Advertisement

Rotary sends contingent to Japan

Share

Members of Rotary’s 2012 District 5280 Group Study Exchange are now visiting Japan to learn about the culture and to compare business practices so they can bring new ideas back to their career fields. The program is funded by a grant from Rotary International.

Participants in the four-week exchange program are Eddie Michino, Angela Kim, Jewel Price, Alen Andriassian and Kai Tramiel. Price, dean of Student Services at Glendale Community College, is the leader of the contingent and a member of the Glendale Sunrise Rotary Club. She is the only Rotarian in the group. Andriassian is program manager of Student Outreach and Assessment at GCC.

The program is a vocational exchange for young professionals, Price said.

“My team members — I think the youngest is 32 and the oldest is 35 — so they are in the early stages of their careers,” she said.

Team members will be visiting businesses in their fields to learn how similar jobs are done in Japan. Price, who works at GCC, will be visiting community colleges and universities, she said.

They will also travel to many Japanese Rotary clubs to learn what philanthropic projects they are doing in their country, said exchange committee Chairwoman Makiko Nakasone, past president of the Glendale Noon Rotary Club and a former ambassadorial scholar.

This year’s team will travel to two prefectures at the foot of Mount Fuji, Nakasone said. They will go to the Shizuoka prefecture, a home of the two piano giants Yamaha and Kawai, and the Yamanashi prefecture, which is famous for tasty table grapes and wine.

“It is my own home district and I can guarantee our Group Study Exchange team will experience hospitality the Japanese Rotarian way,” she said. “It will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

In the spring, the district will host a team from Japan’s District 2620, and all Rotarians in the district will have an opportunity to meet and interact with that contingent.

Follow the group’s adventures by visiting their blog at gsejapan2012.tumblr.com.

For more information on becoming a part of this experience, contact district5280gse@gmail.com.

Pratt and Spieckermann exchange vows

Renee Lee-Ann Pratt and Adam Lee Spieckermann were married at the La Crescenta Presbyterian Church this summer by the Rev. Andrew Wilson.

The bride is the daughter of Michael and Susan Pratt of La Crescenta. The groom is the son of Harold and Peggy Spieckermann of Joplin, Mo.

The bride, on the arm of her father, glided down the aisle wearing a sleeveless lace and delicately beaded white gown. Her sister, Megann Pratt, served as the maid of honor. She was wearing a plum-colored halter dress as were the bridesmaids Celine DeCourson, Jaisha Wray, Kacie Kane and Marie Peters.

Philip Spieckermann, the groom’s brother, was the best man. Dustin Sasser was groomsman and the groomswomen were Cristina Rosales and Alea Perez.

The flower girls, dressed in white organza dresses, were Kacey Keeney, daughter of Diana and Jamie Keeney, the bride’s cousin and husband; and Hallie Spieckermann, daughter of Philip and Lissa Spieckermann.

A dinner reception was held at La Cañada Flintridge Country Club. The couple honeymooned in Maui.

The newlyweds reside in West Los Angeles. After graduating from Crescenta Valley High School, Renee, a lawyer, earned her bachelor’s degree at UCLA and is a recent graduate of Loyola Law School. Adam is a graduate of USC and works as a film editor.

JOYCE RUDOLPH can be reached at rudolphjoyce10@gmail.com.

Advertisement