Rotary presentation at Dublin Central

Wednesday evening I was finally able to give my presentation at Dublin Central Rotary Club, my host club here in Ireland.  I usually have class on Wednesday nights and come late to the meetings, but this week class was canceled and I was able to give my presentation.

The presentation itself has 4 main parts: information about the scholarship, information about me, information about Kentucky, and information about my host club back home in Murray.  Although I have presented twice before, this was the first opportunity I had to go through the entire presentation.  The two other clubs gave me a 5-7 minute window and I just had to hit the highlights.  It was also my first opportunity to use a projector and include photos with the presentation.  It made a huge difference.

The Dublin Central club was most interested in two aspects of my speech.  First, they were intrigued by the idea of me being in a sorority, as they don't have Greek organizations in Ireland.  They wanted to know what my letters, Sigma Sigma Sigma, stood for and all about the secrets that go along with being in a sorority.  Although I told them about our open motto and our philanthropy, they didn't understand that I couldn't reveal the organization's secrets unless they were members too.  My club was also intrigued by the philanthropic aspect of Greek life, as that seems to have fallen by the wayside in the pop culture idea of fraternities and sororities.  The fact that I had lived in a sorority house was quite exciting for them as well, and after the meeting I had several members who wanted to know if it was like the movies.

Secondly, (and by far the most successful part of the presentation) was my local club's fundraiser "Kiss a Pig Contest."  Rotary members can be nominated for $5 and are charged with raising $100 by the Christmas parade.  The Rotarian with the most money "wins" and gets to / has to kiss a pig at the parade.  Luckily, I had a photo of Roger Reichmuth from last year's contest kissing Pork Chop and it caused quite a bit of excitement.  The club was very surprised and wanted to know if the pig was real, if the pig was alive, where it came from, etc.  They were quite impressed that Roger was willing to kiss it, even for the sake of raising money.  One gentleman commented, "Those Rotarians in Kentucky must be really dedicated to eradicating polio!"

For more information on the "Kiss a Pig Contest," see the Murray Rotary Club's website: http://murrayrotary.org/portal/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=103%3Akiss-a-pig-contest&catid=43%3Aactivities&Itemid=1