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President Dick Jay called the meeting to order promptly at 12:30, with the ring of the bell and welcomed everyone to today’s meeting.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

 

Greeters: Carter Napier was our greeter today and he introduced the members who brought guests:

Song and Merriment: Gary Pehrson led us in singing “Take me out to the Ball Game”

 

Family of Rotary: Carley Applegate told us her Mom was diagnosed with a sarcoma and she encouraged all women to get their exams annually as it I something that can be prevented.

 

Someone announced that former member Frank Ordez at the age of 96 got his antelope last week hit it at 150 yards with one shot and took it down.

 

Someone announced that it is Lisa Scroggin’s birthday so we sang Happy Birthday to her.

 

Nobody did anything exciting this past week. 

 

We had a great student from Midwest High School today, Kaleb Smith, always great to hear from an outstanding student from Midwest HS.

 

Rob Ratliff and Tim Cortez received their blue badge today.

 

Bob Tarantula announced that this Thursday evening is the Alumni and prospective student recruitment reception from 6:30 to 8:00 and would like for any Alumni to attend to visit with the parents and students about your experience attending UW.

 

Steve Loftin congratulated the Town of Mills for the grand Eagle Sculpture they put up by the Bridge.

 

President Dick Jay said we received a check from a Rotarian in Cheyenne in honor of our Rotarian Dave Bishop, which worried them for a bit until they found out that Dave is alive and well. The check was in gratitude for Dave and Helen allowing them to use their Guest house a few weeks ago.

 

Richard Schwahn and Kyle Gamroth did another auction to raise money for Polio awareness month.

 

President Elect John Griffith introduced City Manager Carter Napier who in turn introduced today’s speaker Kianna Smith who spoke to us about some of the lessons she has learned about community. She graduated from NCHS and has always been interested in politics and knew that she wanted to pursue politics to be able to serve the public. So she went to Patrick Henry College in Virginia which is well known for producing very politically minded students even though it is a small college. She also wanted to be near D.C. so that she could go into politics. She already had her plan set for the next 10 years or so to become a government worker in D.C. and she focused everything on that goal. Then one day while trying to decide on her major for college she wasn’t sure any more about this career she thought she wanted. She wasn’t sure if she was ready for a career in American politics but she declared her major and went on studying. For her major she had to have proficiency in a foreign language and they only offered a few languages that she was not interested in so she decided that since she had already studied Russian in High School at NCHS she would continue with Russian. Since the school did not offer Russian she decided to spend some time in Russia in order to become proficient in this language. So she participated in a summer abroad program with UW to Russia in the summer of 2016. She discovered that life there is very different, first of all nobody speaks English so you need to know Russian in order to survive over there. She also discovered that the summers are very hot and they do not have many air conditioners. She also discovered that the food is very different. There were other differences, the society is very tied to religion and so it has a big effect on the culture. Politics are very different as Russians are very nationalistic and they do not value equality the same way we do. The biggest cultural difference that really stuck out to her is the Russian emphasis on community and family. In the U.S. we are more focused on ourselves, in Russia they measure success on families and groups rather than on individuals. It is very uncommon for unmarried individuals to be out living on their own in Russia, they tend to stay living at home with their parents until they get married. The woman who set up the exchange program had a daughter that was still not married yet she wanted to move out on her own and it was very strange for the mom, it was a very foreign idea and she was having a problem accepting it thinking that she had done something wrong as a parent. Another thing is that their relationships are very important and they work hard to develop those relationships with friends and family. It is deemed polite and proper to offer as much advice and suggestions as you can when someone comes to you with a problem rather than the American way of letting you handle it yourself. They are always there for their community, family and friends and care about their welfare. After returning from Russia she finished her schooling and kept having doubts about serving in politics in D.C. and she kept thinking about the idea of community and the importance of community, especially the things that she learned while in Russia. She realized that she was not cut out for the life in D.C. because it is too impersonal and there is not a sense of community. She also realized that the things going on in the government there were not as important to her and did not affect her or her family and friends so she decided to return to Casper because she cares about the issues that affect the people here in her community. So she decided that she should be involved in local politics. Once she graduated she moved back to Casper and has decided to become active in local politics and she is starting by running for the School board since she has always been interested in the local schools and education as well as politics so she wants to serve her community by serving on the school board. She feels that a politician needs to interact with the people in the community who are affected by the decisions you make so local politics are the important politics to participate in. She encouraged us all to get involved in local politics and service to our community.

 

President Dick Jay concluded the meeting at 1:22 letting us know that next week we will be back at the Ramkota. Our speaker will be Laurie Nichols, President of UW.

“Be the Inspiration”