Highlights from Rotary Reconnect Week

In the first week of October, alumni from around the globe found their way home to Rotary.
 
Rotary Reconnect Week offered alumni an opportunity to reflect on their experiences while also learning how to lead and serve their communities through Rotary.
 
Here are some ways alumni reconnected during Reconnect Week:

 
 
Highlights from Reconnect Week
In the first week of October, alumni from around the globe found their way home to Rotary. Rotary Reconnect Week offered alumni an opportunity to reflect on their experiences while also learning how to lead and serve their communities through Rotary. Here are some ways alumni reconnected during Reconnect Week:

When Courtney Patrick was a university student in Louisiana, USA, she received a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to study in the UK. She tells how this experience led her to join the Rotary Club of Birmingham Breakfast, W. Midlands, England.

In India, Rotarian and alumnus Binish Desai spoke at the Rotary Club of Vapi, Gujarat, about his passion for converting waste into economical and ecofriendly products. He explains why Rotary was an important part of this journey.

Several alumni in the United States reconnected at a restaurant to talk about the impact that Rotary — especially the Rotary Club of Denver Mile High, Colorado, USA — has had on them.

Though Reconnect Week is over, alumni can always connect with a Rotary club. Find the club nearest you, and start a new journey.
 
Award Winners
John Caulfield earns Rotary Alumni Global Service Award
John Caulfield has spent more than 40 years in international diplomacy advancing global understanding and the protection of human rights. It all began in 1973, when Caulfield received a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to study at the Catholic University of Salvador in Brazil. During this time, he began to consider a career in diplomacy. Since then, Caulfield has served as a U.S. diplomat in nine countries on four continents. In all of his work, he has displayed a commitment to community development, education, disease prevention, and other Rotary areas of focus.
 
 
 
District 9141/9142 named Rotary Alumni Association of the Year
Since it was formed in 2014, the District 9141/9142 Alumni Association (Nigeria) has regularly demonstrated Service Above Self. From environmental activism with its service project Plant a Tree, Save the Planet to organizing a public lecture on the relationship between hunger, civil unrest, and war, the alumni association is committed to making its community a better place.
 
Rotary News
Alumni discount available for convention registration
Alumni can register for the 2018 Rotary International Convention in Toronto, Canada, before 15 December and save up to $30. A world of opportunity waits for you at the Toronto convention, 23-27 June. We’ll see you there!
 
 
Welcome new alumni associations!
The Rotary District 7020 Alumni Association includes alumni in the Caribbean from Rotaract, Interact, RYLA, and Youth Exchange. It recently held a Reconnect Week videoconference during which members shared their experiences and discussed how their alumni association could better serve its communities.

Rotary District 4390's Rotex Alumni Association, informally known as Rotex Aracaju, consists of Rotary Youth Exchange alumni in Brazil. It offers new inbound and outbound Youth Exchange students knowledge that alumni have gained from their own experiences abroad. The alumni association also attends Rotary district and club events and is supporting a new Interact club.
 
Overheard on social media
Facebook — Sarah Ehlinger Affotey, a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar alumna, shares her thoughts on the ability of alumni to have an effect on the world by introducing themselves to the Rotary community.

Twitter — Rotary Brasil invites you to meet the Rotary Peace Center alumni who were honored as champions of peace at Rotary Day at the United Nations in November.

LinkedIn — Interested in building a culture of peace in communities around the world? You can as a Rotary Peace Fellow. Check out this post from Rotary International to learn more.