Gossip Sheet for Thursday June 14, 2007

Opening and Introductions:

Mike Pihura

President Rick Merritt opened the meeting.
Grace was said by Chris Blake

O Canada was begun with his usual aplomb by Don Shaw followed by a toast to Her Majesty the Queen and Canada .

The head table was introduced, including Chris Blake, Chair of the Youth Leadership Committee, table filler Harold Nash (very well dressed indeed!), President Rick, Sergeant-at-Arms Peter Mahoney, Committee in the spotlight chair Ron Sloan, and Mike Pihura, who introduced our guests.

Guests:

In addition to our numerous student guests, who are introduced later, other guests included :

• Visiting Rotarian Ian Forbes, a guest of John Lehnen.
• Bekki Kugler, this year's inbound exchange student from Germany
• Carly Gemmel, next year's outbound exchange student to Brazil .
• Principal Tracy Sacco and Head of Guidance Vince DeLuca from St. Catharines Collegiate
• Principal Bernie Bushman, from Laura Secord High School
• Teacher Heather Lailey from Thorold Secondary School
• Teacher Cheryl Caldwell from Grimsby High School
• Ann Gilmore, Literacy consultant for DSBN

Committee in the Spotlight:

Ron Sloan

Ron Sloan spoke as chair of the Charitable Trust Committee. While most Rotarians are familiar with our two major fundraisers, Ribfest and TV Auction, the Charitable Trust committee is responsible for putting those funds back into our community. The mandate of the committee is to financially support projects within the geographic boundaries of the club, carried out by organizations focused primarily on:

1. Children - for prevention or enrichment (the Children's committee deals with remedial issues or children at risk)
2. Youth - for prevention, remediation of youth at risk, and enrichment.
3. Adults - at risk, focusing on new or emerging initiatives
4. Seniors

Annual budget is $25,000, with individual donations capped at $5,000 in any given year.

There are 3 key criteria for awarding funds:

1. Benefits must accrue to a large number of people.
2. The project must benefit the geographic area of St. Catharines . If a project is Niagara-wide, usually a smaller contribution is made.
3. Normally, donations are for one-time projects rather than ongoing causes, so that organizations do not become dependent on one source of funding. Exceptions have been Community Care, and the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal.

This year, donations have been made to organizations where Rotarians are already involved, such as the Brain Injury Association (Art Weaver), HMCS Haida (Alex McKee), and the National Junior Curling Championships (Doug Geddie, John Lehnen). Other recipients this year included Meals on Wheels, VON Parkinsons program, CNIB Braille Library Program, Canada 's Special Olympics Softball team, who are from St. Catharines , St. Catharines Mental Health Outreach program called REAL Work, and Community Living of St. Catharines Day Care Program.

This year, the committee reviewed 34 Applications, and will make 19 awards totaling $24,000.

Ron thanked the members of his committee, and encouraged members to not only consider joining the committee next year, but also to be ambassadors to bring worthy projects to the attention of the committee.

Birthdays:

Juergen Knof

Roger Segalin & Spirit Builders award

June 14 - Juergen Knof. Unfortunately, Juergen was in attendance, so a rousing round of Froeliche Geburtstag was required.

Announcements:

President Rick reminded everyone of the Golf Tournament this coming Monday at Lookout Point. Lunch at noon followed by a Shotgun start. Prizes are still required. Please contact Earl Alton if you can help out.

Rick advised that Dave Haddow attended a recent event hosted by Big Brothers and Big Sisters, where our club was honoured with an award for our support. Dave advised that, at the same event, Roger Segalin was awarded a "Spirit Builders" award.

Rick then asked Carly Gemmel, our outgoing exchange student (Brazil), to speak. Carly began by thanking the club for the opportunity. She pointed out that, at first, her intentions and pleasure at being selected were completely selfish! However, now that she has experienced Rotary, she feels completely differently. Having met all the inbound and outbound students at various events (Temagami left her without words!) she calls them "amazing people," and is so pleased to have made so many friends even before leaving. She thanked the club, on behalf of herself and her parents, for this "life changing" opportunity.

Carly Gemmel

Rick then had a presentation for Tom Arkell, our incoming President, but Tom was unfortunately absent. Tom is going to the RI Conference in Salt Lake City this weekend, and Rick pointed out that that is "Cowboy Country". Hence, a fine hat to wear, gracefully modeled by Harold Nash.

New hat for new president Tom Arkell

President Rick finally reminded everyone of the committee sign up forms which were emailed to everyone. Please be sure these are returned to Joyce Western as soon as possible. Rick also pointed out that it is very important to fill in your name at the top...including you Dave Butler!

Happy $:

Rachel Delaney

Rachel Delaney carried the basket today, and told a great story about marrying an accountant and moving to Winnipeg so that life seems longer! She excepted our Accountant members from belonging to this stereotype, however.

Bekki Kugler took the opportunity to thank Doug Geddie for the great biking shirt he gave her a few weeks ago, which she wore to last weekend's Bike Trek. She was happy to have received a $100 cash prize for having raised the most donations of any biker, (over $800). Congratulations Bekki

Patricia Rooney was happy to have received, and thanked the club on behalf of Watson too, the recent Paul Harris fellowship. Pat also put in a pitch for recruits to the program committee. For all you new members, it is a great way to get involved with the club.

Norma Medulun paid $10 to advise that she is now a five time Grandma, but no, young Kate did not weigh 10 pounds!

Greg Bodogh-Darte was happy to announce an anatomical miracle in that his brother gave birth to a baby boy. (Should have paid 10 bucks for that one)

George Darte corrected the matter, advising that in fact it was his daughter in law who gave birth to young Liam. Congratulations Darte family.

George Doty was happy to announce that the house his son bought 25 years ago in Calgary , thinking it might be a good investment, just sold for $340K.

John Lehnen paid $1 to announce his early leaver status, and also pointed out to the club that one of the Rotary Medalists, David Wakulich, will be going to Beijing this year to row for Canada at the world rowing championship.

John Nitsopoulos paid $5 to lament the fact that his son has graduated from university, but needs a job, as he does not want to work in the hotel business. He also advertised a new Mini Putt course at the Holiday Inn, along with the outdoor pool.

50/50 Draw:

The Pot Thickens... Despite not having a ticket (?) Coletta McGrath got to draw, but pulled the 8 of spades. Probably just a well, the OLGC might have gotten alarmed...

Program:

Chris Blake

Chris Blake chaired our program today, which consisted of the various activities and achievements of the Youth Leadership Committee.

The mandate of the Youth Leadership Committee is to provide opportunities for Youth to experience growth opportunities, particularly in the area of leadership - to get them excited about community service and the value of an organization such as Rotary - and to nurture the ideals of Rotary in young people.

We had several excellent examples of bright, outgoing, committed young people with us today who have benefited from our sponsorship of their participation in leadership and education programs.

First up was the SLAPSHOT program, which has nothing to do with hockey. It is, in fact, the S tudent L eadership A ward P rogram for S tudents H igh o n T raining. It's a new program in our District 7090 - in its second year. It's for 16-18 year-olds and it runs for a weekend at Canterbury Hills, an Anglican church retreat in Ancaster. It was the brainchild of Kevin Crouse of the Rotary Club in Ancaster. It's a busy weekend mostly about interpersonal skill development and teenage issues and concerns with group presentations with exercises like personality tests, assertiveness training, skits on world issues and activities such as martial arts and high-rope climbing. There were 107 participants this year and our club sponsored 7 - two of whom joined us today

Zak Cleeland

Jessica Dehan

First up was Zak Cleeland (16) in Grade 11 at St Catharines Collegiate. He's going to be working at the Scout Camp in Haliburton this summer. He's also been a volunteer at the Children's Discovery Centre. His current career plan is aimed at medicine.

Zak told us about his weekend, which started with several speakers, then broke into group activities, namely, martial arts lessons, high ropes/trapeze/wire walks, and then personality testing, where participants learned more about themselves. After more speakers, participants presented group skits on a pre-assigned topic relevant to teens, such as drunk driving, drugs, etc.

Jessica DeHaan who is 17, in Grade 11 at Laura Secord, spoke next. She has been a volunteer instructor in JiuJitsu at the Y and just yesterday she was offered a summer job at GM as an Engineer's shadow. Interestingly, she also plans a career as a doctor.

Chris asked Jessica for her highlights, one of which was a guest speaker who taught a "conversation builder" class. They learned to imagine a house, with various aspects going on, in order to focus conversations on the other person's home, family, aspirations, travel, issues etc. Jessica also mentioned that the high ropes activity taught her that she is afraid of heights. Yikes! She then thanked the club for the opportunity.

Ted Usick, a member of the Youth Leadership Committee then came forward to present our Rotary Medallists for 2007.

Our club provides Rotary medals, a highly regarded award for student leadership to a male and a female student in each of 3 area high-schools - Lakeport, Laura Secord and St Catharine's Collegiate.

The Award winners are selected by the schools.

The criteria are

• Eligibility to graduate in Spring 2007 (or graduated in January of 2007)
• Significant involvement in 2 or more school activities
• Above-average academic achievement (over 75%)
• High standards of ethics
• Positive attitude
• Good moral character
• Exemplification of the Rotary motto -"Service Above Self"

Ted then presented this year's winners.

From Laura Secord: Chris Nguyen and Becky Shantz. Ted asked Principal Bernie Buschman to say a few words about the students. Bernie began by thanking the club for lunch, and for our ongoing support of students. He described both students as excellent in academics, athletes of the year, musicians, and community activists. Becky will be attending Brock in the fall to study Music, and Chris will attend Brock to study Business Administration.

Becky Shantz, Chris Nguyen, Principal Bernie Buschman

Ted then presented each student with their certificates.

From St. Catharines Collegiate: David Wakulich and Rebecca (Becky) Janzen . Ted asked Head of Guidance at Collegiate, Vince DeLuca to speak about the winners. Vince began by saying how much the school appreciates all that Rotary does for their students. He described Becky as having first class marks every semester, fully involved in school life and an organizer of many charitable events at the school. Becky will be attending Carleton University in the fall to study Accounting. David Wakulich excelled at academics at Collegiate, and was a star director of videos for school assemblies. He was the High School Triple Crown rowing champion last year, and will be attending Harvard University on full scholarship to pursue Environmental Studies (and rowing of course!)

Tracy Sacco, David Wakulich, Becky Janzen and Vinc DeLuca

Ted then presented each student with their certificates.

From Lakeport High School , Peter Anikejew and Sam Abel , who were unable to attend the presentations today due to other school commitments.

Ted announced that Chris Blake would be presenting the medals at Lakeport's graduation on June 27th , Rick Merrit will present at Collegiate, and Ted will present at Laura Secord. Ted then asked all medalists, teacher, Chris, Rick and himself to pose for a group photo.

Group photo with President Rick

Next, Chris spoke about another leadership program we offer - RYLA - Rotary Youth Leadership Award. It's for students between 19 and 25 and involves 6 days of leadership training and activities. We sponsored 2 students and they attended the program this past week living at the residence at Niagara College in Welland . Chris went to the banquet last Thursday night and said it was wonderful to experience in person the energy and spirit in these young people.

To tell us about her RYLA experience, Chris asked Jodi Turner to speak. Jodi is 22, from St Davids and just graduated this spring from Queen's in Biochemistry. She has been a summer camp counselor at the St Catharines Museum the past 2 years - and in the fall - in what seems to becoming a great tradition in Rotary-sponsored students, she will be going to McMaster to pursue grad studies in the medical field, actually infections and immunity.

Jodi Turner and Chris Blake

Chris asked Jodi what the "best part" of RYLA was, and she replied: "Everything!" To be more specific, the people were amazing, the leadership and team building training were great. Chris asked about the "legacy" project which this RYLA group has undertaken, Crossroad Springs. Jodi advised that the group will be fundraising to support this residence for AIDS orphans in Africa .

Next on the agenda was the Rotary Canada Essay Contest, and asked committee members Mary Margaret Murphy and Walter Sendzik to come up. The Theme this year was "There's Something about Canada," and the essay was to address "Something in Canadian culture or politics, present or past" and be 800-1000 words. The contest was open to students from District School Board of Niagara. The judges were Mary Margaret, Walter and Ann Gilmour, Literacy Chair for the DSBN.

The 1 st Prize of $400 was awarded to Ryan Donnelly from Thorold Secondary School for his essay "The Men Behind the Maple Leaf" . Ryan i s a grade 12 student at Thorold Secondary School . Next year he plans to attend Brock University , pursuing an education in history. Afterwards he hopes to obtain a job as a museum curator. He is currently working part-time as a line cook at a restaurant named Cracker Jacks. This year he was able to save enough money for a trip to London and France , and visited many famous sites, such as the 90 th anniversary commemoration at Vimy Ridge, which inspired his winning essay. Ryan was joined today by Mrs. Heather Lailey, the teacher of his Writer's Craft course. The Writer's Craft course was designed to help students explore and master different types of writing. In addition to teaching Writer's Craft, Mrs. Lailey also teaches Media Studies, and English at Thorold Secondary School .

Chris Blake, 1st Place Winner Ryan Donnelly, Mary-Margaret Murphy, Walter Sendzik

Ryan then read aloud "The Men Behind the Maple Leaf" and there were few dry eyes in the house.

The 2 nd Prize of $250 was awarded to Victoria McFarlane from Grimsby Secondary School for her essay "True Patriot Love". Victoria was accompanied by her English Teacher, Cheryl Caldwell.

2nd Place Winner Victoria McFarlane, Walter Sendzik, Mary-Margaret Murphy

The 3 rd Prize of $150 was awarded to Kaitlyn Mullins , also from Grimsby Secondary School for her essay "Up North". Cheryl Caldwell is also Kaitlyn's English teacher. Great work teach'!

3rd Place Winner Kaitlyn Mullins, Mary-Margaret Murphy, Walter Sendzik

Chris Blake then thanked all the students for their hard work and commitment.

President Rick thanked Chris for his leadership and his committee for a great job. Rick encouraged members to consider the Youth Leadership Committee when signing up for committees next year.

Next Week: Classification talk by Stuart Butler. (Stock tips anyone?)