Food for thought at Rotary meeting
Members and guests of the Drouin Rotary Club recently held a dinner meeting in the “Food 4 Thought” Restaurant at the Drouin Secondary College, where they were served a nice meal by students undertaking the Certificate II course in Hospitality.
The six students who participated are in their first or second years of the two-year course and are in years 11 or 12 at the College.
The dinner was part of their schedule of assessment tasks for their course. The restaurant is a member of West Gippsland Trade Training Alliance.
This was Rotary’s sixth annual dinner at the College restaurant, and chairman of the meeting was Rotarian Mervyn Deppeler who organised the evening with the assistance of his wife Jenny – a former teacher at the College.
Trainer Kevin Thorpe, who has been the guiding hand in all six Rotary dinners, said the students were involved from planning and preparation to serving at tables, and while the restaurant was open to the public on some Wednesday nights, excluding in school holidays, the Rotary meeting gave the students valuable experience in serving a group menu.
Guest speaker at the meeting was ex-student and College captain of Drouin Secondary College, Kate Butler, daughter of Angus and Claire McArthur of Drouin who were guests at the meeting.
Kate grew up in Drouin and attended the Drouin Primary School before moving on to the Secondary College in 2000 to 2005.
Having earned a scholarship, Kate attended Melbourne University where she graduated with Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Science degrees, opting to pursue the latter qualification in further studies – later going on to Kings College in London.
She worked at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for two years as a research technician, and is currently well advanced in her research for a PhD in medical biology.
In addressing the meeting, Kate spoke passionately of her educational and professional career over the years and stressed the importance of ongoing study and the support of family in being able to achieve. She will be taking up a research position at Monash University later this year.
When thanking Kate for her presentation, chairman Mervyn Deppeler said the club was pleased to have another successful ex-student of the College as guest speaker for this meeting, as has been the case for the previous five.
In closing the meeting, club president Sharryn Marshall thanked Kate, Kevin Thorpe and the students who participated in the evening for their respective contributions to the very pleasant function. She congratulated Mervyn and Jenny Deppeler on their arrangements for the meeting.
She said the Club has had a continuing interest in the Drouin Secondary College since its earliest days through the provision of annual scholarships and in a range of other ways.