Tom Scott Talks about his Experience as a Rotary Graduate Fellow In 1972 Tom Scott was awarded a Rotary Graduate Fellowship to do one year of graduate study at the University of Otago, in Dunedin, New Zealand. On Wednesday, July 17, he spoke at the club that sponsored him 52 years ago. He first started by telling the attendees about how he learned about the Rotary program and the process he went to apply for this award. Next, he spoke about how he journeyed to the university in New Zealand and what it was like in this awesome country. He talked of what college life was like and how he got to meet so many students. In addition, he spoke at 14 Rotary Clubs in the South Island about what it was like in the United States. During these talks he had the opportunity to stay in New Zealand Rotarian homes getting to know them on a one-on-one basis. It was a true exchange of cultures that both sides learned a lot from each other. Tom did his presentation using pictures he took when he last visited New Zealand in 2017. He shared with the group that he had since been to 119 countries and gave credit to Rotary to ignite his travel passion that has not been put out. He and his wife, Nikki have been quite fortunate to have seen so much of our beautiful world. He gave information about the population of New Zealand and the university town he lived in. New Zealand has about 5. 2 million people and 25 million sheep. He made us aware that sheep have the right of way on any street there. He shared with us what type of food was popular and what type of people live there. The most popular food is fish and chips. He said he became addicted to them while he was there. The original people were the Mori that arrived from Polynesia. Most of the people are of European descent while the Mori represent about 17%. He highlighted some of the courses he took and that he really got involved with becoming a  Kiwi . The kiwi is the term that is used to indicate the people of New Zealand. The kiwi is the national bird of New Zealand and considered a national icon. He stated of all the 119 countries he has visited that New Zealand is his favorite. He showed many awesome pictures of this great country. He indicated that it is two Islands, the North Island and the South Island located about 8500 miles from South Carolina and 1500 miles southeast of Australia in the Pacific Ocean. It is somewhat isolated but had a strong identity. It was mostly settled by the English and Scottish. You can see that in their accent as well as their architecture. In addition, he discussed the various programs that Rotary funds to send people to different countries. They are Youth Exchange Programs, The Peace Graduate Programs, (this replaced the Rotary Graduate Fellowships), and the Work Study Groups. All these programs provide ways to spend time in another country learning about each other. Youth Exchange Programs are geared for high school students, Peace Graduate Programs are geared for graduate students, and Work Study Groups are for young working professionals. He said that the club should be proud of providing such programs and that what they do impacts the entire world in a very positive way. He highlighted that he and his wife have hosted two exchange students, one from Switzerland and one from Taiwan. He encouraged the club to keep supporting this endeavor. He talked of the wonderful experience he and his wife had hosting these students. Finally, he talked about how they had also hosted Work Study Groups from England, France, Australia, and Brazil. After sharing his experiences with the club, he emphasized that even though his experience was over 52 years ago that not a day goes by that he doesn’t share something of his experience with others. He thanked the club for allowing him to be so lucky and fortunate. In closing when the club awarded me this one-year ambassadorship, it was not for just one year but a lifetime.