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First meeting
Zoe arrives
Zoe's CV
Email 24 June 06

Zoe Gray - exchange student 2006 - 2007




Zoe's first meeting - 24 July 2006





Pictures from top left are -

Top left, with Judith Buckeridge
Top right, with Ray Cooper
Middle left, with Colin English.
Middle right, introducing herself to members at the lectern.

Left - With host father David Anderson.

21 July 2006 - Zoe arrives at Napier
A small group of Rotarians were on hand at Napier Airport to welcome Zoe. Here are some pix of the event.



24 June 06
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Anderson,
Hello, my name is Zok Gray, from Canada, and I am extremely excited to be spending part of my year in Napier with you! It was very generous of you to offer me a place in your home for me, and I can't even begin to describe how much I appreciate it.
So how are things in New Zealand, anyway? I have already done quite a bit of research about New Zealand, Hawke's Bay, and Napier in particular, although it is hard to know what exactly to expect when you are only reading things from halfway around the world.
Here in Huntsville, in the province of Ontario, where I live, it has just begun to warm up... Summer is finally on its way. Today I think the temperature reached about 25 degrees celcius, and it was nice and sunny. Yesterday was my 17th birthday, so it was a pleasant surprise to have such good weather. Last year, at one of my soccer games, near the end of May, it started snowing! It was very "refreshing", thats for sure!
Speaking of soccer, tomorrow is my first game of the season! I play on the high school soccer team, as well as in the town league, and really enjoy it. I also play the violin, viola, piano (well I try, at least!), and trombone. I enjoy skiing, and running as well. I am on my school's student council executive, as the secretary. I tutor a girl (age 14) and a boy (age 12) who have learning disabilities, and am involved in many different aspects of our small town. As I'm sure you can tell, I am a very busy girl. School is a priority for me, and my marks are usually between 80 and 95%... I live at home with both of my parents, and my cat named smokey. We live in a log house back in the bush, about 10 minutes from downtown Huntsville (population ~20,000 people, but up to 1 or 2 hundred thousand people in the summer, including cottagers and tourists.)
I am a friendly, responsible, honest, and fairly outgoing person, although I may be slightly shy at first. I have a good sense of humour, and am reasonably open-minded... I don't really know what else to say about myself! haha
Well I hope that all is well, and I look forward to meeting you in the near future!
Yours truly,
Zok Gray


Zoe's CV
1. I am very involved in my school. I am the secretary of student council and a tutor. I am on the school's cross-country running, nordic skiing, and soccer teams.
I also play the trombone in the senior jazz and concert bands.

2. I have many hobbies and accomplishments.
Outside of school, I do many sports such as soccer, basketball, swimming, canoeing, and kayaking.
My favourite sport is soccer. I have been playing for 9 or 10 years now. I started playing soccer so that I would have something to do for the beginning of the summer. This year I am hoping to play on four different soccer teams. I will play in the indoor soccer league during the winter, play on the high school's senior girls team, play in the house league, and play for the Huntsville team as well, if I can.
I also play a lot of music; especially the violin. I have been playing since I was three or four years old. I practice for several hours every week, and play at weddings, pit orchestras, and in bands etc.
My other special interest is camping. I do it very often and really enjoy it. I have probably camped for about a year total if you add it all up. This summer I got my canoeing instructor's license ftom ORCA, which is really neat. With many festivals and competitions for music, and several OFSAAs behind me, I am satisfied with my accomplishments.

3. I am not sure exactly what I plan on doing after high school.
I know that I will be attending university. I think that I would like to pursue a career in the medical field. I have wanted to be a doctor of some sort since I was very little; probably because I was inspired by my mother's work as a nurse.
I enjoy science, and working with and helping other people, and since Ontario seems to have a shortage of physicians and other staff in hospitals, it should be fairly easy to get a job if I decide to live here when I grow up.

4. As an Exchange Student in another country, I hope to meet lots of new people, make new mends, learn a new language, open my eyes to a new culture and way of life, and to represent Canada, Ontario, and Huntsville to the best of my ability.
When I return, I would like to encourage other students to particip~t~ in the Rotary Exchange Program, and to share some of what I will have gained trom my experience.

5. My mother is a nurse in the operating room at the Huntsville hospital. She is the "team leader", which means that she keeps her co-workers focused, and her job involves much more paper work and business than it used to, although she still assists with operations ana patient care.

My father has been retired since I was a baby. He used to work for General Motors Canada, and has several university degrees in subjects such as Anthropology, Archaeology, History, and Religious studies.
Now, Diy dad is a very active stamp collector and stays home to take care of the house and to keep my cat company.

6. I have done a lot of travelling during my life.
Almost every other summer since I was born, my parents and I have gone backpacking for a couple of months at a time. So far, we have been to Poland, Ireland, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Switzerland, USA, Austria, Germany, France, and Italy. We do this mostly to visit historical sites and family mends.
I also went to Mexico last spring with my mend for her 16th birthday. Most trips that I take during the school year are only for several days or weeks so that I don't miss too much school; however, myself and my parents believe that I learn just as much while travelling as I would at school, only about different things.

7. There are undoubtedly some things which I dislike, although this list is fairly limited.
I dislike the smell of new cars, the tastes of liver and coriander, and the feeling I get when I rub powder against my skin. I am aftaid of heights and of some large dogs, and I get upset when people judge others that they do not know, based on unreasonable reasons.

8. Some of my strongest characteristics are my ability to focus, my respectfulness, and my responsibility. I am a very mendly, outgoing, and passionate person. I am also caring, a good listener, and am reasonably open-minded.

9. One of my weaker characteristics is that I like to take charge of certain situations, and take on more than I can handle. This often leads to a lot of unnecessary pressure on myself. I am also rather self-conscious, although I try to hide it as best I can.

10. On most non-school days, I sleep in. Then when I wake up, I go through my regular morning ritual of eating and showering etc.. A few hours of my day will probably be spent doing homework. I also like to play sports, play music, go shopping and spending time with my mends in my ftee time.

11. At my school, there are four classes every day, with lunch in between. Each class is usually one hour and fifteen minutes long. Since my school is on the semester system, we have two semesters. You may take four classes each semester, for a total of eight studied in a year, unless you choose to take a ~pare. Classes are divided into different levels of ability for each grade.
There are classes for Special Education students who have learning disabilities, essential, or workplace classes which are mostly for students planning on entering the work force immediately after they complete their four years of high school.
The other two levels are for students who are planning on attending either college, an apprenticeship, or university to continue with their post-secondary education.
My school also offers options in the subjects you study, whether they be in the arts, workshops, computer studies, or physical education and many others. I personally choose to study the arts and social sciences as extras.
This year I have chosen all university-level classes. I am taking Math, English, Biology, Music, Chemistry, Physics, Art, and History. The only mandatory classes of those eight are Math and English. School begins at 8: 50 every morning, and ends at 3: l0 in the afternoon. Buses pick most students up between 7:30 and 8:30 every morning, and arrive at the school to pick students up at the end of the day from 3: 10 until about 4 :00 PM.

12. My home is a large log house on the outskirts ofHuntsville, surrounded by lots offorest and lake. It is about a IO-minute drive from town, but about 30 minutes when I decide to take the bus.
It is very cozy and simple, but is sometimes difficult to maintain on the outside. My house is great for my small family. I have my own room and desk, although I find myself doing homework downstairs much of the time, because that's where the computer is.

13. I have no siblings living with me. My father has two other children from another marriage, who are both in their 40s now. My half-brother is the youngest. He just got married in Barbados, and is working for General Motors' Canada as a computer instructor. He is hoping to go far. My half-sister has two children now, and is a teacher. Both of my siblings live in Oshawa, which is about 2 hours South of Huntsville, where I live.

14. Huntsville is a small town located approximately 220 Km North of Toronto. It has a population of almost 20 000 people, but in the summer that number increases to about 100 000 people, due to the many tourists and cottagers.
Our main source of income is tourism, but we also have several industries such as KWH Pipe, Panolam, Kimberley Clarke, and others. Larger businesses such as Wal-Mart are making it hard for the smaller, local shops to compete, but Huntsville is not giving up its fight to save our downtown.

15. Actually, I do not have a favourite book. It all depends on what appeals to me at a certain time, when I am feeling a certain way. I enjoy reading almost everything from essays by Noam Chomsky to I.K. Rowling's Harry Potter. I probably read about a book a month.

16. There are many issues confronting youth today.
Four major ones are the lack, of education about the risks of sex and how to deal with them, the "beautiful means thin" image which leads to more kids turning to eating disorders, substance abuse, and the need for guidance to help us to figure out what we want to do with our lives, to inspire us, and keep us from wasting away, living at home and depending on others our entire lives.
Although these topics are all fairly cliche, they are still very important, and affect a surprising amount teenagers around the world.
To me, maybe not the most important topic, but the most disturbing is the "you must look like a skeleton or you're fat" idea that the media seems to be promoting. Not only is this not true, but it is believed by many to be true. This is why so many teens (especially girls) become depressed or develop eating disorders, because they are unhappy with their physical appearance because it is not what it "should be".
As long as you live a healthy lifestyle, then you should both feel and look great. My friend's best friend recently died of anorexia, and I find it absolutely disgusting that people will tolerate their kids who will eventually take their places starving themselves to death so that they can look like supermodels who are mostly fake anyways!

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