GMC News

(Milledgeville, GA) March 15, 2005 – Georgia Military College eleventh grader, Katherine Brooks, recently participated in a regional speech competition in Dublin, Georgia, sponsored by the Rotary Club. Katherine gave a four-minute speech about the Four-Way Test which, according to Brooks, is the Rotary Club’s Golden Rule. She explained that of the things we think, say, or do, we should consider four questions: 1) Is it the truth? 2) Is it fair? 3) Will it build good and better friendships? and 4) Will it be beneficial to all concerned? During her speech, she provided background about the Four-Way Test, explaining that it started as an ethics code for failing businesses and that Rotary International adopted it in 1943 as the club’s vocational service ideal. Katherine’s speech concluded with her views on how the test has affected her personally, stating, “I notice that I use this four-way test subconsciously; and although I don’t go through each question rigorously, I know that all of the decisions I make are based on this test. It is engraved inside me.”

Katherine is a member of the National Honor Society, the Spanish Honor Society, and the GMC soccer team. She is an active member of Young Life in Baldwin County and tutors younger cadets in her spare time. Katherine plans to attend college in California and hopes to major in business, become bilingual in Spanish, and study abroad in Spain during her undergraduate years. Katherine’s family includes her mother, Dr. Penelope Brooks; stepfather, Peter Levendis; and younger sister, Alexandra, who is in the seventh grade at GMC.
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