The GRSP Leadership weekend was a great success! We had 35 students for the weekend ... and our focus was on having fun while providing inspiration to do good in the world.

On Friday, students packed 10,000 meals for Rise Against Hunger on Friday, then enjoyed s'mores and a bon fire, a photo booth with crazy props, and music before heading home with their host families. Saturday was all about inspiration - from the civil rights movement to a team-building exercise and courageous leadership workshop. Students and host families enjoyed dinners at the homes of Cathie Brumfield, Jennie Stipick, and Carter Stout on Saturday night.

And on Sunday it was our turn to be inspired as the Atlanta Rotaract Club facilitated a Shark Tank competition where seven student teams created and pitched their service project ideas based on the seven areas of Rotary Focus. The winning team - which included our own student Maro Innocent-Otolo - proposed an outreach program to children's hospitals in their local communities - with reading and homework programs, and art to make the hospitals more welcoming to children. They received a $1,000 grant from the Rotary Club of Dunwoody to help them make their project a reality. Other ideas ranged from stream clean-up ...  to developing a comic book to address children's mental health issues ... to a school-based program helping youth in countries where forced marriage and human trafficking are big problems to speak up for themselves. The spirit of Service Above Self was alive and well! 

Speaking of service, we couldn't have achieved what we did this weekend without so many of you - and the more than 500 hours you invested in all the weekend's activities. A special thanks to Ron and Louise Barden for leading our efforts, to Very Rev. P. Richard Game, Rector of St. Patrick's Episcopal Church for an amazing venue, and to the Rotary Clubs of Atlanta Metro, Buckhead, Gainesville and North Atlanta, as well as the Rotaract Club of Atlanta!