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After Wally Cole recited the Pledge of Allegiance for us Anthony Nordan offered the invocation. Mark Bring introduced as his guest Lisa McFarland while Lois Josefson introduced our speaker, Alex Cabrera. Anthony reported that our club raised $12,590.19 for the Salvation Army this past holiday season, with $1,232.66 given through kettle offerings (compared to $1,520.68 in 2020). The Underwood Lions were responsible for the kettle at Fleet Farm, staffed it for 200 hours and raised the most money for the Army, with our club raising the second highest amount. It was also announced that we still need volunteers for the speech tournament on January 29th; that the in-person Rotary District Conference planned for St. Cloud in April and involving two other Districts has been cancelled due to the pandemic; and that those wishing to learn more about Rotary can participate in One Rotary Summit on February 5th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. There is no charge, and you can register at WWW.ROTARY5580.ORG. Lois Josefson introduced Alex Cabrera who spoke about attending the United States Naval Academy adjacent to Annapolis, Maryland. Alex was living in Newport Beach, California at the time he was nominated. As a young man Alex watched a movie starring Jimmy Stewart, about the Academy and the Honor Code, and from that point on he knew he wanted to be a part of it. He talked about competing against others for limited spots and how the story use to be that many who were admitted did not go on to graduate; today, however, the percentage to graduate is much higher -- 89%. As one of the top liberal arts colleges in the world, Alex said there are about 8,000 to 11,000 applicants for 1,100 positions. When he showed up in July of 1988, they were told that one in three of the new enrollees would not make it. By the completion of his second year, of the 1,500 originally in his class, that number had been reduced to 1,000. Every Congressman and Senator has the opportunity to have five persons at the Academy at any given time; the Academy's website lists the current enrollment at 4,576. Bancroft Hall is where they all eat together and it seats 4,500. Naval Academy students are midshipmen on Active Duty in the U.S. Navy, currently paid $1,150 a month, but a lot of that goes to paying for books, school supplies, etc. They attend the Academy for four years, graduate with Bachelor of Science degrees and commissions as Ensigns in the Navy or Second Lieutenants in the Marine Corps. Naval Academy graduates serve at least five years in the Navy or Marine Corps (either active or reserve duty). The school offers 24 majors and has 33 varsity sports; in terms of athletics, students have to be enrolled in one athletic endeavor each semester. Alex described classes of no more than 25 students with a daily schedule that starts no later than 5:30 a.m.., with lights out at 11:00 p.m. except during finals. The students are broken into 30 companies with 120 students per company, representing all the classes. Alex boxed his first year. He was also a member of the men's glee club and had the opportunity to perform worldwide, including singing for the Pope in Rome. After graduation, Alex was assigned to surface warfare and served on the first nuclear powered cruiser. The USS Long Beach was based in San Diego, and he had the opportunity to go through the Panama Canal and spend time in the Caribbean Sea. He also served on a destroyer in the Mediterranean. In her introduction, Lois highlighted Alex's many talents and during the program we learned he has two children, ages 7 and 10, and that among his many other endeavors he teaches salsa and swing dancing in town. |
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