August 15, 2016 Bulletin (Aug 15, 2016)

President

Cynthia Plouche

President Elect

Yesim Sonmez

Secretary

Neil Dahlmann

Treasurer/Finance

Diana Sotelo

Charities

Paul Munk

Community Projects

Ghida Neukirch

Fellowship

Michael Babian

Fundraising

Yesim Sonmez

International

Martha Gray

Literacy

Fred Orkin

Membership

Larry Block

Membership

Joanne Gordon

Programs

Cynthia Plouche

Publicity

Carolyn Cerf

Scholarships

Yesim Sonmez

RYLA

Yesim Sonmez

Rotary Foundation

Len Tenner

Member Birthdays

Jon Levey

August 10

Pete Koukos

August 19

Announcements

President Cynthia Plouché called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by our speaker from Ravinia Festival, Christine Taylor giving the Club a rousing rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner". We finished with our reciting of Rotary’s “Four Way Test”.

Cynthia inducted a new member, Julie Tuohy, into our Club. Julie comes to us from Boys Scouts of America, where she serves as Associate Development Director for the Northeast Illinois Council.

We welcomed back Burt Schmarak after a prolonged absence. Burt updated us on his health situation which included several hip surgeries and a staph infection. He is still in physical rehabilitation, but is finally improving, and vowing never to go back in the hospital.

Cynthia also announced that this month’s evening meeting will be held on Monday, August 29 at the HP Country Club. The meeting will commence at 5 p.m. sharp.

Some upcoming events from the Community Projects Committee:

Saturday, September 24th - Bernie's Book Bank - Tentatively Noon - 2p.m. Lake Bluff. Bernie's Book Bank collects, processes and distributes quality new and gently used children's books to at-risk infants, toddlers and school-age children throughout Chicagoland, including HP and Highwood. Rotarians are invited to bring new or gently use books to Club meetings the month of September. The books will be delivered to Bernie's Book Bank on September 24th. Rotarians may volunteer the day of the event along with HPHS Interact Club Members. Individual donations to benefit the Book Bank are also welcome.

Monday, September 26th - a Joint Meeting with Interact Club from Noon to 1:30 p.m. at HPHS. Club members should RSVP for this event as Dynamic Duos will be paired together for this event and for future professional relations. The meeting will begin with the Pledge, Four Way Test and a small amount of time will spent on business. Team building/icebreakers will be planned. All Rotarians are highly encouraged to attend this meeting.

Please be aware there is also an evening meeting on the calendar as well for September 26th.

Contact Ghida Neukirch regarding either of these projects.

Guests and Visiting Rotarians

Christine Taylor, Speaker

Nick Pullia, guest of Larry Block

Rhoda Pierce, guest of Dan Pierce

Leadership Members of the 2016-17 Interact Club:

Jacob Resnick, Co-President

Amy Lichtenstein Co-President

A.J. Holzer, Community Building

Nya Liverpool, Community Building

Campbell Flower, Community Building

Grace Bernsen, Membership

Sam Joffe, Membership

Haley Fuoco, Webmaster/International Service

Jasmen Rose Mateos, Public Relations

Jessica Kingwill, Treasurer

Shon Manov, Fundraising

Matt Biondi, Faculty Sponsor

Melissa Zientara, Faculty Sponsor

The 2016-17 Interact Leadership Team with Faculty Sponsors Melissa Zientara, Matt Biondi and and President Plouché

50/50 Winners

1st Place: Paul Munk

2nd Place: Christine Taylor

3rd Place: Ghida Neukirch

Happy Dollars

Len Tenner contributed to welcome Burt back and to honor all of our Interact guests; Christine Taylor gave in honor of our Rotary Club; Nick Pullia donated because he is happy to become (finally!) a Highland Park resident; Karen Dennis contributed in recognition of Julie Tuohy becoming a new member; Fred Orkin also chipped in to recognize Julie joining the Literacy Committee; Larry Block gave in recognition of his wife Abby’s 80^th birthday; and Ghida Neukirch made a donation to recognize the good work the Interact Club is doing in the community and for Christine Taylor’s outstanding vocal performance singing the Star Spangled Banner.

The Day's Program

Today’s presenter was Christine Taylor, Director of Reach*Teach*Play Education Programs at Ravinia Festival. These programs reach over 75,000 children each year, ensuring that music education remains accessible to all. Reach*Teach*Play programs are designed to educate, foster diverse audience involvement and provide under-served populations access to live music experiences in their communities and at Ravinia.

Christine gave an overview of each of the three aspects in Ravinia’s effort to foster music education and appreciation in Chicago and neighboring communities. The Reach Programs, started in 1965 by Ravinia’s Women’s Board, are viewed as an entry level to music, both classical as well as other genres. Under the auspices of the Reach Programs, Ravinia distributes free lawn tickets to close to 200 social agencies in order to enable people who otherwise could not afford attending the exposure to the concert experience. Additionally, The Reach program also sponsors a guest artist in school program, where an artist puts on a performance directly in the classroom, furthering exposure to music.

The Teach Program takes this effort a step further, and attempts to establish a permanent connection. For the past 16 years, Ravinia has been going to Chicago Public Schools that do not offer music education (some 240 out of 600!).This brings a teaching artist in for a residency program that lasts on average 16 weeks. The focus is on music fundamentals, as well as helping the general teacher in incorporating exposure to music into other parts of the curriculum, such as social studies and/or history. This program has been nationally recognized, and serves over 5,000 elementary school students annually.

Finally, The Play Program is for kids who are serious about music. It involves intense instrumental instruction, tutoring, and mentorship, further deepening the musical connection. The Jazz Scholar program involves some of Chicago’s finest jazz musicians giving performances and teaching master classes at CPS. The Jazz scholars receive intense year-round training, as well as scholarships and opportunities to perform. Ravinia Festival also sponsors Sistema Ravinia, an intensive and transformational orchestral music education program that fosters social development through exceptional music training for under-served 3rd-8th grade students in Chicago and Lake County public schools. Inspired by the influential El Sistema* model, students in the program receive daily ensemble and orchestral instruction in their instrument. Sistema Ravinia’s first site was launched at Catalyst Circle Rock School located in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood. With the success of the Circle Rock site, Sistema Ravinia expanded to Lake County in October 2015 and uses Bennett Gordon Hall on Ravinia Festival’s grounds as a program site.

* El Sistema is a publicly financed voluntary sector music education program in Venezuela, founded in 1975 by Venezuelan educator, musician and activist José Antonio Abreu which later adopted the motto Social Action for Music. It has become so popular, it's model has spread worldwide, to include El Sistema USA.

What's next for Our Club:

Coming up in August:

* August 22nd - Jessica Gall of the Anti-Defamation League

* August 29th - Steven Dolins, The Siren Records, Evening Meeting: HP Country Club

**There are still a couple of spots available for Henry Lipson's Presentation at Brookdale in in Vernon Hills on September 23rd at 3 p.m. Please check Upcoming Events on the Website for more information or contact Mary Beth Bretzlauf.

Many thanks to Paul Munk and Cynthia Plouché for their help with this week's bulletin!