After nearly three years of postponement, the WINGS program is back in full swing again! Jin Soto, the leader representing Japan's Rotary District 2520, accompanied 7 high school students to travel across the globe to Oklahoma. We owe a big THANK YOU to Keith Oehlert (OKC Rotary) for diligently staying in contact to ensure our 40+ year short-term youth exchange program was able to pick up right where we left off in 2020. Ken and Sally Newey (MWC Rotary) developed the inbound team schedule and hosted a one-of-a-kind Hoe Down which brought many Rotary leaders and members from our Outbound WINGS team together. Thank you also to Evan and Heather Walter (OKC Rotary), Danna Syzmanski (West OKC Rotary) Mike Veasey (NWOKC Rotary), Kelly Johnson (Ponca City Rotary), Harold Wright (Weatherford), Jeremy Hise (Enid,) Jimie-Wray Mead (Stillwater Frontier), Brooks Thomas (Stillwater Centennial), and Jay (Midtown OKC Rotary) and PDG Jessica Sherrill (OKC Rotary) for being supporters of the program. And much appreciation also goes out to the many, many Rotarians from across our district, including MWC, OKC, Weatherford, Enid, Stillwater, Midtown OKC, and more. They enjoyed cheeseburgers, horseback riding, shopping, learning how to line dance, visiting various museums, a Thunder game, and got to know more about Rotary through the kindness of our Rotarians who hosted them, drove them around, toured with them, and generally enjoyed the fellowship. Additional tour stops included Stafford Air and Space Museum, Vance Air Force Base, Route 66 Museum, Atwoods, and Eskimo Joe's. Thank you to everyone who played a role in the success of this Inbound Team Visit! The Outbound Team can't wait to reconnect in Japan in June!
While it seems far away now, be thinking about the high schoolers you know who would be interested in this program next year. Applications are due in December for the 2024 outbound team. More information will be available on the Rotary District 5750 website in the summer.
