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GSE 2008-09 to East Africa

GSE Team Leader

Dale Barnes

Rotary Club of La Jolla Golden Triangle
Dale Barnes grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. Her father was an attorney and her mother was active in the schools her children attended along with other community based groups and committees. In later years, after Dale and her sister had left home, her mother went to work in her father's office. Dale has one younger sister who still lives in Chicago.

Dale went to Michigan State University where she received a bachelor's degree in Education. She taught Third Grade in the public schools for a year, then moved to Los Angeles where she taught in a Montessori School for a few years. When her first daughter was born she got her real estate license and sold commercial and residential real estate for a few years. Once her children were in school, Dale went back to school to become a registered nurse. She received a Bachelor of Science and a Master's Degree in Nursing. During her early nursing years she worked on an Oncology unit. She then worked in the home health field and eventually opened her own agency with a group of Oncologists. After that, she ended up in hospital administration. After being downsized out of a job due to the sale of the hospital, she decided to be her own boss again. She became certified as a legal nurse consultant and has had her own business, Barnes Medical-Legal Services since 1999. She works with attorneys on medical and health care cases. In addition, since she always loved to teach, she has become a faculty member for the Vickie Milazzo Institute, which is the entity that certifies nurses to become legal nurse consultants. She travels all over the United States wherever certification classes are given.

Dale moved to San Diego at the beginning of 2001 and joined the La Jolla Golden Triangle Rotary Club immediately. She became very involved from the moment she joined. She has been active in the Vocational Service Committee, the Community Service Committee and the International Service Committee. She has chaired the club's annual fund raiser, has been the advisor to Interact and Rotaract, has been President of her club and Foundation Chair. She is currently chairing the Vocational Service Committee. In addition, Dale is active on the Rotary District level. She is serving as the general Chair for the Ambassadorial Scholar Program. She has also been very involved with the incoming GSE teams for the past two year. She has been one of the area coordinators and has also hosted GSE team members in her home. She said that this has been one of the most rewarding Rotary experiences she has had.

Dale has two grown daughters. Lisa is married to John and lives in Reno. They have two daughters, Lauren who is four, and Jenna who is 21 months. Lisa is a physical therapist, and is now in a management role for her hospital system. Jamie lives in Los Angeles with Matthew. Jamie is a teacher and spent a number of years teaching first grade. She now is an educational consultant assisting parents with school placements for their children.

GSE Team Members

Kelli Flandi

6th Grade Math and Science,
Montgomery Middle School, El Cajon, CA
Sponsoring Club: Rancho San Diego/Spring Valley
Kelli Flandi is a native San Diegan, living her entire 35 years in this beautiful city. With both of her parents working as professionals in the field of education, she knew she was destined to become a teacher.

Kelli attended Grossmont Community College, transferring to San Diego State University (SDSU) where she received a Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Studies in 1995. After also obtaining her teaching credential and later her Master's Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from SDSU, Kelli began teaching in the Cajon Valley Union School District. Her entire career has been spent in this district, teaching 10 years at the elementary level (2nd, 4th, and 6th grades) and the past 2 years at the middle school level. Her current position is as a 6th grade math and science teacher at Montgomery Middle School in El Cajon. In addition, she was recently elected to serve on her site's PTSA (Parent Teacher Student Association) as the Vice President of Health, Welfare and Safety.

Some of the most meaningful work Kelli has undertaken as an educator is the role she has played in CVEA (Cajon Valley Education Association). Kelli has served the past ten years in her district's association, five of which were as a site representative and five as an elected board member. Most recently, she joined the bargaining team to negotiate the contract for all of Cajon Valley's members. She represents, speaks for, and strives to uphold the rights of all teachers in her district who so diligently work to educate all of their students.

Any chance she can get, Kelli loves to travel to new places. After her first experience of traveling abroad to Europe in 2006, she knew she wanted more. Loving the different cultures, people, food, languages, and landscapes, she has made it a goal to continue this journey of discovery. She also spent 6 weeks this summer living on the beautiful island of Kauai, Hawaii. She is an exercise enthusiast, enjoying outdoor activities as well as kickboxing, strength training and yoga. Spending time with her friends and family is a must as well as her dog, Rascal, who she rescued from the humane society over 10 years ago.

Liza Flowers

I am a proud mother of a thirteen-year-old daughter - Dakotah Marie. She is my inspiration that led me to discover my life potentials, especially that of helping children as an educator and a humanitarian.

I am a first generation American, born in Portsmouth, Virginia. Both of my parents were born and raised in the Philippines. My father enlisted in the US Navy and had migrated my mother to the United States in the 1970s. My parents raised me with strong Filipino values, which sometimes conflicted with the American culture. Growing up with cultural differences between family and community was many times difficult, but in the long run, strengthened my beliefs and values.

Currently, I am the Director of Activities at Hilltop Middle School in Chula Vista. This will be my fifth year organizing, implementing and delegating the events and activities on campus with a team of student leaders. Prior to this, I taught Comprehensive Health for five years. I educated students on topics such as social education, drugs, and sex education. I have also taught physical education. I was a member of our district team who wrote the Health Standards, was a Faculty Advisory Committee member, and am always involved with our Parent Teacher Student Organization. I am trained in Peer Mediation and had implemented a program at Hilltop Middle.

I am an athlete and have coached basketball to elementary students, played competitive volleyball in high school and college, completed my first marathon this year and am working towards my blue belt in Chinese Kenpo Karate.

I am fortunate to have traveled with my daughter to places such as France, England, Spain, Philippines, Denmark, Germany, Italy and South Africa. During our trip to South Africa we became aware of an orphanage named HOKISA (Home for Kids in South Africa). These kids were all affected by HIV/AIDS. Upon my return to the US, I organized a charity dinner to benefit HOKISA. Since then, I have traveled back to meet the children and continue to help by having fundraisers. My hope is to help these twenty children remain healthy and raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in my community.

As a member of this Team my vision and understanding of Africa, will be broadened and deepened in ways I cannot even imagine.

Christopher Greenslate

Christopher Greenslate was born in San Diego, California and spent his childhood growing up near the Pacific Ocean. His family consists of his father Randy, a business owner; his mother Lynda, an elementary school teacher; and his younger sister Heather, who recently graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in political science.

Growing up Christopher enjoyed playing sports, reading, and going to the beach. In high school he found his passion for community activism and started organizing charitable events for Anti-Racist Action, the Women's Resource Center, and many other local non-profit groups. After attending San Francisco State University and earning a degree in English literature, he attained his teaching credential at California State University San Marcos. Upon being hired in the San Dieguito Union High School District, Christopher founded the Social Justice program at his school. This program focuses on human rights, animal protection, and environmental ethics, and it quickly gained attention from the media. The program has been featured in local newspapers like the San Diego Union Tribune, The North County Times, as well as on National Public Radio. His students recently took runner-up in a video story-telling contest open to all schools in North America for an environmental project that asks people to switch from using bottled water to using re-usable bottles for water transport. They won a skateboard park for students valued at close to $50,000.

In addition to teaching Social Justice, Christopher also teaches Journalism and English and advises the student-run newsmagazine, MavLife, This year he completed a journalism fellowship with the American Society of Newspaper Editors at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. Christopher has also recently finished his Masters of Education degree at the Institute for Humane Education, and his writing has been published in Green Teacher magazine.

When he is not working with students or in the community, Christopher enjoys traveling, reading, writing, and photography. Christopher is also the guardian of three rescued animals; two dogs and one cat.

Emily Just

5th Grade San Onofre School
Sponsor Club: Fallbrook
Emily Just was born in Medford, Oregon, which is where she spent the first year of her life. Over the next five years, she and her family moved to Arizona, Hawaii and then finally to California. San Diego county is where Emily has called home for the past 21 years.

After graduating from Carlsbad High School in 1998, Emily attended the University of California, San Diego where she majored in Human Development. In the summer leading into her senior year, she attended Lorenzo de Medici University in Florence, Italy and studied Early Renaissance Art History and Creative Writing. It was during that summer that Emily realized her love of travel and art, two passions that she holds very dear to her heart. During that summer she also had a number of chance encounters with teachers, and it was through her conversations with them that her interest in teaching was piqued. Upon graduating with a Bachelor's of Arts, Emily moved to Santa Barbara to pursue her multiple subject teaching credential and Master's in Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Upon completion of her graduate studies, Emily moved back home to San Diego and was offered a 4th grade position at La Paloma Elementary for the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District. During her first two years at La Paloma she got involved with the curriculum planning committee and the technology committee. She then transferred to San Onofre School, located on Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base. There she continued to stay involved with the technology committee, and also joined the student activities committee and became the instructor for the gifted and talented education program. At San Onofre School, Emily has taught 4th and 5th grade. She has gotten her students involved in a variety of projects including a classroom business, UNICEF fundraising, a pen pal writing project, and an Environmental Club which recently received the Excellent Charter Member Award.

Emily currently lives in San Elijo Hills, a community of San Marcos. She enjoys athletics; especially soccer, softball, bike riding and bowling. She also loves photography, jewelry making and traveling.

Jessica Silva

Jessica Silva was born in the small town of Brawley, California, an agricultural community just east of San Diego. When she was 12, her family moved a few miles south to the neighboring town of Imperial, where the family would have more land for their horses. While she was growing up, Jessica loved trail-riding, barrel racing and team penning.

After graduating from Brawley Union High School in 1999, Jessica relocated to San Luis Obispo where she began her collegiate experience studying agricultural engineering at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. It did not take Jessica long to figure out that her passion was not for engineering, but for teaching. She quickly relocated to San Diego County, where she began her new experience in the teaching field at California State University San Marcos. At the beginning of her junior year, she enrolled in a study abroad program. She traveled to Australia, where she continued her coursework at Central Queensland University. She studied Art and Aboriginal Studies for six months there. The experience sparked her interest in travel and opened her eyes to the world. Jessica returned to San Marcos to finish her coursework. She received a Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Studies in 2003, and received a California Multiple Subject Teaching Credential the following year. She returned to the Imperial Valley where she is currently a kindergarten teacher at T.L. Waggoner Elementary School in Imperial.

In addition to her day to day teaching, Jessica is the English Language Development Coordinator at her school site. She runs the school's language acquisition programs, which monitor students' English language development. Jessica also heads the school's English Language Advisory Committee, designed to help keep parents of English Language Learners informed about their children's education, events at school, as well as their language progress.

Jessica is now 27 years old and resides in Imperial. She volunteers her time at her church, where she works as a youth minister for young adults ages 14 to 18. She teaches leadership, self-esteem, and self-reflection. Jessica is also currently working toward a Master's Degree in Elementary Education at Northern Arizona University. She loves music, cooking and being around her family and friends. Jessica's hobbies include jewelry making, golf and reading.