TODAY'S SPEAKER (Wednesday December 6th, 2023): We had the pleasure of having Sherye Weisz (Executive/Artistic Director) and Tori Augusta (Executive Assistant/Program Coordinator) of the SMARTS Collaborative.
Sherye has been involved in the arts and education for over thirty-five years. She took classes as Rhode Island School of Design, was a company member of the nationally known Looking Glass Theatre Company, played flute in state wide groups and continued her creative pursuits at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York; Emerson College, Boston, and University of Calgary, Alberta. She has been the executive/artistic director of SMARTS since 1988. She was on the faculty of Lesley University, Cambridge MA in the Creative Arts in Learning graduate program for 15 years and was president and artistic director of The UnCommon Theatre Company, a local regional children's theatre, for 18 years.
Tori is a practicing artist and has worked with children for over 10 years. She has been with SMARTS since early 2016. She graduated from UMASS Dartmouth in 2012 with a BFA in Design/Photography. Tori was born and raised in Mansfield and is passionate about arts in our community.
Recognized across the Commonwealth since 1986, the Southeastern Massachusetts Arts Collaborative, better known as SMARTS, is a year round organization dedicated to the arts and creativity. SMARTS is a 501 (c)3 organization governed by a board of directors and funded in part by its member districts - Attleboro and Mansfield, MA. SMARTS programs take place during the school year and summer in school and community settings and offer architectural design, creative writing, dance, drama, film/video, instrumental, vocal, and visual arts with a focus on the creative process, developing imagination, and collaboration.
To this day SMARTS operates under the aegis of the following convictions:
Since 1986, SMARTS has provided student and community programs and events, professional development, partnerships and alliances with local, regional, and state educational institutions and strong advocacy for arts education in our schools. SMARTS goals are to enhance the learning process, expand opportunities and student potential, and encourage young people to trust their own vision and voice. SMARTS is concerned with the quality of our society, about creating and maintaining a sense of community and about making learning exciting and accessible to all.
ROTO 
: Fred Woll....but he pulled the 8 of clubs. There are 18 cards left.
GUESTS: None
VISITING ROTARIANS: None
HAPPY BUCKS: Amanda Adams gave $5 for the Holiday Happenings parade. There were approximately a dozen people in attendance.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1. Christmas is for Kids - all of the children have been taken and the gifts can be dropped off at the Emerald Square Mall by December 8th.
2. Rotary Holiday Party is on Wednesday December 13th at the Sweet House.
Fun Fact of the day (water):
Human beings can use only a small fraction of Earth's water. In school, we were taught that most (71%) of the planet's surface is covered in water. While that's true, humans can use only 0.007% of that water, according to National Geographic. That's because only about 2.5% of the Earth's water is fresh water, and only 1% of that is accessible. The rest makes up glaciers and snowfields.
Spanning 2,340 miles, the Mississippi River is the third-largest watershed in the world (trailing the Amazon and Congo Rivers - in fact, it drains 41% of the 48 contiguous states of the United States). That's one long stretch of water. So long, in fact, that it takes one drop of water approximately 90 days to travel its entire length.
Firefighters use wetting agents to make water wetter. The chemicals reduce the surface tension of plain water so it's easier to spread and better soaks into objects, which is why it's known as "wet water". They use sodium lauryl sulfate, quaternary ammonium compounds, and non-ionic surfactants suck as Triton X-100.
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