Rotary Speeches

As part of the requirements of an Ambassadorial Scholar, I routinely visit Rotary Clubs where I give speeches to help bridge the societal gap by bringing some Floridian flavor and American culture. I also educate the members and discuss the benefits of the scholarship program. Most Rotarians here don't know much about it since there hasn't been scholar here for a while, making my job a little more difficult but very worthwhile.



Here's a little info on the program: "Since 1947 nearly 37,000 men and women from 100 nations have studied abroad under its auspices. Today it is the world's largest privately funded international scholarships program. Nearly 800 scholarships were awarded for study in 2005-06. Through grants totaling approximately US$500 million, recipients from some 70 countries studied in more than 70 nations. " www.rotary.org



Out of the 12 Rotary Clubs throughout the country, so far I've given speeches at 7 of them with my host counselor Franz lending a hand to coordinate them. I remember my first one - the nerves were definitely a little frayed. Here I was giving a 20-minute speech in Spanish, complete with jokes I hadn't really tested in front of a bunch of well-respected Panamanians. Melba was such a sweetheart in helping translate and prepare my presentation. Surprisingly, the speech went really well, and these Rotarians couldn't have been a better audience. Whether or not they liked them, they laughed at all my jokes as if on cue. It was a great vote of confidence that paved the way for many other club visits.

Every time I've visited a club, I've been welcomed with open arms and a very receptive audience. I normally get a great free meal (always a plus for a starving student) and people truly interested in what I have to say. Generous hospitality seems to know no borders with Rotarians.

There's one part in my speech where I get the club to sing the Gator fight song. In the middle of leading the chorus at one meeting, I noticed a guy who adamantly refused to sing. I asked him to join in. He said since he went to Ohio State, and since his boys are going there now and any grandchildren will undoubtedly be attending that fine institution, there was no way in hell he'd be singing "Go Gators!" I said he'd just signed himself up for a solo.






On my out of town trips, the Rotarians have really hooked me up with my lodgings and treated me like royalty. I recently headed to the Caribbean side of the canal, to the port town of Colon to address their club. After the speech, Eduardo the president gave me a tour of the town and said he had a surprise for me: I'd be staying in the VIP guest house of the free trade zone's president (Panama's free trade zone is the 2nd largest in the world after Hong Kong's). It was a huge house overlooking the canal with great views from every window. The kicker was that Noriega stayed there right before the invasion in 1989.

I think Noriega might have even sat in this sofa.



On another trip to la Chorrera, my buddy Andy put me up in his beautiful and expansive mountain villa. Life is good when you're a Rotary Scholar...