White Co. Rotary hosts Australian vocational group

CLEVELAND - A five-member Rotary International Group Study Exchange Team from Western Australia is visiting White County this week.

The group, made up of three women and two men, is here as part of a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for businesspeople and professionals between the ages of 25 and 40 who are in the early stages of their careers.

The team arrived Tuesday with a sheriff's department escort to the White County Rotary Club meeting at the First Presbyterian Church. The group introduced themselves to the club and talked about their home country sharing point of interest in their personal lives.

Ray Swincicky, a retired builder/renovator and leader of the team, compared North Georgia to his country.

"You can travel for a few miles... you know, 10 or 15 miles and you're in a different county, but you still have the population here," Swincicky said. "We can travel 50 miles and see nothing in between except maybe farming communities... nothing like this."

Tania Hawkins, another member of the visiting team, said she has been overwhelmed with the great hospitality.

"The southern hospitality... you hear so much about it, you read about it in books, then actually to be here and experience it, it's another story. It's wonderful."

The local Rotary Club will be hosting the visitors until Saturday as they conduct tours of the county and even visit with counterpart vocational sites.