Three shoreline high school students represented our local Rotary in attending the Rotary World Affairs Seminar in Wisconsin. The seminar took place over 6 days in June with attendees from all over the United States and international guest speakers. Talia Bauer represented Old Saybrook High School and reports that the experience was "life-changing."
According to the Seminar website, "The World Affairs Seminar is an international youth initiative of Rotary International District 6270. Our vision is to bring better understanding of world problems to young people from around the globe, using current issues as a learning platform. In the course of this study, the WAS provides opportunities for participants to discuss issues with other young people from around the world. Emphasis is on promoting better understanding of the causes of international conflict. The idea is if the causes are understood and solutions developed in a cooperative environment, problems are more likely to be solved peacefully."
Talia's biggest takeaway from the experience is that, "We can't progress as a society if we refuse to enter discussions with a sincere readiness to listen and learn. People are complicated; everyone's backstory plays a role in their perspective of the world, but every voice matters."
Talia, along with fellow attendees from Westbrook and Lyme-Old Lyme High School, presented their experience to our local Rotary club on Wednesday morning in the presence of Rotary members, school administrators, parents, and teachers including Amber Scherber, OSHS science teacher and Rotarian, helped facilitate the participation of the students in the seminar. The students hope to be able to continue the experience with another seminar, this time overseas!
