Spotlight 12-01-15, Vol. 77. No. 45

Posted by Richard Perlberg 
on Dec 01, 2015
 
PROGRAM: Mike Bourke provided the program, which was a look at Brighton Rotary’s long involvement with teaching Junior Achievement classes at St. Patrick Catholic School in Brighton.
 
PROGRAM: Mike Bourke provided the program, which was a look at Brighton Rotary’s long involvement with teaching Junior Achievement classes at St. Patrick Catholic School in Brighton.
 GUESTS: Lily, daughter of Adrienne Knack; Steve Monet, week one; Ron Borgman.
BIRTHDAYS: Julia McBride and Amy, wife of Mitch Zoldowski. ROTARY ANNIVERSARIES: Joe Petrucci, 2 years; Vern Boyajian,  4 years; Judge Mike Hatty, 6 years; Lori Lalama, 10 years, Mitch Zoldowski.
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: Anne Belser told three stories of her family’s dangerous time in Denmark in World War II. One, her father worked for the Underground, helping row Jews to safety in Sweden; two, her mother was a radio operator for the Underground; three, her father used a code name to write during the war but was caught by the Gestapo, punished, and sent to a concentration camp. The radio story was the fake. Nancy Johnson, who had made her mark in Brighton dancing in stage productions such as Cabaret’s “Money Makes the World Go Around,” started her dancing career as a tap dancer in elementary and middle school, performing at USO functions; while at Western Michigan, she provided color commentary for radio broadcasts of Bronco hockey games, meeting famous hockey players including future Olympians; during a 45-year career, she has fulfilled three of the four different librarian “classifications” and taught the fourth. The first one was the fib, as Nancy knows her hockey and her books.
Next time (Dec. 15):  Melanie Moses and Bill Anderson.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
  • Maribeth Regnier reminds everyone that the Christmas Party is Monday, Dec. 7, 5:30-7:30 at the Johnson Center at Cleary University. Non-Rotarian adults pay 20 bucks, nine bucks for kids. It’s both an adult-friendly format (cash bar) and ugly sweaters are encouraged.
 
  • George Kudla will be away from meetings for at least a month as he is confined to the Wellbridge facility in Genoa Township.
 
  • Jeannie McMillan reports that the delivery of Thanksgiving Day meals went well. Meals were delivered to more than 300 people in more than 80 families
 
  • Mike McManus referred to the current issue of the Rotarian and the strong messages of mentorship and self-reliance.
 
  • Peggi Mintz has raffle tickets, courtesy of her son, for the Fowlerville Rotary fund-raiser this weekend.
 
  • Bill Anderson endured his first-ever colonoscopy which, he said, was less uncomfortable than having to stand in front of the OSU marching band during Saturday’s beat-down in Ann Arbor.
 
  • Stan Schaeffer could use volunteers this Saturday morning at Gleaners.
 
  • Thanks to Mike McManus and Piet Lindhout for installing new projector and screen.
 
 
PROGRAM: Mike Bourke provided a history of the club’s involvement with Junior Achievement over the last nine-plus years at St. Patrick School in Brighton. For years, Rotarians have volunteered as instructors in the program in grades 5-8. The last two years, however, has been limited to the 8th grade because, even though St. Pat’s loves the program, it couldn’t afford to lose the social studies class time without affecting the school’s readiness for high school.
Junior Achievement presents students with the basics of business and life skills. Its “Pillars of Success: are work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy.
Among the benefits for Rotary are wider community awareness of the club, and self-development of club members who teach the classes. For the students, they see positive role models from the business community, they boost their knowledge of the free market system, and their entrepreneurial spirit is nurtured. Students also enjoy seeing non-traditional teachers in the classrooms. Parents say they appreciate the presence of male teachers in what is a mostly female faculty.
At its peak, the Brighton Rotary JA program was reaching about 220 students a year. Now, with just the 8th grade program, there are about 52 students involved. But the 8th grade program is by far the most involved and longest of the class segments. Many Brighton Rotarians have served as instructors for a year or more.
50-50. The jackpot has grown to more than 700 bucks, but Anne Belser, Bill Metz, and Dennis Kallio were unable to find the Ace of Spades.
Key dates:
Monday, Dec. 7 – Christmas Party at Johnson Center, Cleary University.
Tuesday, Dec. 8 – NO ROTARY MEETING today.
Saturday, June 25 – Second Top of the Mountain Dash or Crash at Mt. Brighton.