Katie Wilford was our guest speaker at our meeting on 16th of July 2019.
Katie Wilford is an Iowa native visiting our land Down Under . She has just completed her Master of Education at the University of Melbourne. Her research explored the embedded intentions regarding Koorie peoples in Victorian education documents.
After submitting her research paper, she ventured off to holiday in Perth (and down the coast) for two weeks. She currently spends her time volunteering at D.I.K. and Missionaries of Charity, providing free mathematics tutoring at Epping Secondary, visiting and presenting at Rotary clubs across the district and crossing off those last minute adventures in Melbourne before returning home. Katie has one more trip planned in late July, to Uluru, which crosses off visiting all six states!
Melbourne has been Katie’s home for the past year and when asked about going “home” she often says, “I’m not done with Melbourne yet!”
As a Rotary Global Scholar, she is an investment of Rotary with the drive to fulfill three big dreams: TO TEACH, TO FEED, and TO HELP. This is aimed at Third World Countries.
During the past four years, Katie Wilford has taught high school mathematics at Pocahontas. Katie has extensively volunteered her time at various community activities. She's volunteered regularly at the Rialto Theatre and joined the Pocahontas Hometown Pride group, just to name a few. Katie also served as the initial facility adviser of the Pocahontas Interact Club. This group has provided service to more than 85 individuals, agencies, organizations and communities by volunteering over 3,000 hours in the past three years. Katie was recognized by Governor of Iowa Kim Reynolds last summer by receiving the Governor's Volunteer Award. This past spring, the Interact Club and Katie were awarded the Rotary Presidential Citation and the 2018 Trees Forever Outstanding Youth Volunteer/Group Award.
Rotary Global Scholar grants fund graduate-level coursework or research for an academic year. A key feature of global grants is the partnership between the district or club in the study location (host sponsor) and the district or club in the scholar’s home country (international sponsor). Through a competitive process, Katie was selected for this prestigious award and she chose to pursue her Master of Education with a specialization in Mathematics at the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia.
Katie has demonstrated her sense of adventure by completing her UNI student teaching in the country of Panama. As part of her college experience, she also studied at La Universidad de Oviedo in Oviedo, Spain. She has travelled extensively, visiting 15 countries in Europe, Central, and South America.
Upon the completion of the scholarship period, Katie plans on returning to teach high school. However, while she is at Melbourne, many opportunities arose so Katie kept her options open as to where she would go. She would truly enjoy returning to Iowa to be with her family, but if she is offered a position in another country or another state, she will take the position if it is a match for her life goals.
Furthermore, someday Katie plans on visiting various Third World countries to educate men and women to assist them in making decisions toward their educational goals. .png)
As a Rotary Global Scholar, she is an investment of Rotary with the drive to fulfil three big dreams: TO TEACH, TO FEED, and TO HELP. There are millions of adults without access to basic education who could benefit from someone as dedicated as herself to show them educational alternatives. The importance of learning and having an education in today’s world is powerful and Katie wants to make a difference in the life of another person, even if it is simply teaching him/her how to read or to add two numbers. The possibilities are endless once a dream is able to come true. 
