Meeting called to order: 12:11 p.m.
Pledge:
Tom Pyke
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Inspiration: Tom Avakumav: Put self in the mind of a third grade classroom – The Wet Pants Story – a story about the opportunities to do good.
Visiting Rotarians: Canan Sonuh, Los Gatos Rotary and Dick Henning, Los Altos Rotary.
Guests: Linda Millard, Isaiah Nengo (today’s speaker), and Ann Nengo, guests of Brian Murphy; Tara Sreekrishnan, guest of Ann Marie Hogan; Tarun Galagali, guest of PP Hung Wei.
President’s Club:
George Denise celebrated the birth of his first grandson, Gabriel, who was welcomed into the world two weeks ago.
Annie Ho shared a photo of the solar eclipse and her gratefulness to the creator of the earth.
Announcements: PP Bev Lenihan reminded members of the difference between charity and philanthropy. Charity can be crisis- orientated and impulsive. Philanthropy is a broader concept with the goal to systematically solve problems, focus on community, and help many people. She invited Rotarians to learn more at CREF’s upcoming seminar presented by our own philanthropy guru, Jim Jackson, on September 27 from 1:45 – 3:00 p.m.
Crab Feed - PP John Giovanola urged Rotarians to donate a favorite bottle of wine or write a check for $25 made payable to CREF toward the Rotary 2018 Crab Feed Wine Cellar. John Bruzus and Gary Niedermeir are ready to collect wine/checks at our Rotary meetings.
Quilt Wall Hanging Presentation: DeAnza College President Brian Murphy accepted a special quilt wall hanging from Cookie’s Quilters that will be displayed in the main meeting room at DeAnza College.
Personal Talk: Tom Pyke was born on Presidential Inauguration Day – January 20. He is proud to be a cousin of Dwight Eisenhower. He was raised in La Crescenta, California, attended UCLA for undergrad and Hastings Law School. He went backpacking in Europe and worked as an intern in DC before practicing as an attorney and meeting his wife Cathy. They were married in 1995 and moved to Silicon Valley to work with startups. Tom and Cathy have two daughters, Michelle and Jennifer. He enjoyed volunteering at his daughters’ schools and with their sports activities. He now works for Assemblyman Ro Khanna, focusing on constituent services and community outreach.
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Induction: Membership Chair Karen Morris introduced Tarun Galagali and his father Jay. PP Hung Wei is his sponsor. Tarun came to the US from India when he was 4 years old. He attended Monta Vista High School and graduated from Dartmouth College with degrees in English Literature and Economics. He was a field organizer for Ro Khanna. Currently, he enjoys working in the Networking Department at Google, as well as basketball, music, meditation, and politics.
Trivia Contest – President John Zirelli announced that Barbara McArthur gave the correct answer to last week’s trivia question – Jeanne Bradford. This week’s trivia question: I make wine, and I also run half marathons but not when driving my 1955 Studebaker. Who am I?
TODAY’S PROGRAM: Empire of the Apes: Prehuman History and Recent Discoveries. De Anza College President Brian Murphy introduced this week’s speaker, Isaiah Nengo, who is a member of the De Anza faculty. Two themes from today’s talk: education and international understanding and scientific discovery.
Isaiah took a group of 14 students to Kenya this past year where they discovered a significant skull. No other community college has done this type of project.
Isaiah played soccer a lot as a child, loved to read about exploration and discovery. He once heard a rousing debate on the origins of man and it was then he decided he wanted to become a Paleontologist. He attended Harvard, took his first job in Ohio, then moved to California, where he taught high school in East Oakland before he came to DeAnza College. While at DeAnza, he decided to go back to do research in Kenya and look for fossils. Through a research grant, he was able to
take students (four students in 2014, another 4 in 2015, and 14 in 2016) away from what they were familiar with to connect with the universe and local people.
Research work is hard, but teaches patience, perseverance, and persistence. The students met researchers and went to Lake Turkana, an area where there had been a massive volcanic eruption. Searching for fossils, the group was amazed to find an almost fully intact baby ape’s skull. The skull was excavated and x-rayed. From the x-rays of the well-preserved teeth – you can tell the age by the teeth rings – it was determined that the baby was 480 days old.
Much research has been done to answer the question, how did we come to be? One point for consideration is that there used to be 40-100 species of us, now only 6 left. Why is our species lessening?
How have things changed over the years? How will our species evolve?
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