In 2002 the club established the practice of presenting one of Rotary's highest honors -- the Paul Harris award -- to a non-Rotarian. The 2004 awardee of this honor is Susan Vafiades-Diaz.
This year's recipient of the Non-Rotarian Paul Harris Fellowship Award had her first real recollections of life in Hampden, Maine. She attended and was graduated from Hampden Academy. While there, she was elected Senior Class President, Student Council President, International Club President and member of the National Honor Society.
In the summer of 1969 while at Hampden Academy, she was a Kiwanis Scholar and AFS Exchange Student in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. This proved to be a life-changing experience for her. After Hampden Academy, she attended the University of Maine, receiving a B.A. in Speech Communication. At U. Maine she was a member of the Student Senate, International Club President, a peer tutor and a member of All Maine Women. She furthered her education at Georgetown University including an Exchange Program in Quito, Ecuador at La Universidad Catolica. Following this, she returned to U. Maine at Orono and received her Master of Arts in Liberal Studies zeroing in on Latin American Studies and Women's Studies.
Summers were spent with the Educational Foundation for Foreign Study in Cambridge, Mass. developing and coordinating programs and advising students. She taught English and Speech communication at Hampden Academy before coming to MDI in 1977 where she has taught Social Studies and is currently teaching English. Her co-curricular positions include International Programs Coordinator, Master Teacher Selection Committee, Ecuador Field Studies Program Coordinator - which she started in 1994 - and Service Learning Coordinator.
In addition to teaching, she is active in local and state affairs including Maine Department of Education and Cultural Services, National Coalition for Sex Equity in Education, Youth for Understanding Trainers Conference, Global Perspectives in Education, Maine Studies Institute, State of Maine Curriculum Writing Committee, Mount Desert Island YMCA Board of Directors, Acadia Choral Society, MDI Tomorrow's Committee on Youth, and Council on Educational Exchange. All this, and she still finds time for kayaking and hiking on MDI.
Though the seed was sown in the summer of 1969 in Bolivia, Sue has been developing, organizing and participating in international cultural exchanges throughout her academic career. We are most familiar with her Ecuadorian Field Studies, the purpose of which is "to foster intercultural understanding through connecting citizens of the Mount Desert Island community with citizens in Ecuador, to provide community service opportunities for hundreds of Mount Desert Island youth, to sponsor a short-term international exchange program for a select group of Mount Desert Island High School students who cannot otherwise afford to travel abroad, and to learn first-hand what it is like to live in a developing country."
Sue is an ex-officio member of our club's Youth Exchange Committee and provided invaluable assistance in obtaining our matching grant and following up on-location at Escuela Frank-Warzawa. Sue will return to one of our club meetings later this year with a program about their trip, including the new Sustainable Food Program they started. She will also provide an update and photos of our grant project. While we read and are told about this and similar trips and projects, Sue and the students actually trek out into the rain forest taking small necessities, offering a little help, and share hugs, love and a cultural exchange.
Paul Harris founded Rotary International in 1905. In 1915, the first non-English speaking club was chartered in Cuba. Strong fellowship among Rotarians, meaningful community, and international service projects characterize Rotary worldwide. Rotary's motto, "Service Above Self" exemplifies the humanitarian spirit of our organization's members.
Prior Awardees:
2003:
Bob Collier
2002: John P. Reeves.
Click
here to return to the Community Awards Page