March Mayville Rotary Student of the Month

Mayville High School senior Natalia Shirasaki-Krahn is named Rotary Student of the Month for March 2025. She addressed Mayville Rotary Club members at their last meeting and shared the following about herself:
“The Mayville community has allowed me to become the leader I had always wanted to be.I would like to speak more specifically to how the Mayville Rotary Club has supported me in becoming a leader. As a sophomore in high school, I would have my first opportunity to become involved with Rotary. I was selected to be a delegate at the 2023 Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) camp. There, I learned the importance of leadership and what makes a good leader. I was also able to make friends from all over the state, whom I still speak with to this day. I had such an amazing and unforgettable experience that I would apply to become a Junior Counselor at the 2024 Rotary Youth Leadership Awards camp. I was able to use the leadership skills I had learned the year before to help give my campers the same incredible experience Rotary had given me when I was a delegate.
“Another exceptional opportunity that Rotary gave me was to be a Rotary Youth Exchange Student. I would become one of the first students from Mayville to partake in the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. I went through Rotary’s Summer Exchange Program and spent an extraordinary month in France where I lived with an incredible family who would welcome me with open arms and give me an experience I would never forget. They took me to visit places like Paris, Le Mans, Monaco, and Saint-Tropez. My family and I were also able to host my exchange sister, Charlie. Here I would show Charlie our lovely community of Mayville. We also had the pleasure of spending a day with Mr. John Storck. Mr. Storck took Charlie and me to spend a day of fun at the Fondy Aqua Park, which would become one of Charlie and I’s favorite memories together. Aside from giving Charlie the grand tour of Mayville, my family and I were also able to take her to see Wisconsin Dells and Chicago. The Rotary Youth Exchange Program has given me memories and friendships that I will carry with me forever.
“The experience I had with the Rotary Exchange Program gave me the courage to travel alone to Brazil this past summer. It would also give me the skills to put myself out there, meet new people, and have new experiences. In Brazil, I was given the opportunity to travel to the Amazon region. There I was able to assist the attorney for the Yanomami Indigenous Tribe. I would learn more about the legal system in Brazil and what it was doing to help the Indigenous people who were suffering. In an effort to make an impact, I was able to help Attorney Daniela Nakano write a petition to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights demanding that aid and support be provided to end the terrors of illegal mining on the Indigenous lands.
“Thank you, Mayville Rotary, for giving me the experiences that helped me become the leader I am proud to be today. Thank you for providing me with the support I needed and for helping me find the courage to take chances and make connections. I will be continuing my Rotary journey through college as I have been accepted to the Wisconsin School of Business at UW-Madison and have already been invited to join their Rotaract Club. On that note, I would like to give a quick shoutout to my favorite teachers! My English teacher Mrs. Weise, who helped me proof my essays and wrote me a lovely letter of recommendation, and Mr. Cooney, who believed in me the moment I stepped into Mayville High School. I am very excited to see where the future takes me!”