Join us this Friday at the Embassy Suites, where our own Jackie Cuthbert will talk about the realities and the magic of the Georgia Rotary Student Program (GRSP). Find out why Jackie has been involved in the program for almost her entire Rotary career - and believes the program offers value to students, host families, Rotary Clubs and the world we live in. And learn about Dunwoody's investment in the program.

GRSP started almost 80 years ago in 1946, when Thomasville Rotarian and future District Governor Will Watt envisioned a program that would bring together college students from war-torn Europe for a year of study and cultural exchange here in Georgia. He believed the program's future would help to "build peace through understanding" by making it possible for young people from around the world to get to know each other better. Today, the program has sponsored about 3,800 students from 120 countries.

Jackie's history with GRSP started in 1999-2000 when she and her late husband Scott hosted their first student, Gabriella Baron of Honduras, through the East Roswell Rotary Club. Since then, Jackie has hosted six students, worked directly with many others in her six years as a trustee, and now serves on the GRSP Executive Committee. She is also serving again this year as co-chair for the Dunwoody's GRSP Leadership Weekend - February 14 to 18.

Jackie retired from Mercer (the consulting arm of Marsh & McClennan) after 40 years leading and contributing to communication projects for major organizations. She is a native Californian and lived in the SF Bay Area until her transfer to Georgia in 1994. Jackie has been an active Dunwoody Rotarian for 26 years - serving as Club President in 2005-06 and often lending her communication expertise to club. district and zone initiatives, and volunteering at some point or another for most Dunwoody service projects.  She is in her 18th year as Editor of the District Newsletter and has produced our Club Bulletin for the last seven years. And she loves working at Anchor Place, the respite center the club helped establish here in Dunwoody.

Jackie and her two cats live on the south side of Atlanta, near the Atlanta West End. She loves to travel, and spends a few weeks each year in the Northern California foothills with her sister and family. And she spends Thanksgiving each year with the family of her first GRSP student - all settled in the Atlanta area.