Sarah Surbeck was Inbound Rotary Exchange student at Wollundry Rotary in 1987/88. Due to our extensive Library and Filing system, we have a photo from that era, and she hasn't changed much. Peter Crozier was asked to introduce Sarah, and told us that on day one of her exchange, he jokingly set a 6.00am curfew. She rocked up home at 5.50am, but she was 18yo, so that's OK. I imagine Emily took a mental note of this requirement. Sarah kept referring to a 10 minute restriction on her presentation, but we wish that she had been allocated twice the time. She named her host parents as the Hornibrooks, The Croziers, The Col Woodens and The Alan Cotterills. After returning from Australia, Sarah attended University in Sioux City, and after 4 years graduated in a course studying Health and Wellness, with emphasis on Corporate Health Promotion. When she graduated, Sarah moved to Mt Vernon, Indiana, working Health Fitness Corp, on a GE plastics campus. From there, up to St Paul, Minnesota, and a job with the 3M Corp. More recently, Sarah has worked in Community education, a part time job to spend more time with her children. She is heavily into fitness and swimming programs. She met and married Mark in 1995, while in Indiana, and had two children, John (c1998) and Emily (c2000) There were a series of slides with photos of visitors from Australia, and the Woodens and the Croziers were well represented. Emily has been on an exchange during her University of Kansas studies, doing a semester at Wollongong Uni, and will return home to USA early in December. Mark is a senior mechanical designer, and works for Crown Ironworks. She gave a recent job as an example - he designed a plant for oilseed production. This takes him overseas extensively, including England, Brazil and China. We had a bit of a geography lesson on Minnesota, and were fascinated that the state population is 5.6 million. The twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul have 3.2 million people, but travel times from the Carlton home are 10 minutes to St Paul, 20 minutes to Minneapolis. The State has 10 thousand lakes, and that's a lot of ice to skate on. Sarah was quick to point out that they are sports mad in Minnesota, with professional teams in six disciplines. Her family get involved, but I fail to get excited by Ice Fishing - Sarah agrees. The question session was along predictable lines. Peter Clucas asked about the snow season, and then Mark Carlton was given a chance to dish out the dirt. He declined, because he was so far from home, but said all the right things about having his daughter study in Australia. Emily described her courses at Wollongong, 2 units in Psychology, and a climate change subject. She roomed with 3 Australians - and survived the experience. She managed to have some travel experiences and enjoyed the experience. President David made the point that we have had exchange students return, and they have all developed into great ambassadors for the scheme - most impressive people and thankful for the experience. Burmo moved the vote of thanks, pointing out that there are only about six or seven survivors from Wollundry 1987, but a new generation of our club are now richer for todays contact. |