Fred Strader opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Bonnie Ireland introduced guests in attendance: Steve Hoiberg, Cathy Reichlen, Sue Aquin, and the kids from LakerBots and their sponsors.

Announcements:

Fred Strader thanked the Rotarians who volunteered at the polls on Tuesday. Everyone had a good time. Volunteers signed up 357 new voters. Fred also advised that with the long program tonight, we would forgo Happy Dollars and asked everyone to save up their happiness for next week’s meeting.

Wendy Bagley gave a brief update on the Senior Dinner planning efforts. Her press release was just publicized, and they already have 129 signed up to attend this year’s event. The dinner will be at a maximum of 300 people, so we’re 1/3 of the way there. Wendy mentioned that she needs:

 

Gary Dehnel announced they have inducted three new Rotary Interact members into their youth club, who already seem engaged. Gary also presented a thank you card to John Moulton from the Interact Club, thanking him for his generosity in allowing Interact to work the Corn Maze at the Farm, collecting tips while there, and paying all the entry fees that Moulton Farm passed on to them for that day’s activity.

Dick Gerken gave the Foundation Minute, enlightening the group that Rotary’s World Peace Centers, seven of them located around the world, offer tailor-made curricula to train individuals devoted to peacebuilding and conflict resolution. Scholarships through Rotary are provided for secondary, undergraduate, or graduate study.

Wendy Bagley advised the club that the Ice Fishing Derby Committee will meet at Harts next Wednesday at 5:00 pm. Wendy is looking for Rotarians to fill Team Lead positions of:

The meeting then broke for dinner.

 

 

 

 

This evening's speaker was Interlake’s High School “Lakerbots.” Joe Derrick, the Leadership Mentor, along with five high school students, presented the program, each based on their area of specialty. The high school robotics team designs builds and programs a robot from scratch to meet the challenges of the annual First Robotics Competition. The team shared their statistics, scoring over the year, build time for their most current robot of 4,518 hours, highly coveted Governors Award, and enthusiasm for the program.

 

The team then gave us a live demonstration of their robot in motion.

 

The Lakerbots team is actively raising money to keep the program going and spending time as community service volunteers throughout the lakes area. Fundraising for this program is essential. Each team member is expected to visit three businesses and ask for sponsorship to raise any money possible. For Interlake’s High School team to attend the world finals, the financial output will require approximately $30,000 for
what they consider a life-changing event. The team is advertising for sponsorship at many levels, starting at $50.00 for Bronze to Platinum, starting at $2,500.00.

Bruce Riechlen proposed that Rotary donate $2,500.00 to the Lakerbots high school project. Dick Gerken seconded the motion, and all were in favor. Motion passed.

The four-way test was recited, and the meeting was then adjourned.

 

 

Our high school robotics team designs, builds, and programs a robot from scratch to meet the annual FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) challenges. This year's FIRST theme for FRC is "REEFSCAPE".