The Rotary Club of Des Moines met on April 19, 2018 at the Wakonda Club with President-elect Shawn Mullen presiding, Sarai Rice led the group in recognizing the scholarship attendees via a round of applause followed by the pledge of allegiance and the four way test.
Guests and visitors were introduced by David Kilpatrick. President-elect Mullen provided a reminder regarding the spring clean-up at Waterworks Park on Friday, April 20th. Thanks were expressed to the Wheels Committee and the Albaugh family for the special tour of the Albaugh collection.
President-elect Mullen reported the District 6000 toast was a wonderful experience which featured one of our own members, Matt Busick.
President-elect Mullen announced the International Service Committee will be hosting a Summit at the Unity Point Health Education and Research Center on June 1st. The summit will focus on the sharing of ideas, examination of best practices and fostering collaboration to increase our global impact. Registrations may be submitted at http://bit.ly/ridsmsummit.
Scholarship Committee Chairperson, Sarai Rice, introduced our program by announcing the award of scholarships to six outstanding local high school seniors. The Scholarship Award was established in 1980 and, because of member support of our weekly tumbler program and other Rotary Club of Des Moines Foundation funds, each award recipient will receive an $8,000 scholarship ($1,000 per semester). Recipients were selected with input from representatives at each of the six Des Moines Public High Schools (Scavo, Roosevelt, North, Lincoln, Hoover and East) following multiple interviews by our scholarship committee.
Scavo High School -- Maleah D. Hall. Maleah plans to seek a bachelor’s degree in nursing. She has been recognized as a MVP in sports and has maintained excellent grades - all while raising her young son. Maleah will begin her studies at DMACC eventually transferring to Grandview College to complete her degree. Devotion, passion and clarity of purpose are all words to describe Maleah. She believes in intentional acts of caring and wants to give back to the community by providing safe and compassionate care as a nurse.
Roosevelt High School -- Emma Hildebrandt. Emma has achieved academic excellence (4.0 student with AP courses) while working part-time to save for college. Both Emma and her parents will work extra to support her college expenses. Emma currently serves a drum major in her school marching band, volunteers at Living History Farms, and serves on the student council. She plans to attend Luther College to obtain a nursing degree. She believes in putting people first and wants to be a super hero.
North High School -- Jasmine Inthabounh. Jasmine has achieved academic excellence, serves as student body president and works 2 part-time jobs in an effort to help her family. She will graduate 5th in her class out of 308. Jasmine plans to study Journalism and Business at Drake University which is her dream school.
Lincoln High School -- Joslyn Cardenas-Flores. Joslyn is a determined young woman who plans to be a surgeon one day. She has a special interest in anatomy and science. Joslyn moved from California to Des Moines with her single mother and younger siblings. She participates in varsity sports and is a member of her school band. She also volunteers in the community both at Mercy Medical Center and her local church. Joslyn was selected as one of two students to serve as delegate in the Congress of Future Medical Leaders in Boston. With a 3.78 GPA, Joslyn will be graduating in the top ten percent of her class and will be the first in her family to go to college.
Hoover High School -- Jose Luis Rodriguez Campos. Jose has achieved a 3.5 GPA while working 2 jobs to support his family. He is active in sports (playing soccer) and volunteers at the Science Center and his Church. Jose has faced many obstacles during his time in high-school and looks forward to the opportunity to give back in the future. Construction Engineering is his career goal.
East High School -- Ashley G. Martinez-Torres. Ashley has only been in the U.S. for four years and English is her second language. Yet she has achieved academic excellence, works part-time to help support her family, participates in volleyball, theater, and is a National Honor Society member. Her parents have worked with her to instill a commitment to pursuing excellence no matter what her goals. Ashley plans to major in multi-media communications and photography with a goal of working as a broadcaster. She will attend DMACC then transfer to Grandview to complete her degree.
Dr. Tom Ahart, Superintendent of the Des Moines Schools, acknowledged that women are generally smarter than men. He also shared his views about the tumultuous times in education – global student populations, many home challenges, polarized politics -- all are challenges for both students and educators. He thanked the Des Moines Rotary for the generous support given to local students and also recognized the Des Moines School Systems’ administrators, counselors and teachers for their leadership.
Past President Dick Reasons discussed how our scholarship program is our way of investing in tomorrow’s future and how we participate in making the world a better place because of this investment. With the foundation starting in 1982, our first scholarships were $1000 to nine high school seniors. Scholarships steadily increased from $1000 per student to the current $8000 granted to one senior from each of the six Des Moines public high schools. Since our first scholarship grant in 1982, nearly $850,000 has been given to deserving students by our Club. Unfortunately higher education inflation from 1980 to 2014 has increased 260%. This is in contrast to the 120% CPI (Consumer Price Index). Past President Reasons shared that using our current 4-5% annual endowment draw-down rule, $160,000 to $200,000 is the need in the RCDM Foundation to fund a single $8000 scholarship, meaning the foundation needs approximately $1 million to sustain the scholarship program. Even though we’ve done a great job of keeping our scholarship grants in sync with the rising costs of higher education – we can’t stop now. Reasons suggested, “Over time we will need to increase the level of our grants and perhaps consider expanding the program to empower more deserving students.” He closed his remarks with a THANK YOU to those in the Club who have already given to the RCDM Double Our Impact campaign and challenged those who have not to consider a gift. The Double Our Impact campaign goal is to increase the Foundation’s cash balance by $625K and to stimulate broad planned giving.
President-elect Mullen closed the meeting at 1:05 p.m.