GSE Team visits RC Pikeville

Rotary GSE Team from Grenoble, France visits area

 A Group Study Exchange Team from Rotary District 1780 in Grenoble, France recently visited the Pikeville area.  The five member team, sponsored by Rotary District 6740 which covers 42 counties in eastern Kentucky, arrived in Pikeville on May 8, just after their visit to the Ashland area.  Their three day stay in Pikeville was a busy cultural experience.  By the end of their month-long visit to Kentucky, the team will have traveled to Lexington, Northern Kentucky, Maysville, Ashland, Whitesburg, Somerset and London.

 The GSE team leader Yann de Sereville, a Rotarian of just four years, lives in a small town near world famous Mont Blanc in the Alps.  A banker by profession, Yann is an avid outdoorsman who loves to ski, bike and trek in the mountains.  Yann shared, “ I always said that one day I would go to America and discover this wild and beautiful place and here I am.  The Pikeville Rotarians have been very gracious and the hospitality of the people in this area has been wonderful.”

 Other team members included Augustin Reboul (a graphic designer), David Bartet (a financial controller), Celine Lemoine (a hair stylist) and Yann Mercier (an industrial chemist).  All of these participants were from the Grenoble area.

 Several Rotarians and their families opened their homes to the French team.  Those included Dan and Muriel Stratton, James and Helen Brown, Gerri and Ken Kinder, Frank and Theresa Dawahare, Jeanne and Kenneth Clark.

During their stay in Pikeville, the French team enjoyed several activities.  They experienced a coal mining tour with their guide Rusty Justice from Jigsaw Enterprises, a city tour with historian Reed Potter,  a visit to the Breaks Interstate Park for a picnic and hike with Jeanne Clark, a dinner at Hibachi with Rotary officers and board members, a bourbon tasting at the home of Frank and Theresa Dawahare, and a farewell reception at Green Meadow Country Club, where the team members presented a program on their lives and home towns in France.

 Because part of the GSE experience involves a sharing of vocational interests, team members were matched with local business leaders in similar vocations.  Team members visited Community Trust Bank, the YMCA, McCoy Motorsports, UPike, Summit Engineering, Glam Salon and Spa and East Ky. Beauty College.  A special thank you to the following people who welcomed the team members to their businesses:  Sherry Riddle, Brett Keene, Mike McCoy, Hugh B. Hall, Dr. Ben Clayton, Philip Elswick, David Rasnick, Phyllis Deskins and Sandra Akers.   The team traveled throughout the area in a van provided by the UK Extension Office.

The Pikeville Rotary Club has been a proud sponsor of Group Study Exchange Teams from around the world for years.  This was the last year for the Rotary International GSE program in its current form. Beginning July 1, 2013, the new exchange visits will involve a more vocational perspective.

 Photo:  Pikeville Rotarian Reed Potter takes the GSE team from France on a walking tour on downtown Pikeville.