98 Seconds in the Philippines

Brad Allen's short take on the first few days in the Philippines.

Meet the Team !

Greg Shondell – GSE Team Leader
Shawnee Mission, Kansas

Greg was born in Kansas City, Kansas. The fourth of six children, he is single and has spent his entire life in the Kansas City area. Greg is a Certified Public Accountant by training. After spending several years in public accounting as an auditor, he joined his family business. As third generation owners of Heathwood Oil Company, Greg and his older brother, employ 22 people. Started by his grandfather in 1926, Heathwood is a wholesale distributor of petroleum products and automotive parts. Serving as Chief Financial Officer, Greg manages the financial and operational functions of the business.

Greg has been an active member of the Kansas City, Kansas Rotary Club for 25 years. He is a Past-President and Treasurer of his Club. Greg has also been a member of the board of directors and Treasurer of the Wyandotte County Chapter of the American Red Cross, and currently sits on the board of the Wyandotte County United Way. He is a longtime member of St. Agnes Catholic Church.

Outside of work and community service organizations, Greg likes to stay active, believing exercise keeps one mentally and physically fit. He enjoys gardening, volleyball, racquetball, tennis, biking, hiking, snow skiing, and windsurfing. His travel around the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Europe with friends and family is a passion acquired from his parents and grandparents.

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Bradley J. Allen
Topeka, KS

Brad grew up in Topeka and attended Topeka Public Schools. Upon graduation from high school, Brad moved to Lawrence to study at the University of Kansas. He completed his Bachelor’s degree with a double-major in American Studies and Psychology.
Brad pursued two Master’s degrees after college—Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois and Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin. After completing these degrees, he moved to Los Angeles for four years, but recently returned to Topeka in 2006. He married his long-time girlfriend Erin Bennett in July 2008.

Brad is currently the Adult Services Supervisor at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library. Brad was recently nominated to serve on the Northeast Kansas Library System (NEKLS) Executive Board. He also serves on the Topeka High School site council. In his spare time, Brad enjoys relaxing, eating, reading books, and watching movies. He has also played co-recreational softball the past two summers with friends from the library.

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Laureen M. Pfannenstiel
Topeka, KS

Laureen was born in Estherville, IA. For the last 24 years, she has lived in multiple western, south central and north east Kansas communities. Laureen grew up on a farm as one of ten children. Laureen has been married to her husband, Terry, for nearly 22 years. Terry works for Dillons, a retail grocery store. They have a two daughters, one son and one granddaughter.

As an executive assistant for Heartland Visioning in Topeka, Kansas, Laureen uses community engagement and consensus building to emphasize a shared vision to accomplish a shared strategic plan. Laureen received her Bachelors of Public Administration from Washburn University and her Masters of Public Administration from the University of Kansas. She has worked in municipal and state government as well as an administrator for a charitable trust for a financial services organization.

An advocate of community involvement, Laureen serves as a council member of the United Way Volunteer Center, a council member for the Unified School District High School and Superintendents Site Councils, and serves on multiple local, regional and national boards for a religious denomination

A life-long learner, Laureen spends much of her free time volunteering in her community, reading, long walks with friends and spending time with her family.

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Marci Spaw
Manhattan, Kansas

Marci grew up on a farm southwest of Lawrence. In her childhood she joined her older sister in church activities, 4-H and playing with a large brood cousins. Even though she went to Lawrence schools in the shadow of the University of Kansas, she made her way west to attend Kansas State University in Manhattan- where she has lived since.

In Manhattan she met her husband, Christopher. They have been married for 11 years and have a son Emmett, who is four years old.

Currently Marci is an instructor for Plant Propagation in the Horticulture, Forestry and Recreation Resources Department at Kansas State University. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she is also an editorial assistant for the journal Acta Horticulturae. Marci and her husband recently incorporated their company, Box Lab Inc., a real estate and building systems development company.

This year Marci spent six weeks on a USAID assignment in Jamaica. Marci collaborated with local growers to develop a reference manual regarding vegetable production in greenhouses and inexpensive greenhouse structures referred to as high tunnels. She continues to work on the manual as a consultant.

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Jon Faustman
Manhattan, Kansas

Jon was born in Kimball, Nebraska – a very small town in western Nebraska. He grew up in Hays, Kansas after his parents decided to further their education at Fort Hays University. After graduating high school, Jon attended Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. While attending K-State, he studied print journalism and had ambitions of pursuing a profession in magazine writing and production. An inherent curiosity in technology, especially involving the Internet, led Jon away from that career path and into web development.

Jon has been a professional web developer for more than seven years. While attending K-State, Jon was a student web developer for K-State’s Division of Continuing Education, and became their full-time Web Team Leader after graduation. Jon and a former college roommate are also in the development stages of forming their own free-lance web development company.

While in the Philippines, Jon is interested in meeting fellow web developers and designers, especially in the university setting. He is also interested in finding information about distance education opportunities in the Philippines and how similar or dissimilar they are to the United States. On a personal level, Jon is excited to take in as much of the Philippines as possible, and looks forward to trying an array of different foods while taking as many photos as possible.

What is GSE - Group Study Exchange

The Group Study Exchange (GSE) program of The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International is
a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for young business and professional men
and women between the ages of 25 and 40 in the initial years of their professional life. The program provides travel grants for teams of participants to exchange visits between paired areas in different countries. For four to six weeks, team members study the host country’s institutions and ways of life, observe their own vocations as practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas. Team members can come from corporations, small businesses, community organizations, medical and educational facilities, government offices, and nonprofit agencies.

For 2009, the District 5710 GSE team will be traveling to the Philippines and the Philippine team will be visiting our District. Be sure to follow their progress on this blog.