Former Dungog High School student Tina Tiedeman was the guest emcee at the Rotary Club of Dungog’s annual public speaking competition for primary schools.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
From Stroud, Tina is now studying to be a science teacher at the University of Newcastle.
During the evening in December last year she shared details of her involvement with both Dungog High School and Rotary.
She told of her favourite teacher at Stroud Public School inspiring her to follow a career in science.
At Dungog High, where she was a president, her Year 9 science and engineering team won the state championships in the annual Rotary engineering challenge.
“We were all very excited to come back to school and tell the whole town, after Mr Curran took us all out for Maccas,” she said.
“Rotary then heard of our big win and began helping us fund our trip to Melbourne to compete in nationals.
“It was an amazing experience and with Rotary’s help we only had to pay $5 each to fly a bunch of nervous and excited country kids down to Melbourne.”
Ms Tiedeman told the audience Rotary has always been a supporting member of the community and surrounding towns for a number of different reasons and passions.
“Not only did they help send us down to Melbourne to compete in the national science and engineering challenge, to which we came third, but they also helped the community after the devastating flood in 2015,” she said.
“Rotary really go above and beyond just educational events and gatherings.
“Over the past eight years of my involvement in the school I have seen Rotary around town doing so much more for the community. I was privileged enough to be school president and represent the school at town gatherings such as the ANZAC day services which were run by Rotary, local farming championships, community art gatherings and fundraisers, tonight’s event, not to mention the dinners they always put on for students as a reward for being good learners.
“Rotary are not just there to add to community spirit, but rather they are the community spirit .”