Hello from Edinburgh!
Despite being the shortest month of the year, February was packed full of coursework, meetings, Rotary events, and travel. This month was transformative and has challenged me to learn and grow in many ways.
I had the pleasure of presenting at the Rotary Club of Edinburgh’s Thursday luncheon meeting about my experiences as a Global Scholar. It was a great opportunity to share about my academic and professional experiences and how being involved in Rotary has enabled me to flourish in my graduate studies. A special thank-you to President Gordon Young, Glenda Watt, and my sponsor, Ian Starkey, for facilitating this talk! I also enjoyed attending the monthly meeting at the start of the month and being a part of the “Welcome Team” to greet new members and make them feel welcome. A special Rotaract event was hosted at Edinburgh Napier University for university students and Global Scholars interested in joining a Rotaract group in the future, and I had a great evening meeting likeminded students and professionals and sharing Rotary’s mission.
I had the pleasure of presenting at the Rotary Club of Edinburgh’s Thursday luncheon meeting about my experiences as a Global Scholar. It was a great opportunity to share about my academic and professional experiences and how being involved in Rotary has enabled me to flourish in my graduate studies. A special thank-you to President Gordon Young, Glenda Watt, and my sponsor, Ian Starkey, for facilitating this talk! I also enjoyed attending the monthly meeting at the start of the month and being a part of the “Welcome Team” to greet new members and make them feel welcome. A special Rotaract event was hosted at Edinburgh Napier University for university students and Global Scholars interested in joining a Rotaract group in the future, and I had a great evening meeting likeminded students and professionals and sharing Rotary’s mission.
This month, I have been diligently working on my midterm assessments for my classes and conducting research for my group projects. I’m really enjoying learning different types of research methods and how to be a better researcher and critical thinker. We’ve also had a lot of interesting presentations in our classes from sustainability professionals, including from local community-based organizations and staff within the University of Edinburgh.
While I have been very busy with my studies, I have found time to sneak a little fun in as well! I took a short trip to London with my friends to see my very first football game at the Emirates Stadium. Later, we took a trip to Prague for my friend’s birthday, which was a fantastic cultural experience. I’m so grateful to have such a great group of friends and to be able to share these experiences with them.
I will be attending the Rotary District Conference in Renfrew, Scotland in March, which I am very excited about. I’m looking forward to seeing what else March has in store… Hopefully, it will bring a few more sunny days! Please check out some of my photos from this month in this report as well.
Cheers! Ashton
