The Greatest Zoom Rotary Club in the World: Santa Clara
Meeting Recap: July 16, 2020
Mike Sellers, President and Zoom Coordinator
Bob Ricks, Humble Scribe for the Leadership
Speaker: Dr. Stella Kemp
SCUSD Superintendent
Attendance: We had 41 SC Zoomers and guests online today. If you do not know how to Zoom please call Mike Sellers in confidence and he will show you how. If you do not have a computer, just read this bulletin until the crisis is over. If you are not aware of any crisis turn on your TV or radio. There are plenty of disasters to watch but Covid-19 is still #1.
Greeting and Pledge of Allegiance: Ted Moorhead got the meeting started with a great shout out to all Zoomers. Watana Heang led the group in the pledge. There was no kneeling and Walt Marwitz (was in Vietnam before Keech) did stand up as we only saw his belt buckle on the Zoom.
Inspiration: Ted Moorhead stepped up with an inspiration for all of us:
“The trouble with having no goal is that you can run up and down the field all your life and never score”.
Visitors: Welcome to our two visitors today: Jenny Flores for a repeat visit and Anthony Becker for his first visit. We hope to see both of you again.
President’s message to the Club: President Mike reminded all members that we are entering a very political time in our country’s life. Covid-19, community unrest and a presidential election to name just a few. All of us have personal opinions and groups we support. This is great and this is the essence of America. Having said that, Mike wanted to remind all members that the Rotary Club of Santa Clara is NOT political. We are here to honor the Four Way Test, do great things and serve our community. We celebrate diversity and abhor racism of any kind. This has always been the case at TGRCITW. Our main objective stays the same: Leave personal partisan politics at the Rotary door and focus on helping our community. Mike will keep that in mind at all meetings and looks for membership support.
Thanks! President Mike had a special thanks for John Mlnarik’s behind the scenes work on making these Zoom meetings run smoothly.
Birthdays and Anniversaries:
PP Dave Delozier had another birthday on July 12. We have posted notices on milk cartons looking for Dave to congratulate him. One day he will return. These retired insurance guys can only go lost so long.
Ann Watts celebrated her birthday on July 14 along with all the French people and Joe “free tire rotation with oil change” Hart will celebrate on July 17 by washing the Lexus car of any Rotarian if they can find Joe between the hours of 9 to 9:30 am. Both were missing in action today on the Zoom.
Dave Cowan has been a member of the club for three years and has been a great contributor from Day One.
Amazing! PP Stan Chinchin and Diane will celebrate 72 Years of marriage on July 19. Let me repeat that, it is not a typo. 72 Years! Congratulations to both!
Then the missing PP Dave Delozier and Heidi will celebrate 42 years on July 22. If Dave shows up on a Zoom, Keech will introduce him to those of you who do not know him.
Announcements:
A few comments on this slide: The food distribution, Art and Wine Festival, Parade of Champions and 7/25 BBQ at President Mike’s house have been canceled thanks to Covid concerns. Mike’s BBQ will be rescheduled as soon as possible. This will be a social event in lieu of a regular meeting.
The Stanford Blood Drive on July 31 is still on. The van will be parked at John Mlnarik’s Law Office on that date. Please contact John with questions on how to participate.
President Mike has an updated District email and phone list he can get to members as requested.
PP Colleen Noll will be coordinating a Red Badge Mentor meeting for all current red badgers and potential mentors with a Zoom meeting from 6 to 7 pm on July 22. The Red Badgers will soon be hearing from Colleen to get them in the loop for the Zoom.
Speaker: Our speaker today was Dr. Stella Kemp, Superintendent of the Santa Clara School System and fellow Santa Clara Rotarian. Lorenzo Rios also wanted me to let all members know that she graduated from the University of Texas at Austin.
Stella’s presentation was on the challenges Santa Clara has faced, and still faces, since the official school closedown on March 17. She noted that all public education is in very difficult, unknown times. Plus education of any kind is a relationship based industry and those relationships have now been altered dramatically due to Covid-19. She went on to detail all the steps the school system is taking to ensure the kids continue to get a great education in this environment. I highly recommend you look up her presentation on Club Runner if you were not on the Zoom. The amount of planning and organization now going on in our school system will amaze you. Great job, Stella.
Next Week: Phil McKinney, CEO of Cable Labs.
Reminder: If you have a WOW speaker that lives 3000 miles away, fret not. Let Andy Ratterman know and he is as good as signed up.