District Governor George Granade joins welcome for this year's Rotary Youth Exchange students

From Our District Governor

Imagine the Power of Education and Literacy

By George Granade

September is basic education and literacy month in Rotary. Education is for everyone and there are several places we can improve our Rotary education. Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) is an excellent place to start. RLI is both in person and by Zoom. The courses in RLI cover the basic information about Rotary and one can meet other Rotarians to exchange ideas. You can also visit the Learning Center at My.Rotary.org to learn about Rotary - with plenty of courses about all areas of Rotary and Toastmasters classes.

We offer many opportunities to support education for young people - through the work we do at local schools, specific Rotary programs for youth, Georgia Laws of Life, and at the college level, the Georgia Rotary Student Program. [more]

Clockwise from top left: Anne Glenn, Will MacArthur, Olga Narvaez and Gillian Leggett

Our Rotary Foundation

Meet Your Rotary Foundation District Team 2023

By Anne Glenn

Hello! In August, your District 6900 Rotary Foundation Team was completely focused on getting our District’s local Club and Competitive Grant funding to all Rotarians who submitted projects. We are especially grateful to Gillian Leggett, District Grants Chair, and Will MacArthur, Foundation Treasurer, for their dedication and continued work through this challenging process. This year, District 6900 imagines 53 projects in our local communities with a value of $132,000. All these funds were donated by generous Rotarians in our District approximately three years ago.
[more]

Rotary Youth Exchange

Applications Now Open for 2023-24 Rotary Youth Exchange Scholarships

By Mike Parks

Applications for the District 6900 Rotary Youth Exchange scholarships for the 2023 - 2024 school year are open now.  Each scholarship is valued at $24,000 and gives Georgia high school students an opportunity to study abroad. Rotary clubs can award the scholarships at no cost to the club.

Before applying for the scholarships, Georgia high school students and their parents must attend an Informational Session. Those sessions are being held in the greater Atlanta area in August and September.  The application deadline is October 14, 2022.  See details in the full story.  Students and parents should attend the session together.  For more information and to register for the information session of your choice students and parents should visit RYESE.org/district-6900. [more]

Celebrating All We Accomplished in 2021-22!

By Mandy Timmons

Congratulations to the recipients of the Governor’s Award – Enterprise (Top 10%), Discovery (Top 25%) and ENDEAVOR (Top 50%).  These clubs focused on our fundamentals of Learning, Planning, and Growing More to Do More in 2021-2022.  With the efforts of these clubs and the many others across our district, we were able to donate over $1.2M to the Rotary Foundation, posted over 8000 volunteers and over 45,000 volunteer hours. Our district also contributed to our zone being #3 in Polio Plus giving, #8 in Per Capita giving and #9 in total giving across 34 zones.
[more]

GRSP Update

Georgia's Outbound GRSP Scholars Study, Explore Oslo in Summer Session

By Katheryne Fields

Five college students from Georgia departed Norway early August 5th agreeing their time together has been memorable, educational and went by far too fast. 

The Georgia Rotary Student Program (GRSP) scholarships were offered with a longstanding partnership with Rotarians of Oslo and the International Summer School at the University of Oslo. Sarah Grace Thompson (Berry College) of Peachtree City and Nicole Emily Kincaid (Columbus State University) of Columbus represented District 6900.

College students, ages 20-24, are welcome to submit an application with the recommendation of an active Rotarian in Georgia. Applications for Summer Session 2023 will open in October 2022 on the GRSP website, www.GRSP.org/Oslo-application
[more]

Rotary Youth Exchange

Welcome Rotary Youth Exchange Students!

By Mandy Timmons

What a great weekend celebrating our Rotary Youth Exchange Inbound students for District 6900!

We are so thankful for the clubs participating in this year’s program and especially to all of the host families for these students for the 2022-2023 academic year.

Students are being hosted from six countries and across seven clubs:  Agnes (Denmark / Peachtree City), Carla (Czechia / Decatur), Lulli (Italy / Buckhead), Camile (Belgium / Dunwoody), Elliott (France / Alpharetta), Pulse (Thailand / Dougherty County) and La Niege (Thailand / Roswell). [more]

GRSP Update

GRSP Conclave Ushers in Class of 2022-23

By Katheryne Fields

Imagine … the world becomes a little smaller when 44 international college students gather for one purpose~ to build peace through understanding. The Georgia Rotary Student Program ushered in the 2022-23 academic year at Conclave with students from 21 different countries, sponsored by 96 Rotary Clubs. The group made up of 17 males and 27 females sang about peace, shared skits about their homeland and learned about the expectations as a GRSP scholar in the prestigious 76-year nonprofit organization.
[more]

RYLA

Want to Know More About RYLA?

By Jaclyn Donovan

If your club has never participated in the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program – or if it’s been a while – and you’d like to know more, all you have to do is invite Jaclyn Donovan to visit your club. She’ll be happy to share with you about all things RYLA and the great opportunities it could provide for young leaders in your communities. 
[more]

Congratulations!

Grow More Awards for 2021-22

By Mandy Timmons

Congratulations to Zone 34 Membership Citation Winners!  These clubs obtained points throughout the year in the areas of new visitors to their clubs, new member inductions, having a member retention program, social recruiting events and extra points for doing all four! 

Keep up the … [more]

Congratulations!

Do More Awards for 2021-22

By Mandy Timmons

Congratulations to D6900 Annual Fund / Per Capita Giving Winners!  District 6900 was #39 in the top 50 districts with annual giving to The Rotary Foundation totaling $1,223,435 for 2021-2022.  These clubs were the top three in the district in total giving and the top three with per capita giving.  These funds … [more]

Congratulations!

Share More Awards for 2021-22

By Mandy Timmons

Congratulations to Zone 34 Public Image Citation Winners!  These clubs completed multiple levels of public image activities in 2021-2022.  From social media to news articles, radio advertising to website updates, these teams did the work last year to showcase how we are #PeopleofAction!  #SHAREMORE

Rotary Leadership Institute

Check Out This Opportunity to Learn, Grow, Share and Lead!

By Stephanie Windham

RLI is going strong in District 6900!  We have another opportunity for you to Learn, Grow, Share and Lead on November 19, 2022 in Kennesaw, Georgia. Registration is now open to all Rotarians for Parts 1, 2, and 3 for this next District 6900 Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) that will be held at the Ben Robertson Community Center in Kennesaw, Georgia.

Some of the interesting leadership topics that will be discussed during our classes include Membership Engagement, Analyzing Your Rotary Club, Strategic Planning, Service Projects, Effective Leadership Strategies and the History of Rotary. [more]

RI Convention 2023

Take the Melbourne Four-Way Test ... and Join DG George for the 2023 Convention

By Lorri Christopher

Join us in Melbourne for great wine, penguins, koalas, kangaroos, sailing, and meeting many new Rotarian mates. DG George Granade and several District 6900 Rotarians have already registered for the RI Convention in Melbourne, Australia - May 27-31, 2023. We're looking at options for touring before or after the convention - and would love to have you as part of the District 6900 group. Use this Melbourne Four-Way Test to think about it.
[more]

Club News

Free Art Boxes Help Kids Imagine Creativity

By Nell Boggs

In partnership with the Rotary Club of Douglas County, The Cultural Arts Council of Douglasville/ Douglas County (CAC) recently added to its public art initiative with a new project -- a Free Art Box on the grounds of the Cultural Arts Center in Douglasville.

The colorful crayon box full of Free Art to be shared with the community was inspired by Little Free Libraries. The Free Art Boxes offer a place to give and receive free art and supplies. This new creative trend is rooted in the same magnanimous spirit as the Little Free Libraries, but instead of books being shared, it is pint-sized art [more]

Club News

Pine Mountain Middle School Memorial Garden Refreshed

By Nancy Prochaska

The North Cobb Rotary Club TEAMED UP with the Kennesaw Mountain Varsity Volleyball team to clean and freshen the Pine Mountain Middle School Memorial Garden, Kennesaw. 

The Pine Mountain Memorial Garden was rededicated during the 2004-2005 school year to honor Jack Hensley, a Pine Mountain Middle School widely admired substitute teacher and parent. Mr. Hensley was one of three hostages kidnapped and killed while working in Iraq in the fall of 2004, garnering national and world-wide attention.  Since then, many other beloved individuals of Pine Mountain Middle School have been memorialized in the garden.  [more]