Ray Coysn is a resident of Saratoga and after retiring from tech he went back to school and obtained a Masters Degree from San Jose State in American History. His passion is railroad history. He will regale us about the wonders of the Peninsular Interurban. We will hear about this electric interurban which knit together the major towns of the South Bay. Ray will take you back to a time when the car was in its infancy. A better way other than horseback, was needed in order to get from town to town. Something had to be done to bring the little villages into the 20th century and as you will find that something was The Big Red , the Peninsular Interurban fast , clean and never on time.
Ann Cleaver introduced Samantha (Sam) Srivatsan, one of the 2 students sponsored by Youth Services to attend this summer's Tech Trek- a camp where young women are able to explore STEM opportunities. She focused on Aerospace Engineering and described a full week's activities including various projects, an Astronomy night and meeting women in STEM professions. Check out some of their activities and pictures here.
Your fellow Cupertino Rotarians, Alysa Sakkas and PP, Larry Dean, were recognized earlier this Summer as outstanding citizens by the City of Cupertino. Alyssa received the Lifetime Achievement Award for her work with the Sister Cities, Rolling Hills 4H and recognition for the Presidential Achievement Award. Larry was recognized as the Individual of the Year for his work with Walk-Bike Cupertino and promoting the development of a safer biking and walking environment. Videos of the presentations can be seen at these links: Alysa's Video, Larry's Video.
Alyssa and Larry follow a long list of Cupertino Rotarians who have made up a prominent segment of awardees over the past 25 years. (See the list here) . Congratulations to Alyssa and Larry - and to all of you Rotarians who will no doubt be recognized for your community contributions in the years to come!
Join us at the Northwest YMCA after our meeting on August 29th to give the gift of life and donate a pint of blood. It's easy and will help save someone's life. Blood donations are from 1:30-5:00 PM and you can drop in or make an appointment. Let's Lead by Example and make a donation.Our Rotary partner, De Anza College, is offering a 2 year Mandarin language and culture class and wants our Rotary members to know they are welcome to sign up. The program is great for anyone who wants to learn the basics of Mandarin. Classes begin on 9/24. If you have any questions contact Hua-Fu Liu (liuhuafu@fhda.edu) 408.864.5324
Maggie introduced our speaker, John Duhring (fellow Rotarian), who spoke on the evolving needs from education to prepare students for the workforce and the approach that Cogswell College is taking. Check out the link here to view his entire presentation.
John pointed out that although Elementary and High Schools have changed with the times to address workplace needs that colleges are lagging behind. He also pointed out that half of enrolled college students would not complete the degree so something needs to change. In addition less than 30% of students utilize their degree in their careers.
John focused on the need for more collaboration and teamwork amongst students to build the needed skills and also and that colleges should use the "Athlete" model to help improve success. Athletes first learn the techniques, then the language of their sport, focus on teamwork and finally their achieved result. John also then discussed examples of 4 students that followed a path of evolving their interest and skills to find a satisfying and successful career based on the basic skills they had learned at Cogswell.
President Helene called the meeting to order
Pledge: Tim Widman
Inspiration: Jennifer Chan suggested we stop focusing on the negatives and follow the lead of President Helene and Celebrate each of our individual success. It will make for a more inspiring and beneficial outlook on life
President's Club: PP Judy joined in honor of her long-time friends birthday (President Helene) who has been a real inspiration to her in getting involved with the sister city program. She also joined in honor of her guests from sister city Copertino, Italy.
Announcements:
Leon Davis announced the upcoming blood drive on August 29th. Give the gift of life at the YMCA.
Meredith Smith announced the CEEF 5K Run for great schools and invited members to join in the fun run or become a sponsor. Lear more at ceefcares.org.
Leslie Hay reminded everyone of the upcoming Global Elegance (click here to sign up). on September 9th at Hakone Gardens. Its a great way to celebrate the end of summer and support our International programs.
PP Judy Wilson described the process for nominations for the upcoming leadership team, the nominating committee and the process. She invited any member who is interested to contact PP Hsing Kung or herself to express interest or nominate other members to help lead the club.
George Denise spoked on the upcoming Fall Festival. This is an all hands on deck event that helps raise money for our club. The volunteer signups so far have been very positive but we need to fill all the slots. Contact Jim Gibson to sign up if you haven't already. jimgib007@aol.com
In honor of National Relaxation day Sunil Nethisinghe spoke on the sense of peace and the reduced stress that can come from meditation and being mindful. Sunil talked about the current Mindfulness Affinity group and how successful they have been. John Hirokawa came up and explained it a bit and how well it had worked. Sunil will be starting a new group so contact him if you are interested. He ended with a great meditation exercise we can all practice at home.
President Helene announced that this was the first Bike to Rotary meeting (it will be the 3rd meeting of every month) and invited all those that rode to come up and be recognized and receive a pin and an energy bar to help them with the ride home. She is hoping the number of riders will increase each month.
The following information is for club members with articles to submit to the Rotator.
Deadline for Article Submission: To help the editors in the work they do, please plan to make your submissions by the end-of-the-day Thursday. Please email them to cupertinorotary@gmail.com. Later submissions might be deferred to the next week's Rotator, depending on how far along the editor is in processing the meeting and program staff reporting for the current week.
Our outstanding editors are assigned as follows: First Wednesday - Gary Latshaw; Second Wednesday - Stuart Rosenberg; Third Wednesday - Stuart Rosenberg ; Fourth Wednesday - Padma Chari Fifth Wednesday - Peter Troop.
Our highly esteemed meeting reporters are assigned as follows: First Wednesday - Julie Griswold; Second Wednesday -OPEN; Third Wednesday - Josh Selo; Fourth Wednesday - Bill Wilson;; Fifth Wednesday Byron Rovegno
