Imagine spending a weekend with 400 engaging individuals who are dedicated to improving local and global communities and sharing their ideas with others. This is what the Zones Institute is about and it allows for fellowship, ideas, and new partnerships to emerge in support of Rotary’s vision, where people of action unite to create change – across the globe, in their communities and themselves.!
It is also where we our district governor-elect and governor-nominee are formerly trained for the role of district governor. The training known by their acronyms GETS and GNTS are kicked off a few days before the Institute, and they are an intensive series of sessions to ensure our district leadership are prepared before taking on the role of district governor. A hearty congratulations to DGE Rachele Bouchand and DGN Jeff Borek for graduating from each of their sessions. They were awarded their graduation certificates by RI President-Elect Stephanie Urchick and RI Director for Zones 26 & 27 Dan Himelspach.
The speakers are the Zone Institute helped us think about Rotary and its future with a more concrete view and the need to evolve to embrace our changing communities, while looking for different ways in which we can innovate to support this engagement with new audiences. The speakers were as follows: https://www.zoneinstitute.org/speakers/.
Zones is also about fellowship and there were many opportunities to connect with our peer groups after the sessions, whether this was around the hotel facilities or at the specially planned events. We truly had an enjoyable time as we gathered with each other at the events and check out the schedule of the training and institute, and scroll down to see the photographs from our meetings, activities, and fellowship events.
Lisa Edwards, as one of our selected District Leaders, expresses the sentiment of Zones Institute through her own experiences: ” Imagine spending a weekend with 400 engaging individuals who are dedicated to improving local and global communities and sharing their ideas with others. For me, that is what ZONE Institute is all about. At the 2022 ZONE Institute, I was inspired by several sessions that I attended as a President- Elect and I was able to implement many of those ideas with the support of club members. At the 2023 ZONE Institute, I was inspired by daily keynote speakers, Rotaract sessions, picked up a few technology tricks and learned what other districts are doing to better serve their members. ZONE is the place to be for those who enjoy innovation and learning. I am looking forward to the 2024 ZONE Institute in Spokane, Washington and encourage fellow Rotarians to attend.“
As is the tradition with District 5030, we always take the opportunity to congratulate our District Governor-Elect with our own celebration at the end of the last night. This year was no exception, where we hosted a celebratory party to celebrate DGE Rachele Bouchand success in completing both GNTS and GETS training over the last two years. She is now ready to take on the DG role for 2024-25, although there is still much to do as DGE with the remainder of the Rotary year for International Assembly, PNW-PETS, and the Festival of Training!
