July 30, 2013 Bulletin
Rotary Bulletin for July 30, 2013
Last Week’s Program: Lisa Remy who is serving our club as coordinator of the Rotary Youth Leadership Activity (RYLA) introduced our speaker Gary Welch. Gary is a Past District Governor of our district 6000, Past President of the Ankeny Rotary club, a long time educator and highly regarded member of human service community in central Iowa. Gary presented a program about the 2013 RYLA event. As many of you may remember, our club helped to launch RYLA in District 6000. It is a leadership event for high school students from all parts of the district. During our club’s tenure hosting the event, it was normally a one day event at Camp Dodge in Johnston, or at Lutheran Church of Hope.
Our club handed the reins over to the district and it was decided to join with the northern District of Iowa and do it as six day leadership event. RYLA 2013 was held on the campus of Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. There were 112 students from around the state who participated. Gary explained that the objectives of the program were to provide leadership training as well as foster leadership of youth by youth.
Candidates for the program are students who have shown leadership potential and are good (but necessarily the very top) students. The cost of the week-long program in 2013 was $400, and the fee is usually paid by the sponsoring club. Throughout Gary’s program, he shared video testimonials from current past participants in the program, several of whom have gone on to be alumni counselors at RYLA. Clearly this has been a beneficial program.
One of the visitors to our club was Andrew Bartels, the cousin of our outbound Rotary exchange student Jordan Hutton. Andrew has recently returned to the United States from a tour as a Rotary Scholar in the Middle East. Andrew participated in similar leadership programs there and spoke very positively about the effect that Rotary has in fostering leadership not only in the United States but around the world. He shared his belief (which I believe is a common thread throughout Rotary International) that one of the best things we can do to make the world a better place is to foster peace and understanding among our youth.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Our brand spanking new president Tom Narak reported on a board meeting earlier in the day and mentioned that this week (July 30th) committee assignments will be made.
Farmers Market OJ Stand:
Dave Carlson reported that his day at the OJ stand was a busy and prosperous one. Keep up the good work everyone!
School Supplies
Janet Nelson reminded us that WDM Human Services is accepting school supplies (or cash donations for school supplies) the school until August 6th. You can participate by bringing the supplies to a meeting, contacting Janet to make arrangements, or bringing a check for a contribution.
Miscellaneous:
President Tom Narak introduced his good friend Ted Williams, a management consultant for West Des Moines schools (and perhaps a potential member?)
Past president Chris Nelson took time to announce that he and Robin were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary on July 23rd. Even after a quarter century Chris continues to try and impress Robin. This time, in what may become a trend, he brought her to our meeting so we could all share in the big day.
Three Minute Speaker/Sergeant at Arms:
Allison Carlson shared with us the many things that have changed in her life in the last year.
Her son Isaac is now 1 ½ years old. Isaac has been our youngest attender at several meetings in the last year. Allison has been elected as president of the Iowa Chiropractic Association; she serves on the board of the Windsor Heights Chamber and the Windsor Heights Young Professionals Group. She recently received a certification kinesio tape (this is the elastic therapeutic tape you see on Olympic athletics to assist in recovery). Perhaps one of her most important business decisions was to hire a new office manager, her husband.
Allison also demonstrated the effect of placing a small weight on a person and the impact it can have. She gave nickels to three of our members and asked them to place the nickels on the back of their hands. I don’t recall specifically what Allison was teaching us, but our members did make the nickels disappear.
During the quiz portion, Allison asked many probing questions about RAGBRAI. It began in 1973 in Sioux City, Iowa with approximately 500 riders. It has grown to official 10,000 official riders each year with thousands of persons riding unofficially, bringing the total to the range of 20,000 to 30,000 on any given day. During one particular spirited question and answer, Allison rang the Rotary bell a little too enthusiastically to signify a correct answer, garnering a KO by knocking the bell to the floor.
Travel news – just for fun
Because summer is often the time of vacations and travel, I thought I would share the following excerpts from a travel log that was sent by a friend.1. I have been in many places, but I’ve never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you can’t go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone.
2. I’ve also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.
3. I have, however, been in Sane. They don’t have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my friends, family and work.
4. I would like to go to the Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I’m not too much on physical activity anymore.
5. I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try to not visit there too often.
6. I’ve been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.
7. Sometimes I’m in Capable, and I go there more often as I’m getting older.
8. One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age I need all the stimuli I can get!
9. I may have been in Continent, but I don’t remember what country I was in. It’s an age thing. They tell me it is very wet and damp there.
Safe travels!