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Rotary Ramblings: Laughs, Lessons, and Lots of Fun!
by Bruce GreensponThis week's meeting kicked off with this article’s author, Bruce Greenspon, leading the assembled in the Pledge of Allegiance. Bruce then asked our membership to commit to memory, one poem that you can recite. A poetic pledge, per se. "Faith is a fine invention when gentlemen can see -- But microscopes are prudent in an emergency. -- by Emily Dickinson.
President Lisa Hemmat-Lupercio: Welcomed everyone back to the Westdrift Hotel and acknowledged all the guests in attendance. This week, Walt Kasha’s wife, Priscila joined us again for breakfast, she must like the bacon. Jesse Jorgensen joined us, he’s David Long’s guest. Dave wrote to us to say that Jesse works for “Marsh McLennan and I encourage everyone to get to know him”. Mark Maruyama attended his fourth meeting as a guest.
Lisa asked Cedric Tuck-Sherman and Vinny Fazzino to talk about the weekend Adventure Club’s second outing, to the Kern River for camping and white-water rafting. Cedric noted that it was essentially only his family and friends with Vinny hosting and leading. Though there weren’t others from the club that joined, it was like having a personal tour guide for the whole trip. It was an epic night under the stars and a rolling adventure amongst the rapids. Vinny made sure it was an adventure to raft-home about!
Scholarships. We’re not just making a splash in the river, but in education too! On June 10th, our club provided $50,000 in scholarship awards to Mira Costa students. We’re not just making waves, we’re making scholars! Each of the following seniors received a one-time $2,000 scholarship: William Kiely, Ava Brunner, Hailey Fischer, Naomi Charania and Lily Wuertz. Each of these candidates received a $10,000 scholarship paid out over four years: Veronica Fish, Kina Desai and Gabriella Fish. For our last $10,000 scholarship award winner we provided a naming scholarship on an annual basis for our own John Rhind. The distinction of the first John Rhind Rotary Community Scholarship recipient is: Nicolas Huang. Want an interesting fact about Nicolas, while in HS he studied, applied and received certification as a Registered Tax Return Preparer from the IRS. Then he went to Chinatown in LA and helped prepare tax forms for people in need. No wonder Nicolas is heading to Brown University in the Fall.
John Rhind graduated from Mira Costa in 1953 and joined our Rotary chapter in 1967. We joke that John is the reason we have a ‘nostalgia committee’ in our club. In addition to the Costa scholarships, our Club provided an additional $10,000 in scholarships to ten El Camino radiology program students. Joel Ruben informed us that the last few years we have changed the major or specialization area of the group of recipients every year. One year it was nursing students. Another year it was Automotive. This year, Radiology. At El Camino College, they have seven meta-majors which comprise over 75 academic programs. As long as the funding is available, there’s going to be an academic program.
Craft Talks: “The Rotary craft talk reveals the essential elements of a Rotarian’s approach to the craft of living. Rotarians share their life stories and experiences that have shaped their character. A craft talk may include a brief history of life and career, how and why they became a Rotarian, characteristics most needed for success in their business or profession, hobbies and family life, and often include humorous stories and photos”. You get personal history, sometimes self-defecating [sic] humor, and most of the time, heartfelt memories of their life. It’s like a TED Talk but you get to eat bacon and eggs with the them afterwards.
John Bartlett was the first of two Craft Talks this morning. John opened by asking everyone in attendance to sing with him, the Beatle’s song, When I’m 64. Karaoke time! To the delight of many, a chorus was formed. “When I get older losing my hair, Many years from now, Will you still be sending me a Valentine, Birthday greetings bottle of wine. Fortunately, John is in our Rotary group now and rest assured, we’ll still be providing him a bottle of wine, anytime he wins our weekly drawing. John is married to Cynthia and they have three sons, aged 22 through 28 years old. John was a member of the Santa Monica Rotary before joining our Club earlier this year. John told us about his parents, their hard work and his many vocations over the years. He talked about his love for travel, visiting 59 countries and all 7 continents. He still has two states left to visit to round out the United States, but he’s young, there’s plenty of time. John has owned a number of different businesses and shared a few of his mantras along the way. We’re glad John joined our club and we note Rotary Club of Santa Monica’s loss.
Craft Talks: Because everyone loves a good origin story! Dr. Sheena Khanna shared her journey to Manhattan Beach. Dr. Sheena Khanna, MD is an Ophthalmologist. As a young woman growing up in the Chicago area, her ‘vision’ was to follow in her mother’s 20/20 footsteps. Both of Sheena’s parents are physicians, her father is a Sports Medicine Physician and like Sheena, her mother is also an Ophthalmologist. That’s eye-opening. Sheena left Chicago to attend USC as a neuroscience major in undergrad. After graduating, she attended Northwestern Univ., (don't you wanna go, Back to that same old place, Sweet home Chicago) where winter is still a verb. After medical school in Chicago, she completed her medical residency at Loyola, where her mom helped train her to be the surgeon she is today. “Let's leave Chicago to the Eskimos, That town's a little bit too rugged, For you and me… From the South Bay to the Valley, From the West Side to the East Side, Everybody's very happy, 'Cause the sun is shining all the time, Looks like another perfect day, I love L.A. (We love it)”. She returned to complete a fellowship at UCLA. She’s starting a Pac-12 diploma collection. How did we get so lucky to find Dr. Khanna you might ask. Incoming President John Acker golfed with Sheena’s father and offered to invite Sheena to our Rotary meeting. Who knew a round of golf could lead to such a clear-sighted addition to our Rotary team. Dr. Khanna, you’re a sight for our sore eyes.
Happy Dollars: First up, Lisa asked, Bryon Bos stood-up. Bryon made it rain dollar bills because he has two more grandchildren! Congratulations, Sir! John Rhind added happy dollars in honor of his named scholarship winner’s bright future at Brown University! Keith Sultemeier told us that his son “Tiny” just started football camp at UCLA! Rita Crabtree contributed in honor of Father’s Day and in particular, her Dad in NY. Cedric contributed on behalf of Vinny’s rafting, boating, cooking and leadership skills.
Calling all bookworms! The Rotary Book Club: Join us on August 19th at 6:30 pm for a discussion of Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. Debby Arnold will be our facilitator. If you're interested in joining the book club or just want to chat about a good read, contact Bruce. Joining may lead to an addiction to plot twists and character arcs.
See you next week, fellow Rotarians!