Group Study Exchange from Argentina visits Elmbrook Rotary

Posted by Steve Stocker

on May 08, 2013

A group of 5 men and women from Argentina visited the Elmbrook Rotary Club from May 1 through May 4, after visiting 7 other Clubs throughout Rotary District 6270 over the past month.

Group Study Exchange (GSE) is a mission of the Rotary Foundation enabling Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty. The GSE program began in 1965 and is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for business and professional men and women in the initial years of their career.
Individuals from Argentina spent each day visiting area businesses and local organizations with evenings spent relaxing with Elmbrook Rotarian host families. In addition to visits to the Milwaukee Zoo and the Brookfield Mayor’s office, they attended the Brewers game on May 2 at Miller Park and visited Rotary International headquarters in Evanston, Illinois.

The group was led by Team Leader and Rotarian, Jorge Angel Santecchia who is a Civil Engineer with his own business living in Córdoba. Other members of the team included: Maria Eugenia Valdes, who is earning her PhD at the School of Chemical Sciences at the National University of Córdoba; Pablo Bressano, a Civil Engineer who works for the government of Córdoba, at the Water Resources Secretary; Maria Lucrecia Paolini, a Chemical Engineer working at a Thermoelectric Power Plant; and Diego Mauricia Almada Bonfigli, a Pediatrician and Director of Public Health Jesús María north of Córdoba.

Elmbrook Rotarian and District GSE Coordinator, Wally Smanski was responsible for overseeing the group’s activities over the course of the trip and was experienced in the program having taken an outbound GSE exchange trip to Sweden several years earlier.

As the group left on Saturday for their last week in the U.S. and a trip to New York City, a small group of Elmbrook Rotarians said goodbyes at the airport, wished them safe travels and thanked them for the opportunity to get to know more about them and life in Argentina.