Speaker William Naismith - World Affairs Seminar 2015

The Rotary Club of St Andrews Kilrymont sponsored William Naismith, a Madras College pupil, to attend the World Affairs Seminar (WAS) at Carroll University, Wisconsin this summer.  WAS is a weeklong educational conference, involving talks by internationally renowned keynote speakers and small group discussions, established by Rotarian Dr. Dale Brock in 1977 “to bring about better understanding of world problems among young people from around the globe”. The seminar is based around a central theme, and this year it focused on “Global Energy: Who’s got the power?” Relaying his experience to the club, William discussed his thorough enjoyment of the seminar, saying, "I found it interesting, informative and thought provoking. I learnt about the problems in energy production and distribution from the keynote speakers but it was in the small group discussions that we really explored the issues. Over 30 countries across five continents were represented at the seminar, which led to different experiences and opinions. At the end of the week, we brought together all that we had heard to make a presentation about an aspect of global energy that we found important. My group examined waste in energy production in the format of a games show. I will be  studying chemistry at university in October. After attending the seminar, I would like to learn more about developing new environmentally friendly technologies, particularly batteries. William’s favourite speaker was Clay Nesler, Vice-President of Johnson Controls, who talked about UN climate conferences and the involvement of business. Johnson Controls retrofitted the Empire States building last year, reducing its energy bill by 38%. William thanked the club and its members for a wonderful week in Wisconsin.