visit the Rotary Club of Elkins
by Wayne Sheets
Members of the Elkins host families met the group and their hosts while they were in Spencer at the French Creek Game Farm on Friday morning, May 8. After a tour of the game farm, the group traveled to Elkins and settled in with their new host families.
Team members include Miki Matsumoto, Shiho Mitsugi, Takahiro Ueda and Mayako Shiode. Matsumoto is a shiatsu and massage practitioner in holistic hospitals, clinics and schools. Mitsugi is a manager of kindergartens and elementary schools. Ueda writes, edits and publishes a monthly government sponsored newsletter, manages the paper’s web site and organizes international affairs. Shiode is a registered dietitian and manages the menu of a 50-bed hospital. She also helps managed the dietary needs of a health clinic, nursing home and elementary school.
They spent a busy Saturday visiting the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank and riding the Durbin Rocket Excursion Train along the scenic Greenbrier River. From there it was on to Snowshoe to enjoy the high mountain vistas and dinner. Sunday was set aside as a day of rest and enjoying rafting on the Shaver’s Fork of the Cheat River and backyard cookouts. Team members and their leader spent Monday visiting businesses and schools that are similar in nature to their professions at home. The visited Midland Elementary School, and Davis and Elkins College, and one member of the team, Takahiro Ueda, who edits, publishes and manages a newsletter, visited the Inter-Mountain newspaper offices where he was given a tour of the press room while the printing presses were in operation. He also spoke at length with the paper’s publisher, Don Smith regarding the management and daily operations of a daily newspaper, how the paper is laid out and printed, and with the paper’s Director of Advertising, Samantha Storch. The team, along with the hosts, were treated to lunch in the Mingo Room at Graceland Inn, after which they were taken for a tour of the college. The day ended with a Gala dinner at 6 p.m. in the Rotary Room at the Elkins YMCA. After dinner, team members introduced themselves, gave a brief summary of their professions, their hometowns and then entertained by singing in Japanese. They exchanged Rotary flags representing their respective clubs in Japan and were presented with the Elkins Club’s flag and other gifts.
The team departed early Tuesday morning for lunch with members of the Rotary Club of Buckhannon where the met their new hosts for their visit with Rotary clubs in Harrison County and Grafton. On May 15 they will depart for a visit to our nation’s capital and they will depart on May 19 for their return journey home.
Members of the Rotary Group Study
Exchange Team from Japan are shown with their host families at a special
dinner held in their honor on Monday, May 11, in the Rotary Room at the
Elkins YMCA.
From left to right, Thomas Minney, team
leader of the Rotary District 7530 GSE team that was in Japan and escorted
the Japanese delegation back to the United States, Miki Matsumoto with her
hosts Jim and Pat Schoonover, team leader Hiroshi Awashima with Sue and Sid
Gillispie and their daughter Sophia, Takahiro "Junior" Ueda, who was also
hosted by the Gillispies, Mayako Shiode and Shiho Mitsugi with their hosts
Bob and Karen Wilmoth, and Emily Donegia, of Belington, who will represent
District 7530 as a Rotary Youth Exchange student in Japan 2009/2010. The Japanese
team was in the United States from April 14 through May 19. In addition to
visiting several Rotary Clubs in District 7530, the team also visited
Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, Calif. They returned to their homes in
Japan on May 19.
Japanese Team from District 2650
Prefectures of Fukui, Shiga, Nara and Kyoto
Itinerary:
April 18 WeirtonJapanese Team from District 2650
Prefectures of Fukui, Shiga, Nara and Kyoto
Itinerary:
April 23 Parkersburg
April 27 Morgantown, Morgantown North, Cheat Lake
May 1 District Conference
May 3 Spencer
May 8 Elkins, Tucker Co
May 12 Harrison Co, Bridgeport, Clarksburg
May 15 Washington DC Tour
May 19 Departure from Morgantown