Greeter: Noreen Christenson
Attendees: 36 Bow Rotarians
1 Visiting Rotarian – Tom Morris of Concord
4 Guests – the parents of our speakers
3 Guest Speakers -- The winners of the 4-way speech contest
Total 44 persons
Announcements:
- Gerry reported on the car show planning. The car show will be on May 19th. Rotarians still needed for parking duty. Tables and coolers are not needed this year. The number of tents that are needed will be decided.
- Karen announced that the BES book reading to first graders will be on June 8th. Volunteers to read are still needed.
Sergeant at Arms:
- One logo fine: John Ruggles of R&T Electric
Happy bucks:
- Tom Ives had a birthday. He had a good year and now has his first grandchild, which Susan is thrilled about. His business is going well, and he is collaborating with Stephen King on a special edition printing of a book.
- Bill McGonagle visited Las Vegas and left with winnings totaling 1 cent; he only played the penny slots. He also visited Zion National Park and reported it is magnificent.
- Chuck was happy because he has a full price offer on his house. He also has no idea where he will be living next!
- Steve reported on the concert series and stated he has two slots left that he is trying to fill with local talent.
- Dave Gazaway was happy because he spent two days in Boston with his sons and even went to a Celtics game. They had a great time.
- Gerry was happy that there are still road signs for the car show available for distribution. See him.
- Chris Parkinson was happy that Noreen was back, and happy she let his family use her house.
- Michelle was happy that Noreen is back, and that the speech contest winners are present.
Raffle winner: Chris Parkinson. He did not draw the Joker.
Program:
Rick Minard introduced the winners of the 4-way speech contest and reminded all that the awards for the contest and scholarships are the product of club fund raising activities, and he encourage the winners to play it forward by participating in the auction and attending the car show.
Speakers:
Ana Milano was our third-place winner. Her speech was about avoiding abusive relationships, and used the books and movies based on 50 Shades of Gray to illustrate how mistreatment of women fails all the 4-way tests. Her speech effectively used statistics to confirm that normalization of abusive relationships can be achieved through literature, e.g., after reading 50 Shades of Gray young women were 34% more likely to seek an abusive partner, and 25% enter an abusive relationship.
Jack Rich was our second-place winner. Jack spoke to the damage caused by bullying, and how important it is to counter bullying through positive action. Jack stated he has Asperger’s syndrome and has been bullied. He applied the 4-way test to bullying, and how positive action could meet the 4-way test. He successfully argued that teaching children to be kind should get equal attention to teaching not to bully. He spoke to how he raised funds and distributed 21 “friendship benches” to schools in the state. The benches are where a child can sit, thereby showing the need for friendship. His speech included examples of how the friendships resulting from the friendship benches was consistent with the 4-way test.
Alison Lambert was our first-place winner. Alison spoke to the importance of honest and thorough sexual education in schools. She applied the 4-way test to establish how individuals and society benefits when teenagers have accurate information, and the dire consequences when they do not. For example, teenagers are responsible for 50% of new STD cases. She included recognition that the education should address issues specific to the LGBT teenagers, and that only 5% of sexual education programs nationwide present same gender sexual relationships in a positive way, while the majority have no recognition at all. Alison closed her speech comparing sexual education to driving: we teach teenagers to not drink and drive, but we also teach them to use a seatbelt. Honest sexual education was the seatbelt lesson teenagers need.
Respectfully Submitted,
Harry Judd
