Rotary Adventures 2012

Leaders and Chaperones

The chaperones volunteer their vacation time and in some cases take time away from work without pay to chaperone this trip.  They put in very long hours and work very hard to keep you safe and make sure you have the best trip you can have. They also like to have fun and love to do this trip. Here are their biographies.  All chaperones have to go through background checks per Rotary International RYE Rules.   Bill McMurray Group Leader - 13th Year, Western, Eastern and Disney Trips Bill is a professional tour operator who has been creating and escorting group tours all over the world for over 30 years. Bill has been a  Rotarian for 22 years and is very active in his community. He active in RYE for District 6690.  A former Kiwanian, and on the Boards of the Chamber of Commerce, and other organizations.  He started his career as a newspaper reporter, editor and travel writer. A graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville, he trained as a teacher and historian. He was in the U.S. Coast Guard during the Vietnam War where he served as a photo-journalist. Bill spent 12 years as a working journalist and travel writer including jobs on Daily Newspapers and travel publications. He began his career as a radio stringer for his local radio station covering city government meetings at the age 13.  He has traveled to six continents and has family in England, France, Australia, Venezuela and Belgium. Bill and his wife of 37 years,  Jeanne, are the parents of two daughters. Lexi (see below)  and Liz (former exchange student and teacher in Turkey).  He has a a great memory for trivia, but can't remember anything recent. He also promises he will mispronounce everyone's name. His favorite sport is motor racing. Once he was the worst player on the Nation's worst university soccer team. Bill lived in New York for 4 years and knows the city very well.  He has been on practically every highway in the western USA.   He also has driven a large van in London and small cars in Italy, Turkey, and Mexico and he has done these trips for 13 years, so he might be crazy.  Jackie Favret   Group Leader 6th Year Western, Eastern and Disney Trips   Jackie is Senior art history student at The Ohio State University. She has a great photographic eye and her photos adorn many of these web sites.  Jackie is also a RYE Volunteer for District 6690 and works with all the exchange students in that district.  During last several year's Rotary Trips, she has been instrumental in keeping rooming and tours on track. She is one of the primary people who designed and operates the tour.  She also works at  McMurray Travel so she can answer almost all your questions about the trip. .  Tall, tough and an incredibly hard worker, Jackie has been to France with her French class in school and has also been to England.  During a recent summers she backpacked around Turkey and Iceland. Her interests includes art, dogs, music and history.  She hopes to be an art historian and work in a gallery or museum some day. She also likes working on her house. She was a leader of one of the best color guards in the country while in high school.  She is a complete museum geek.  Along with her brother, Jackie owns a home in the chic bedroom community of Worthington Ohio and spends most of her time and money working on her house.   She has two dogs, Kirra (a cocker spaniel) and Dude (a very large English Sheepdog).  Jackie is a complete geek when it comes to all things Disney and is an Apple Computer Fangirl.    Larry Jenkins Disney & Eastern, Western Trip 4rd Year Larry is from Columbus, Ohio and has a degree in Purdue University in Mechanical Engineering (which he doesn’t use anymore).  He has been in building design and construction industry but now has his own human resource consulting company helping small businesses manage their employees. Larry and his wife Tiffany have two small children Andrew and Katie. Larry is a former member of Westerville School Board, a member of city council and is very involved volunteer positions for Westerville Schools & city, many charities and has been in Rotary 8 years.  Larry has be in charge of many different things in Rotary including heading Wendy’s Chili Open, Interact, I CAN, Club President and is currently serving as chair of the RYLA committee for District 6690.  He is a past Assistant District Governor.  Larry has also attended RI Conventions in Chicago, Salt Lake and LA, Birmingham,  Montreal and New Orleans. Larry loves  books, music and the outdoors, especially the mountains.  Larry has been playing drums and percussion since the age of five.  In high school he helped to create one of the first indoor drum line shows ).  At Purdue, he was part of one of the biggest marching bands in the country with the world’s largest bass drum.  He loves to hike and ride his bike.  He stopped counting when he crossed 10,000 miles on his current bike and he has completed 9 week long bike tours in locations around the US.  He has also hiked the Grand Canyon three times with the Leukemia Society, the last two as the hike leader and coach.  Presently he is a host Dad to one of the students on this year's trips.   Dave Saho Eastern & Western Trip 6th Year Dave is a retired steelworker who has just finished his degree in accounting.  Bill and Dave have been friends since childhood and have traveled together frequently (including sleeping in a car in Edinburgh, Scotland on a whirlwind tour of the UK in the 1970s, and hiding from Bill's daughter and her friends on another trip to the UK in 2000.    Dave is married and he and his wife Irene have traveled extensively. Dave has a dry sense of humor and is quick with a quip.   A terrific golfer, he once made a living playing golf .  His earliest job was working on a golf course and he spent many hours doing following his avocation.    Bill and him once built their own golf course in an old field. Dave also likes to wear strange hats and t-shirts. Of Hungarian - Irish heritage,  although he looks grumpy he normally isn't and has an engaging laugh. Dave spend a large amount of time volunteering in his community of Amsterdam, Ohio and coordinated recycling for their Library fund raising.   Although he has email and knows how to use a computer he refuses to own one.  He lives in one of the few places in Ohio where there is no internet or cell phone service.   Caryn Knott  Western Trip Caryn is from Michigan but has lived in Ohio for over 30 years.  She graduated from Bowling Green State University with a degree in Speech/Language Pathology and taught for 7 years in the public schools.  Her husband Pat is a Rotarian and a graduate of The Ohio State University.  For the sake of the marriage she cheers for the Buckeye sports teams.  Caryn is and active volunteer in the schools and currently is working as an Educational Aide in the schools to a young girl who is handicapped.  She has two delightful children (most of the time).  Tod is a junior in high school and a former exchange student.  Kylie is an 8th grader and we are working hard to convince her that she should go on an exchange.  When it comes to travel, Caryn is always ready.  She has visited Canada, Great Britain and every state in the United States except Hawaii, Alaska, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.  Caryn is usually smiling because she thinks she is the funniest person she knows. Greg Miller Western Trip 2nd Year   Greg, a resident of Virginia (formerly of Ohio and California), is now studying international politics at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.  He is a two-time former exchange student having  traveled short-term to France and long-term to the Russian Far East.  Greg has won many awards for his service projects both in the USA and Russia.  He is the found of both an Interact and Rotaract Club in Russia. When he's not inside reading or cooking (he makes a mean pineapple cheesecake), he loves traveling and spending time outdoors, whether cycling 100 miles on one of the bikes he built himself, hiking the Appalachian Trail, or spending some time on the water sailing or kayaking.  His other hobbies include photography, piano, and the color green. He once drove to Canada by himself because he was bored and didn't have anything to do that day.  Greg is sometimes known as "Little Bill" because of his penchance for looking up facts to mention on the trip.  He is a naturally talented Tour Guide and a although he is probably going to waste his life as a diplomat, he could have been an excellent travel agent.   He spent his break this year traveling all over Turkey, Ukraine, Kazahstan, Bellorussia and the Russian Federation.    He speaks fluent Russian, good Turkish, and French.    Jack Young Western Trip A Rotarian and Past District Governor from District 6630, Jack is active in youth exchange in that district which encompasses North Eastern Ohio and was past inbound chair.  He lives in Medina, Ohio. The father of three and Grandfather of 5 grandsons, he is the founder and administrator of an assisted living facility in Conneaut OH.   He is a Graduate of Bliss College and has two masters degrees, from Central Michigan University.  He is also an Adjunct Professor at Kent State University, Ohio University and Columbus State University. Jack is an  expert in personnel and human resources.  A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, he is extremely active in his community, including a history of being on the boards of the Tuskeegee Airman, Scounting, Catholic Charities, Lions Club, Salvation Army, and many other organizations.  He is a 32 degree Mason.  Jack's international activities are far reaching. On the board of Shelter Box USA, one of the most important disaster relief organization, he has been part of 6 Rotary Mission trips to Nicaragua and 2 to the Dominican Republic.  He has won the US Presidential Volunteer Award for the last two years.    An in demand speaker on Rotary issues, he has attended 6 Rotary conferences outside his own district, including a stint as speaker at District 9150 Australia (Adelaide).  He has traveled all around the world, including living in Iceland for a year.  In 1997 he traveled around the world. Julia Cannell Western Trip  Julia is an English teacher in Columbus Ohio.  Julia is a graduate student of The Ohio State University, she has degrees in both Art and English and plans to get her Masters Degree in Creative Writing, but is not in any rush to get there at the present time.  Along with Jackie, Christine, Brenda and Janine, she is a graduate of Bishop Watterson High School. Her father is a Math teacher at that school. She has spent the past three summers working at a resident camp in the middle of nowhere in Southern Ohio where her neighbors included 5 foot long rat snakes, skunks, a burrowing toad, and a wolf spider the size of her palm who would appear out of nowhere at the worst possible moments. Her hobbies include oil painting, photography, playing her guitar when she finds time to do it, and creating elaborate plans of being a world famous author.  It is yet to be determined whether or not she intends to follow through with any of them. She will read almost anything she can get her hands on and is a little bit of a geek, and by a little bit we really mean a lot.  Her geek resume includes extensive knowledge of anime, various mythologies, Marvel and DC comics, Doctor Who, and building a computer from scratch. Trip Trainer and Sometimes Chaperone Lexi Powers  Group Leader - 12th Year   Trip Trainer Lexi Powers daughter of  trip leader Bill McMurray and she is a graduate of Ohio University as a Creative Writing Major.  Lexi currently teaches 6th and 7th grade at a school for autistic children and their siblings.  She is attending Graduate School at Ashland University where she is finishing up her masters in education.   Her favorite things include eel sushi, the Get Fuzzy comic strip, all types of music, strange poetry, and the color purple and a tall former chaperone name Dave Powers, to whom she is married.  She breaks a bone every time she either ice skates or roller skates. She does like kayaking and has her own kayak.  She also once sprained an ankle throwing a snowball.  A traveler from birth, she has been to England, Ireland, Italy, Wales, the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada and almost all of the 50 states.  This is Lexi's 12th year as a chaperone/trainer for Rotary Exchange, so she knows the trip and always looks forward to the excitement (as, well as exhaustion) that comes with chaperoning.  She has an incredibly cute puppy named Bowie and a smart cat named Oliver.  Lexi knows so much about this trip she trains the other chaperones. Luhan De Oliveira First Year Eastern Trip Brazilian Student to the USA I’m on the 4th year at law school, working with a lawyer. As a good Brazilian I play every Thursday soccer with my friends, I’m a really good scorer. I’m on the rotaract here “Rotaract Club Palacio das Aguas – District 4480” I like to hang out with my friends to talk. Every Sunday at lunch we make a Brazilian barbecue. Meat and salt only. I love waterfalls, camping near them, swim in the icy waters. seems that purifies the soul. I traveled to Argentina, on brazil, North East Recife, Natal, Salvador, South East Sao Paulo City, Rio de Janeiro City to the south Joinville, Porto Alegre e Londrina. I love to travel. I have a passion for Greece, its architecture, history, thoughts, mythology, all they have created, are used today. Tessa Mauer First Year Eastern   Former US Student to Argentina Tessa Maurer is a former exchange student to Córdoba, Argentina during the 2006-2007 school year. Originally from Bexley, Ohio, she was the first exchange student from her high school, which now boasts four RYE outbounds and one RYE inbound among its current and former students. Tessa is currently a junior in Princeton University’s Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department, and recently returned from a study abroad semester in Santiago, Chile. She harbors not-so-secret ambitions to return down south for graduate school, her first job, and hopefully the remainder of her life. Her activities at Princeton include tech directing and stage managing for various theatre groups on campus; tutoring math, Spanish, and introductory CEE classes; and trying to convince potential study abroad students that South America is the best place in the world. Lucas Chacana Florida Adventure  December 2011  Argentina Student to USA Lucas is a former exchange student from Catamarca, Argentina who spent a year in Westerville Ohio as a RYE.  In his third year at the National University of Cordoba, Argentina, Lucas is an accomplished actor, winning theatre awards during his exchange.   Lucas is also a participant in the trips and the inspiration for the Rotary Florida Adventure.  he and trip leader Bill did the first trip together during his exchange, which caused Bill to want to do the trip for other exchange students.   Lucas is loves languages and is studying French and Portuguese as well as English.     Brenda Rosmarin Gaver Eastern Trip 2nd Year A lifelong resident of Worthington, Ohio, Brenda is a total foodie and loves to cook. Her present job is as a manager of the best Ice Cream place in Central Ohio.  The best job she ever had was being a flight attendant before the airline went out of business. An outrageously positive person, she is a favorite of many exchange students. She has a slight obsession with cephalopods. She also a huge Harry Potter and Disney Fan.  We call her Beeker after the Muppets character because of her high pitched voice. its her dream to travel the world. She is an avid and serious belly dancer she goes to competitions and conventions. She also went to high school with Jackie and Christine.    Christine O'Donnell 4nd Year Disney & Eastern Christine is a graduate of the University of Dayton with a degree in Music.  She is a native of Worthington, Ohio and was a competitive figure skater from the age of 5 up through high school.  Christine has had a number of jobs and volunteered at the Center of Science and Industry for a number of years .  On the Eastern Trip a couple of years ago, Christine was part of a plot to find the best cupcake in New York City.  An avid cupcake advocate, she and conspirator Jackie Favret succeeded in their quest, locating the Magnolia Bakery in West Greenwich Village.  She forced her fellow chaperons and a number of exchange students on a forced march to achieve this goal. She plays practically any instrument you can name, but is exceptional with the flute. She is also an expert on Disney World having been there about a million times.  Chris is completing Masters Degree in Library Science at Kent State University.

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