Kent Rotarian since: 2014
Current Occupation: Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Student Conduct, Kent State University
Rotarian involvement (current and past): Board of Directors (Community Service), Rotary Reads, Auction Committee, Rotary Bracket Buster, Senior Clean-up, Monthly Program Leader, 4-Way Speech Test judge, other special projects as they’ve come up
Fondest memory/memories as a Rotarian: One is helping with other Rotarians to assist a local family with a child on the autism spectrum reconstructing her room to give an appropriately stimulating environment. Another is having the privilege to connect with Rotarian Laing Kennedy each year on the Rotary Bracket Buster. Laing has been so generous sharing some of his experiences with me. He is a good person, plain and simple, and I will always treasure our conversations.
Family: Wife (Kristin), kids (Lilly & Charlie, both 11), pets (dog – Gryffindor “Gryff”, cat – Sox, 2 turtles – Shelldon & Shellby, and an unspecified number of fish [unnamed]).
Hobbies: Habitat for Humanity events, Main Street Kent events, any activities with kids (sports, Scouts). I’m a sports enthusiast, and my favorite sport has been volleyball.
Favorite entertainment: I’m an avid reader of cheap books. Among my favorite more well-known books are The Reason I Jump (Naoki Higashida), The Stand (Stephen King), Harry Potter (the whole series, J.K. Rowling), and biographies. My favorite movies are Real Genius, Shawshank Redemption, and The Natural. My favorite TV shows are M*A*S*H, The West Wing, and Breaking Bad.
Something Positive: Three of my mentors, my father Richard Kamenash (d. 1996), Madison Boyce and Greg Jarvie, led more by actions than words and consistently strived to “do the right thing.” In every tough decision I make, I’ve found that this sentiment is the cornerstone to my conscience.
