved to California to join a Development and Construction company as Project Manager and now co-owns a Real Estate business that focuses in lending, leasing and selling rehabbed properties. In 2005 Oscar got his real estate license and in 2011 he became a Real Estate Broker. Oscar has extensive experience in logistics as well as construction, sales and real estate financing.

He is married to his high school sweetheart and together have two young children, 3 and 1 year old. Oscar enjoys traveling and experiencing local food, he has visited more than 15 countries from Australia to South Africa to Costa Rica. He has also volunteered in several non-profits events (build a house in a day, dinner fundraisers) and actively participates in his local community


Jason Ramos

Jason Ramos was born and raised in Pasadena, California. He has had the great fortune to spend time during high school and after traveling across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Central America. The adventures through Central America were especially memorable, which included festivals, hiking, sightseeing at the Mayan ruins, and learning about the culture through first hand experiences.
Jason graduated in 2005 with his Bachelor’s Degree in Behavioral Science along with a minor in Criminology from Cal Poly Pomona.
Jason’s passion is working with the youth. He worked as a Youth Advisor for the Pasadena Police Department. It was here that he mentored troubled youth. Making connections with young men and women in the community and providing new opportunities for them were highlights of this area of work. Beginning in 2008, Jason joined the dynamic team at the YMCA where he is currently employed as the youth sports director. He is the organizer of youth sports that span over 5 cities and bring together families throughout the community. The youth basketball program run twice each year excels in youth development and sportsmanship boasts over 1,200 participants a year. Also at the YMCA Jason has a chance to combine his passion for youth and outdoors, as he is the director for two resident camp programs. One of the camps travels to Big Bear and the other to Mammoth Lakes annually. He excels at teen development and enjoys sharing his love for the outdoors with youth, from all walks of life, in the community.
In his spare time, Jason enjoys being active whether it’s on the court playing basketball with friends or running trails outdoors. He is a proud member of the local running club where they frequent the local trails. The team recently tamed the Mount Wilson 20 mile run.
Jason is excited for his opportunity to work with the local Rotary clubs and other Group Study Exchange members. He looks forward to continued adventures and travels throughout his life. 


Reyna Trinidad

Reyna Trinidad is currently finishing her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at Cal Poly Pomona. Her degree focus is International Business and Marketing.

Reyna has also been working for S.L Enterprises a small business that manufactures gold stamping machines. She has been working there for over 7 years and is currently the office manager. While working at S.L Enterprises she was given the opportunity to start a small printing service website on the side. She did everything on the website from organizing the website structure to taking the pictures of every item offered. My Personalized Ribbons launched 2 years ago and it has started to gain momentum. Recently, two of her products got her website the #1 position on the search engine results. Once My Personalized Ribbons was launched she started on the S.L Enterprises website. As with the first website she did everything from inputting every item to editing every picture. SLE Hot Printers was launched at the beginning of 2011. This website has helped bring the company more business and has gained the company recognition around the world.

Reyna has always been intrigued by other cultures. She loves living in California because it has given her exposure to so many different cultures. She hopes to get the opportunity to travel once she graduates, and she has her first trip to Argentina planned for December of 2011. Her mission in life is to immerse herself into the cultures this world has to offer. So far her travels have only consisted of family trips to Mexico. Her goal is to visit South America, Europe, and Asia in the near future.


Kyle Zimbro

Kyle Zimbro is a Real Estate Broker working in all of the Inland Empire. He became a licensed salesperson in July 2004 to not only fulfill his early career ambitions but mainly to pay for his college education. He attended the University of Redlands, a private liberal arts college, and graduated in May 2008 with his Bachelors of Science in Business Administration and a minor in Economics. While in college he was a member of Delta Sigma Pi, an international business fraternity, and served as president during his senior year.

Since completing his business studies at Redlands, he has continued to learn and diversify his work in real estate in many ways. His focus has been representing buyers and sellers in residential purchases, commercial and residential land sales, income property and investment purchases, and property management. His strongest interests lie in real estate development and construction. In 2007, at the age of 21, he purchased a piece of property, had construction blueprints engineered, and acquired the financing necessary to build a single family residence he now calls home. In early 2011, he joined the newly chartered Victor Valley Association of Realtors Young Professional Network and has been chosen to act as the committee chair for 2012.

In addition to his career aspirations, Kyle is passionate about traveling the world to experience the many unique cultures it has to offer. While in college, Kyle gained an interest in Chinese culture and studied one year of Mandarin. In May of 2007, he traveled to China where he saw much of the country’s urban centers as well as various tourist destinations. Kyle found the experience to be enlightening and unique and has since desired greater travels. Unfortunately, the challenges of the economy have prohibited him from such forms of travel since his China visit. He is incredibly honored and excited to serve as an ambassador for District 5300 of the Rotary International Foundation in Chile during the spring of 2012.


Stephanie Yuen
Alternate

Stephanie Yuen is a Program Director for the South Pasadena San Marino YMCA. She oversees youth and teen programs in the community including a high school age Youth and Government program as well as coordinating YMCA special events. Y work is a passion of Stephanie’s. She started as a volunteer resident camp counselor and was instantly hooked in the deep community ties and dedicated social responsibility of the YMCA.

Yuen is an intercollegiate softball coach at Pasadena City College and in her sixth season with the Lady Lancers. She enjoys sports and recreation of all types, but especially softball. Encouraging education and teamwork is a rich tradition at Pasadena City College and she is dedicated to helping young women succeed.

Stephanie is also member of the Tournament of Roses and looks forward to her first year as a member. She is a member of the post-parade committee. Post-parade hosts a festival of the rose parade floats each year. Yuen is excited to be an ambassador for the Tournament of Roses. She looks forward to many years of helping host the world at the greatest parade and the “grand daddy” of the bowl games.

 

2010-11 GSE Program
Dubai, Bahrain and Egypt
Information about the Trip

District 5300 Team Leader
The 2010-11 District 5300 Team is scheduled to visit District 2450 in 2011-2012

 
Paul Finchamp

Paul Finchamp is an insurance broker and financial advisor for Pacific Advisors.  He is a 30 year veteran of the business having entered it shortly after graduating from Occidental College.  At Oxy Paul was an active athlete playing both basketball and football for the Tigers.  In 1980 Paul received All-American honors in football at two different positions. 

Paul has been an active volunteer for the past 25 years serving as Chairman of the Board for several organizations within the Pasadena area including Chairman of his alma mater’s President’s Circle.

Paul was a member of the 1991 GSE Team that traveled to Northern Germany.  In 1991 he joined Pasadena Sunrise Rotary.  He has served the District at many levels including President’s advance chair, District Rep and Assistant Governor in 2000. 

Paul has two very accomplished children in their own right.  His son Trevor is a 21 year old junior at Wartburg College in Iowa.  He 15 year old daughter, Hannah Rae, is a freshman at Maranatha High School in Pasadena. 

   

Members of the Outgoing Team


Gina Chappin

Gina Chappin has served as the Director of Media for the Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena, Calif., since 2007.  She previously held the same role at the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and Insight Bowl in Arizona from 1997.  As the spokesperson for the Rose Bowl Game, Chappin oversees all media and public relations with local and national media.  She orchestrates media messaging and press conferences, is the editor of all publications, collateral and branding for the game, and coordinates the execution of game week and game day media operations including credentialing.  In addition, she serves on the Rose Bowl Management Committee which works with the Big 10 and Pac-10 Conferences to stage and operate the game.  Chappin is a member of the Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM), College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame (NFF & CHF).  She graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Arts in communications.


John Montes

John moved to the United States from Colombia after graduating high school to continue his studies. John graduated with a degree in computer science in 2005. In 2009, he completed his degree in business administration. John began working in market research when he was 22 years old as a telephone interviewer and left that company as project director in 2005. His passion for new opportunities in business led John to move to Las Vegas and pursue a career as a real estate agent. John sold over 1.8 million dollars of real estate in his first year. In 2009, John listed and sold over 30 distressed properties helping homeowners avoid foreclosure through the short sale process.

In 2009, John helped a friend start 702AC air conditioning and heating solutions, a residential air conditioning business. Despite the difficult economic times in 2009, after a few months in business the company grew from 2 to 8 employees. 702AC Air Conditioning serviced and installed air conditioners in over 800 households in the Las Vegas valley in its first year of operation.

John hopes to visit as many countries as possible during his lifetime. John has visited various countries in Central America in 2000, South America in 2006 and Europe in 2009.


Steven M. Yoss

Stephen M. Yoss, Jr. is a resident of Claremont, California. He is a 2007 graduate of Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles, California. While at LMU he earned degrees in Accountancy and International Business. He served the campus in a variety of positions, most importantly as Student Body President. He is a member of the University's oldest service organization and fraternity, Crimson Circle and Alpha Delta Gamma respectively. He is a recipient of the prestigious Diamond in the Rough Entrepreneurship Fellowship which is granted to the University's top business student.

Upon graduating from LMU he embarked on a year-long round the world trip that took him to five continents, 26 countries and over 100 thousand miles of travel. During his travels he took a position with New Zealand's largest private health care provider, played competitive rugby and visited many world highlights. Upon returning home he took a position with his father's accounting firm and earned his Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license. Currently, he has shifted his focus to MantisPRO, a business communication company he founded in 2009. MantisPRO develops the MantisVOICEBOX, a revolutionary telephone product that can reduce a company's telephone bill by up to 40%.


Silva Zeneian

Silva Zeneian is Vice President of Corporate Services at IDS Real Estate Group, advising corporate clients on their real estate strategy and implementation. Her client list includes national and regional retailers and non-profit organizations who trust Silva with her real estate expertise. In her spare time, Silva is very involved with her community. She's the President of Occidental College Board of Governors, Director of Armenian Church Summer Camp for children between the ages of 8 to 16 and an active member of the Pasadena Jaycees.

 

More inforatmation about the 2010-11 Trip
Adrienne Cox
2308 Rosendale Village Ave.
Henderson, NV 89052
adriennecx@yahoo.com


About the Group Study Exchange Program

The Group Study Exchange (GSE) program is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for young business and professional men and women ages 25 to 40 in their initial years of professional life. Teams spend four to six weeks abroad participating in vocational activities in their respective fields, being immersed in cultural experiences, enjoying fellowship with host families and members of the community, and working with the host districts Rotarians at club meetings and various Rotary activities. The ideal team member candidate is someone who is a team player, outgoing, social, has a sense of responsibility, good ambassador, good communicator, loves their profession and is respectful.

Expenses. The Rotary Foundation pays the least-expensive commercial round-trip transportation between districts and up to US$1,000 for language training (self-study or at an eligible educational institution). Additional subsidies include:

1.      The host district provides the visiting teams meals, accommodations, and transportation during the study program.

2.      Team members pay for personal and incidental expenses; visa, passport, inoculation expenses, travel to / from airport and airport taxes; insurance coverage; and the cost of any additional travel after the study tour.

Chris Montan's - Top Ten Reasons to Apply for GSE Team Member
Hosting a GSE Team (PDF File)

Calendar


Members of the GSE Committee
Doug Fowler, Chair, District Governor Elect, Previous GSE Team Leader, & GSE District Chairman
CA West: Greg Custer, San Marino
CA East: Miles Petroff, Rancho Del Chino
High Desert: Chuck Utgard, Apple Valley
So Nevada:  Jay Kidwell, Laughlin, Larry Skaggs, Green Valley and Russ Swain, Las Vegas

 Last update, Monday, November 21, 2011

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