December 16th, 2009
Rotary selects SMHS students to attend conference

Front Row, left to right: Katie Burroughs and Grace Baen. Back row, left to right: Rotarians Peter Baen and Bob Flammang with San Marcos High School-Rotary Youth Leadership Awards candidates Selena Selvera, Adam Berglund, Valerie Mendoza, Shade Smith, Gabriel Vazquez.

STAFF REPORT

The San Marcos rotary clubs recently selected four San Marcos High School (SMHS) juniors to attend the Rotary Youth Leadership Conference to be held in January in New Braunfels.

The students representing the San Marcos Rotary Club are Gabriel Vasquez and Stevie Dow. Representing the Rotary Club of Greater San Marcos are the SMHS Interact Club officers Selena Selvera and Valerie Mendoza.

The SMHS Rotary Club exchange student from Denmark, Emil Pederson, will also be in attendance at the conference.

The conference, sponsored by Texas Rotary District 5840, will give students the opportunity to learn leadership and team building skills with 160 other students from area high schools.

The Rotary Club Youth Leadership Awards (RCLA) are one of the Rotary’s programs designed to recognize outstanding youth in their communities. The conference will include guest speakers who will conduct presentations, as well as hands-on workshops on trust, cooperation, and teamwork. After the presentations, there will be group discussions and debates. Team leaders will moderate group dialogs.  Along with 36 returning senior peer counselors will be three major leadership workshops featuring educators from Central Texas.

Rotary International is the world’s oldest service organization, founded in Chicago in 1905. The Rotary Club of San Marcos meets at the Price Senior Center, 222 West San Antonio Street,  on Wednesdays at noon. The Rotary Club of Greater San Marcos meets for lunch at noon on Fridays at Saltgrass Steakhouse, 100 Sessoms Drive.