15th June 2020
Clementine Rose gave a very accomplished whistle-stop account of the tour which just managed to precede any COVID 19 lockdowns.
Clementine is currently an Otago University Student and gave a big thank you to Devonport Rotary for sponsorship to offset some of the costs of her trip during her summer holiday break.
The tour was an opportunity to meet business & government leaders in a number of North American cities and some of the highlights included:
- San Francisco visit to headquarters of Google and Facebook and a visit to Stanford University.
- Washington – Insights into the presidential world by a key person from the Obama Admin in Washington.
- A session at a Lawyers without Borders piqued Clementine’s interest and she successfully applied for an internship with LWOB in Washington but this has been delayed by COVID.
- Watching 15 minutes of the Trump Impeachment Trial in the Senate.
- Montreal – visit to UNICEF and some very cold ice skating and an ice hockey game.
- New York – UN HQ meeting with NZ employee and a visit to the NZ commission.
- Boston – UN Model conference with 3000 tertiary students held over four days in which Clementine’s allocated committee was preparing resolutions on armaments – representing the Republic of Congo.
- Mexico City – where Clementine was the only Spanish speaker on the tour so it fell to her to communicate for the group. There was a visit to the NZ Embassy.
Not only did this open her eyes to future opportunities available but also increased her appreciation of NZ as a home.
