Co-President, Brad Ruth opened this morning's meeting leading in the Pledge of Allegiance. Carrie Leising, Program Host, followed with an inspirational moment about service.
Brad welcomed guests, Emma LaMantia, Mary Parr, Nolan Miller, Jennifer Ostlund, Jimmy Miller and Todd Hearty. Brad also thanked Steve Dunton and Gail Moseley for getting us checked in.
CELEBRATIONS:
Birthdays: Pat Messmore is celebrating his birthday today and new member, Todd Hearty, will celebrate his on May 16.
Wedding Anniversary: Christina and Ethan Gary will celebrate their wedding anniversary on May 17.
50/50 Drawing: John Pribonic had the winning ticket but Carrie Leising pulled the 4 of diamonds.
HAPPY BUCKS:
Don Coughlin told us that his grandson, Will Holland, has received a full ride for tuition for four years to Babson College in Massachusetts. He will be playing ice hockey there.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Board Meeting will be this Friday, May 13 at 7:15 a.m. at City Hall. Minutes of the April meeting are attached to these minutes.
Adopt a Spot: Marty Tass told us that the planting for our spot will be Saturday, May 28 at 10:00 a.m. at the Dough Boy site at the corner of Graham and Darrow Rds. Please let him know you can help at 330-733-3200.
Interact: Mary Dula reported for Interact that their two benches made of recycled plastic caps were transported by Dick Hall to the high school The collection for the caps is still going on, so bring those you save to the meetings.
Club Interact expressed their appreciation to the club for sponsoring their Senior Night.
They participated at the Foodbank this month and sorted 522 lbs. of pasta which will provide 604 meals.
The Teachers' Supply Closet is ready. The club will be able to fill weekly requests from the teachers. Thanks to Carrie Leising for getting this project started.
They toured Ronald McDonald House and delivered the 120 tied blankets they made along with the 290,478 tabs they have collected.
They have the coasters ready for Heroes' Day. Club Interact does such great work for our community under the leadership of Advisor, Dinah Henderson, and a great group of officers.
Heroes' Day: Jeff Film reported that everything is ready for Heroes' Day this Saturday. Friday evening the materials will be sorted into groups so that the drivers can pick them up and deliver them on Saturday morning. Jeff has plenty of drivers with thanks to the club. Interact will help with the preparations on Friday. Thanks to Eric Weber for the cards to go with the donations and to Leslee Salhany for securing the donation of the plants from the Petitti's corporate location.
Golf Outing: Steve Dunton has 50/50 raffle tickets for the outing. They cost $5.00 per ticket or 5 tickets for $20. A flier about the outing and to sign people up to play golf is attached to these minutes. Thirty golfers are registered already. We also still need $25.00 gift cards and golf balls to use as prizes.
Bulldog Bags: If you are going to support Bulldog Bags this month, they would appreciate your donation by Friday. Collection items this time are cups of mac and cheese, juice boxes and money for sunscreen.
INDUCTION CEREMONY:
Carrie Leising led in the induction ceremony to welcome Todd Hearty and Mary Parr as new members. Todd's sponsor is Brad Ruth and Mary's is Mary Dula. Todd has been a Stow resident for 20 years, turns 50 this weekend and will have 3 kids in college in the fall. Mary grew up in Iowa but has lived in Stow since 1999. She has two adult daughters and is a professor at Kent State. We will look forward to getting to know these new members, and are glad they are here.
PROGRAM: Carrie Leising introduced Jimmy Miller, head coach of the Speech and Debate Program at the high school. He graduated from the program in 2013 and has also gone on to become an adjunct professor at the School of Media and Journalism at Kent State. This year's team has seen two straight years of top-ten finishes in the state. This year the team qualified 10 students to the NSDA National Tournament, the highest tally in program history. They will compete in Louisville, Ky. in June and so are in the midst of a lot of fundraising and practicing right now. Jimmy then introduced the three winners of the Rotary Four-Way Speech Contest at Stow High School.
The first student who spoke was Jennifer Ostlund, who talked with us about cell phone issues, and came to her conclusions using the four-way test. Although cell phones are often very handy, there are issues that can cause problems for both teens and adults. Depending on how they are used, issues of sleeplessness, neck and back strains, and mental health issues can all be traced back to phone habits. On the positive side, phones are often the first way we make a connection to another person.
Emma LaMantia then shared with us how crucial arts education is to having a complete knowledge base Whether the arts are visual, musical, theatrical or involve dance, they each work to build self-confidence, are problem-solving tools and encourage self-expression. It is amazing to her that with all of the benefits, some schools would make budget cuts in these areas. Music has been shown to improve memory and encourage teamwork. Visual arts balance language with sight and create better communication. Dance is an excellent physical activity and theater can help both social awareness and self-esteem. Emma feels that it is crucial that arts education be available for all students.
Nolan Miller talked about stress as a "Super Villain". It causes us to lose sleep, have weakened immune systems and poor time management. It is, however, a fact of life and we can't avoid it altogether, no matter what our age. Therefore it is crucial to learn to manage our stress in safe and effective ways. A concern is that 60% of teens are using drugs. often prescribed, to manage their stress, while there are other tools that could be learned. Nolan says that there is a Super Hero inside of each of us that can learn to attack this Super Villain.
JOKE: To end the meeting, Tom Loepp told us some really awful one-liners based on observations of society. I am sure he would be glad to share them. John Long will have our joke next week.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Friday, May 13, 7:15 a.m. Board Meeting at City Hall
Wednesday, May 18, 7:30 a.m. Morning meeting at Bellacinos. Judge Lisa Coates will be our speaker.
Saturday, May 28, 10:00 Plant our Adopt-A-Spot
Wednesday, May 25, 7:30 a.m. Morning meeting at Bellacinos
Wednesday, June 1, 4:30-6:30 Volunteer time at the Akron-Canton Foodbank
Monday, June 6, Golf Outing at Silver Lake
Wednesday evening, October 12, Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction at Guys Party Center
Thursday Evening, December 12, Holiday Helping Hands
Submitted by Andy Denton
