1/23/2006 - AFS Chairperson is Honored with one of New Zealand's Highest Honors

On December 31, 2005, Raylene Sommerville, Chairperson of the AFS New Zealand National Board of Trustees, was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM). She has been conferred this prestigious honor for her contributions to international student exchange and her service to the community. Raylene will be among 200 prominent individuals to receive the Honor from New Zealand’s Governor General, The Honorable Dame Silvia Cartwright PCNZM, DBE. The award ceremony will be held in March at the New Zealand’s Government House in Wellington, the Governor-General’s official residence. The New Zealand Order of Merit is the second highest honor within the New Zealand Royal Honor System. The Honor is bestowed in the name of the Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II of New Zealand.

Within the New Zealand Honor System, the Order of Merit is given to “those persons who in any field of endeavor have rendered meritorious service to the Crown or nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions or other merits.” Raylene Sommerville’s achievements and her life-long volunteer career have earned her the distinction to receive this most prestigious tribute.

Raylene’s volunteer career at AFS began in 1982. She was a founding member of her local AFS Chapter in the Central Plateau, the central mountainous region of New Zealand’s North Island. Over the years, as her involvement with the organization deepened, Raylene performed a wide variety of roles, including that of treasurer, newsletter editor, orientation coordinator, family liaison, and host and sending parent. Raylene was also a regional hosting coordinator from 1986 to 1988, became a member of the AFS New Zealand National Board of Trustees in 1989, and in 1999 was elected National Chairperson. In addition to being the National Chair, Raylene also sits on the AFS Educational Trust Board. During her tenure at the National Board she has chaired the marketing, program development, personnel and finance committees; the latter being a position she still holds today.

Raylene accomplishments are numerous. Highlights of her achievements include her involvement in orientation activities for arriving students since 1990 and her important contributions in creating a language assessment tool that tests hosted students’ written and oral English language skills to orient teachers on the type of support those students may need to excel during their school year. Raylene’s research and development of the Global Education Framework has been another of her great contributions to AFS. This initiative aims at involving hosted students in school and community activities to facilitate their adaptation and help them become integral parts of the new culture, community, and family.

Raylene’s service to the community does not end at AFS. She is the Head of the Department of Special Needs and School Dean of Forest View High School in Tokoroa, a community located mid-way between Taupo and Hamilton at the crossroads between the lush dairy farmland of the South Waikato and the vast plantation forests of the central North Island. At the school she coordinates and supports the efforts of students who are taking courses by correspondence and is also involved in numerous volunteer positions within the school in cultural, sports and community areas.

When notified about the award, Raylene humbly reflected that there probably were other more deserving people. But her hard work and selfless contributions to international student exchange and the community at large attest to how deserving she is of this important recognition. AFS New Zealand and the whole AFS family celebrate the bestowal of the Order of Merit on Raylene and express our gratitude for her commitment to our work and her belief in voluntarism and civil society; a belief she has turned into a life-long reality. Congratulations to Raylene! We are proud to count her as a member of the AFS worldwide community!

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