Club President John Starnes called the meeting to order at 12:26 welcoming all Rotarians and guests to Rotary.

 

 

 

 

Maribeth Plocek and Don Harris were our greeters and Maribeth introduced guests:

Jim Allison introduced his daughter Casey Allison;

Tucker Laprade introduced Matt Myers from the Boy Scouts and former club member;

Vickie Diamond introduced Caryn Luberto from the WMC Foundation;

Cori Burton introduced Keri Owen from Mercer Family Resource Center and Volunteer Chris Orr;

Marha Rakestraw introduced the guests of our student of the month from Midwest School, parents Guy and Paula Chapman and Sister Shauna Chapman along with Sponsor Wendy McGregor;

Martha Rakestraw introduced her guest Mary Bates;

Red Nickerson introduced Reverend Dr. Jim Shumard from Saint Mark’s;

Tim Monroe introduced our City Manager V.H. McDonald;

Dale Bohren introduced his job shadow from Wood’s School, Maren Nicolaysen;

Peaches Lynch introduced Jeff Johnson from Pacific Steel and Recycling;

Maribeth Plocek introduced Sheryl Foland, a Clinical Therapist and trainer;

Maribeth introduced visiting Rotarian Laurie Heath from the Cheyenne Noon Club;

Our Exchange Student Elise was also with us today

 

 

President John gave a 4-way test coin to each person at the front north side table because the presenter today said that those at the table were probably going to get wet, so they took one for the team, without being sure they wanted to.

 

Dennis Lower treated us to a great chuckle, after which Gary Pehrson had us all Rise and sing “My Country Tis of Thee”.

 

 

Heidi took a picture of us for the Facebook page.

 

 

John Jorgensen announced that George Bryce had bypass surgery last week and is home and doing well but not accepting visitors yet but please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

 

Peaches Lynch nominated Jim Anderson for taking some of the exchange students to the Jackson Hole Ski Trip.

Jim Allison nominated Steve Loftin because he will be bringing Jim’s daughter Casey to Rotary for the next two months.

Chad Nelson nominated Jim Porter and Steve Loftin for wearing coordinating Denver Bronco outfits today.

President John had all Rotarians wearing Bronco colors today to please stand, we have a few fans.

 

President John asked for the table that had the best most humorous conversation during lunch; the front center table had a good story. Deb Theriault told the story about Gene, they were at Laguna Beach and Gene decided to test the water to see how cold it was so he stepped into the very shallow edge of the water as tide was coming in and did not expect the water to be as deep as it turned out to be when the tide came in and it took him down completely immersing him in sea water.

 

Martha introduced our student from Midwest school today, Hannah Chapman, a sophomore from Midwest. What a great young lady with great ambitions and a bright future. The Chapman family has deep roots in the Midwest Edgerton Community.

 

 

Richard Schwahn received his Paul Harris plus two and Tony Valdez received his Paul Harris plus one.

 

 

Jim Ruble introduced our speaker today, our own Rotarian Steven Schnell, Executive Director of The Science Zone, who in turn introduced his Director of Education at the Science Zone, Leah Ritz. Leah started us off by doing a science experiment over by the front north table, thus the four way test coin earlier. She produced a thunder storm using warm water poured into liquid nitrogen which created the same effect as a cold front combining with a warm front. Quite an impressive storm she created as the two fronts combined. The front table at least did not get totally drenched. Leah and Steven then presented a Prezi presentation of the Science Zone in a Petri Dish, explaining to us who they are and what they do. They provide High Quality engaging and relevant education and hands on experiments to help the children better understand and appreciate science, math and engineering. They are located under Slumberland Furniture in Downtown Casper and have a lot of exhibits and interactive areas for everyone to enjoy. Within the next couple of weeks they will be getting in a new traveling exhibit called the Dinosaur Revolution, which will teach all about Dinosaurs. Every week they see hundreds of children from all over Natrona County and are starting to see some from other areas of the State. They have things to do inside and outside for children and adults of all ages. They have different clubs and competitions such as the Lego club that participated in the competition at the Events Center. They also do outreach events throughout the year around town and the County. They have a growing summer camp program and this summer they will have several different camps for about ten weeks in the summer for kids to learn more. Steven thanked Rotarian Rod Aker for the new sign he just installed for them to make it easier for people to find them. Steven told us that their big fundraising event this year will be on April 23 with an auction to help raise money to keep the Zone going. They will have a science experiment there to help people see what they do there. The biggest event that they sponsor is the annual trick or treat event where local businesses put up booths and pass out candy, the Zone also does a kid friendly haunted house which the kids always enjoy. Most of the events they do like the fair are to raise awareness of the great work they do. They are always looking for volunteers so if anyone would like to help out in any way they would appreciate the help. They are also looking for members of the Board of Directors so please send someone their way or let them know if you are interested. Leah then finished us up with another hands on experiment like they do with the kids to encourage questions and experimentation. We got to put Alka-Seltzer and water in a film container to turn them into a rocket. We tried two different types of film canisters to see which one worked best. We had some that worked quite well and then some of us had little fizzlers that bombed. What a great presentation, enjoyed by all.

 

             

 

 

President Elect Jim Ruble let us know that next week we will hear from another club member, Kevin Hawley, who will speak to us about the new downtown plaza project, the Durbin Street Station. He also let us know that February 15^th we will not have a meeting due to it being Presidents’ Day and on April 11^th we will have our meeting at the airport then sometime in August we will have our picnic in place of that week’s meeting, date to be determined.

 

President John Starnes adjourned the meeting at 1:19 with the ring of the bell, reminding us that next week we are back here at the Parkway Plaza.