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Upcoming meetings

Normally we meet the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month. Meetings feature member updates, club news, and speakers. Our May 20 meeting is canceled due to unforseen circumstances. Join the June meetings! Wednesday, June 3, 6 - 7 p.m. we'll meet at Mountain Lodge in Mountain Village; gather at 5:30 in the bar area before the meeting starts in the conference room. Wednesday, June 17, 5:30 - 7 p.m. is our special annual meeting/celebration at the MountainFilm building on South Oak Street. Email: telluriderotary@gmail.com for info or to rsvp.

See our Facebook page or Instagram @telluriderotary for updates and photos.

The Second Annual Hikeathon Is Happening In June, Register Now!

Help us make the Hikeathon a success!

Telluride Rotary is back with its signature community event to promote health and camaraderie while also raising much-needed funds for Telluride Rotary and other nonprofits. Sign up here to participate, or visit the site to make a donation: https://go.dojiggy.io/telluriderotaryhikeathon2026

You can sign up now to participate individually or to form a team. Set a hiking goal and get in shape for summer, and possibly win a prize! Support funding for Telluride Rotary's scholarships and service projects! Teams that represent another nonprofit will also raise money for their nonprofit.

The kickoff event is Sunday, May 31, 11 a.m. at Oak Street gondola plaza. The final celebration with prizes awarded will be Sunday, June 28, 11 a.m. at Mountain Village Plaza.

In 2025, the Hikeathon involved over 80 participants. We netted $20,300 for Telluride Rotary and $6100 for other nonprofits. Please help us reach our goal of $30,00 this year.

Many thanks to our sponsors Alpine Bank and Jagged Edge Mountain Gear, and to the many local businesses that have donated prizes. See @telluriderotaryhikeathon on Instagram for more info and photos.

Rotary Youth Exchange: Info for Students and Potential Host Families

Rotary Youth Exchange student Chochi from Colombia with his host family—Alison, Eric, and Fletcher Dale—and club President Kate Wadley.

Update: We will send one Telluride High student abroad to the Czech Republic for the 2026-27 school year, and we will host a student in Telluride during that school year. Host families needed. Local students who are interested in living and studying abroad for the 2027-28 school year will need to apply by November 1, 2026. The program is ideal for 10-graders to apply to go abroad their junior year, but 9th and 11th graders are invited to apply also.

Telluride Rotary Club is proud to sponsor Rotary Youth Exchange, sending one or two high school students abroad and hosting a foreign student in Telluride for the school year. If you are a high school student interested in going abroad, go to mountainandplainsrye.com for info and contact our club’s RYE officer Laurie Easter easter.laurie@gmail.com.

For the 2025-26 school year, Telluride Rotary hosted Manuel “Chochi,” a student from Colombia, who has been attending Telluride High and lived with two generous host families, the Youngs and the Dales. A gifted golfer, Chochi played on the THS golf team in the fall, and then over winter learned to ski (his first time in the snow). “Every day here is a new adventure,” Chochi said while making a presentation to Telluride Rotary on March 18. “If I could define my exchange year, it would be like a dream that I don't want to wake up from.”

Host parent Lara Young said, “It's one of the best decisions we made as a family, to host Chochi” because of what he contributed to the family through his personality and different background.

Rotary Youth Exchange enhances peace and international understanding by hosting high school students abroad to experience different cultures. To make this life-changing program work, we need host families! Host families host an exchange student for approximately three months. While it’s helpful to be a household with a high school student, families with younger kids, or empty-nester couples or single households also are welcome to apply to host. For more info see mountainandplainsrye.com and contact easter.laurie@gmail.com.

Congratulations Telluride Rotary Scholarship Recipients

Congratulations Class of 2025!

Our club is proud to have given $15,000 total to nine Telluride and Norwood high school seniors for their college tuition, plus two prizes for Rotary’s motto of “Service Above Self” recognizing volunteerism.

First is the $1000 Rotary Endeavor Scholarship for a student pursuing a vocational/technical program or community college. This scholarship is funded by the generosity of longtime Rotarian Roger Wickham and his wife Sandy. This year’s Endeavor Scholarship goes to THS senior Daniel Gutierrez (first photo), who will attend Colorado Mesa University’s Hospitality Management Program.

Our top academic scholarship for $5000 goes to THS senior Bjorn Cristol who is going to UC Boulder to study Chemical Engineering.

We awarded two $2500 scholarships. The first goes to Norwood High School senior Mikah Wareham, who plans to attend West Texas A&M University and pursue a career in agriculture business.

The other $2500 scholarship goes to THS senior Quinn Paczosa, who will attend the University of Vermont to pursue a degree in pre-med or biology.

We awarded three $1000 scholarships to THS seniors Keelie Wayland and Jude Klimasewiski, and to NHS senior Grace Harris; and a $500 scholarship to THS senior Savannah Baize.

Our Miscetic Athletic Scholarship recognizing athletic achievement and dedication goes to Norwood High senior Cadence Shaw.

Finally, our annual Service Above Self award goes to Savannah Baize and Caleb Slosberg (second photo), two exceptional seniors who demonstrated dedication to volunteering and extracurricular activities that helped others. They will have their names engraved on a plaque that hangs in the THS office, and each receives a $250 award.

Many thanks to our donors who make these annual scholarships possible and to the club’s scholarship committee: Lauren Bloemsma (chair), Jim Austin, Marilyn Branch, Sarah Holbrooke, Pete Johnson, and Sarah Lavender Smith.

Recent Grants and Service by Telluride Rotary Club

Telluride Rotary Club takes pride in making several grants, giving scholarships to high school seniors, and participating in community service projects. Below are highlights since of our club's actions to make a positive difference:

donate $1000 to Beacon Telluride to support seasonal workers and $500 each to two regional funds that provide one-time emergency grants to help individuals and families through sudden hardships (Good Neighbor Fund and UNIDOS Fund)
gave $15,000 in May of 2025 in scholarships to Telluride and Norwood high school seniors to support their college and vocational studies, and also gave $250 prizes with the Service Above Self award to two THS seniors
gave $500 to co-sponsor the Immigrant Heritage Fiesta in June
co-sponsored and participated in the Walk for Hope event for suicide awareness
co-sponsored and participated in the community cleanup "Trash Bash"
volunteered to help the Telluride Mountain Club improve the Valley Floor trail to make it more beginner-friendly and suitable for adaptive cyclists
donated $1000 to the Community Drivers’ License program to help Spanish-speaking immigrants get the training and support they need to obtain a driver’s license
continued to fund the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to send a free book to every child in the county age 0 to 5
continued a 23-year tradition of giving a new hardcover Scholastic children’s dictionary and Rotary coloring book to every third-grader in San Miguel County, made possible thanks to the sponsorship of Community Banks of Colorado.
Made grants to the Telluride AIDS Benefit to co-sponsor the Student Fashion Show and to Telluride Mountain Club to support a presentation on "Mental Health in the Mountains."

On the international front, thanks to the research of member Dr. Nancy Kerr who leads the international committee, our club:

donated $3000 to a Nepal boarding school to fund five girls’ education there
gave $1000 to a Rotary project in Western Kenya to fight malaria
gave $500 to expand the indigenous midwife program in rural Panama for maternal and child health, which our club also helped a couple of years ago with a larger grant
gave $2000 to help build a community learning center with a focus on STEAM education on the Navajo Nation.

Telluride Rotary Club welcomes donations to its nonprofit foundation to support our service projects, grants, and scholarships. Please make a tax-deductible donation here or through the Donate Now button on the website menu.

https://www.facebook.com/telluriderotary

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We meet In Person & Online

Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m.

Mountain Lodge

457 Mountain Village Blvd
Mountain Village, CO 81435
United States of America

We meet 1st Wednesday of the month 6 p.m. at Mountain Lodge in Mountain Village and 3rd Wednesday of the month 6 p.m. at an announced location in Telluride. Check the club's FB page/Instagram @telluriderotary for details/updates.

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