Club President's Message from Trisia Narhi

My Rotary Story:  I joined Rotary in the fall of 2002.  At the time, I was teaching in the School of Business.  In the first couple of weeks at Rotary, I learned The Four Way Test.  Coincidentally, news media at the time was buzzing with Enron and Arthur Anderson scandals and there was pressure on business faculty to introduce the concepts of Ethics.  I was not sure how to do that.  A light bulb got turned on after learning about the Rotary Four Way Test.  I was teaching a course in project management and picked a case that dealt with unethical behavior by a few actors and introduced students to the topic of ethical behavior using the Four Way Test.

What does the Four Way Test tell us?  Think of the consequences of any action you are contemplating before taking the action.  The Four Way Test offers some guidelines to evaluate quality of actions as well as consequences.  Deconstructed the for steps as possible:

•  First two steps:  Think action (say or do) - truthfulness and fairness
• Last two steps:  Think consequences - friendship, goodwill and benefits
• Add the following assertion to the discussion
• "All ethical actions are legal, but not all legal actions are ethical"
• The result was that the Four Way Test made my job of introducing students to ethical behavior much easier.

Also, I learned in the first few Rotary meetings the concept of Service Above Self.  This reminded me of Karma Yoga (you can look it up on the internet) and a quote by Gandhi, "To find yourself you must lose yourself in service to others."  With that in the first few weeks after joining, I was sold on Rotary.

My approach and initiatives as President for 2013-2014 Rotary year:

As the president-elect, I attended the President Elect Training Seminar (PETS) and district meetings.

A new wind is blowing in Rotary and it is called flexibility.

We are already flexible in many ways by happenstance.  Just examine our bylaws and the way we conduct our business in general.  The question is then:  Can we be flexible by design?  Here we are talking about flexibility to achieve our implicit or explicit goals in the areas of Membership, Leadership and Service.

We will think seriously and take a few baby steps.  We welcome any ideas from all of you.  Implementation simplicity will be a criteria to evaluate any initiatives.

Membership:  We are looking into taking some baby steps in the area of corporate membership.  President Elect Trisia Kappler will lead efforts in this area.

Leadership:  We are looking at ways to create incentives for new members to get on the path of leadership.  We are considering a leadership award to recognize a relatively new member.  A suggested criteria may be somebody who has been a member for two to four years who has shown significant leadership potential.  The recognition may be in the form of donating $100 toward a Paul Harris in his or her name.

The Big Picture:  We will seek direction from our vision statement and simultaneously seek guidance from Rotary International's 2013-2014 Presidential Citation and recently release 10 District Goals to evaluate or plan accomplishments over the entire year.  I believe we can do that.

International:

• In 2012-2013 we participated in a grant project with the not-for-profit organization CardioStart in Uganda coordinated by Ann Clancy-Klemme.  We hope to continue to support this project.
• A new initiative is under consideration for a sanitation project in Ghana.  The project was presented to us by Ambassadorial Scholar Sarah Ehlinger at one of our meetings in May.  We are hoping to partner our District 6220 and District 6720 to support this sanitation project.  Cindy Enderby is coordinating this project. 

The Rotary Foundation:  We will continue to emphasize The Rotary Foundation goals by emphasizing membership in our Gundlach Society, Every Rotarian Every Year (EREY), and Polio Plus.

Polio Plus:  This year we will donate $10 for 20 Polio vacanations in honor of each of our weekly speakers.  That will demonstrate our continuing commitment to support Polio Plus.

Rotary Story:  Once a month we will feature a member's Rotary Story at a meeting.  A Rotarian will be asked to narrate his or her Rotary story in two or three minutes.  The Rotary Story will be about some experience by a Rotarian in a service activity or inspired by Rotary.

Vocation or Craft Story:  New members will be asked to narrate their vocation in a way to inform others about what they do in their career.

Webpage:  The Board has approved to work with ClubRunner.  The goal is to develop a website that will not require an I.T. expert to maintain and update.

Community Development:  Houghton Rotary has received a District Grant for $7,500 for Houghton Waterfront Access & Grilling Station. The grant was secured through the efforts of Past President Carrie Richards and Foundation Chair Scott Blake.

New Service Initiative:  This is my next story.  I became interested serendipitously.  We were on our way to San Francisco last December 2012.  I was standing in line at the back.  A middle aged lady struck up a conversation and appeared to be distraught.  She narrated the struggle her daughter was going through due to Cyber Bullying.  I thought about it ever since.  I did some research on the internet and tried to find if any other Rotary clubs were doing anything and I checked at PETS and on the internet.  I did find that a few clubs were dealing with bullying, but not with Cyber Bullying. 

We all have children or grandchildren.  As they grow, their biology begins to interact with an environment that is defined more and more by the influence of social technologies. Their senses of safety, belonging and self-worth are affected, many times in very undesirable ways.  I would like to see Houghton Rotary Club take vocal and visible stand against Cyber Bulling.  It lends an opportunity for a Rotary club to create a positive campaign in our community.

I did find one interesting recommendation on the internet during my research at http://changeagentgroup.typepad.com/innovate_rotary.  It suggested adapting the Four Way Test as follows:

Of the things we think, say, do, email, text, instant message, video tape, impersonate, tweet, post, share, or tag

1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it  build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

These principals could save a generation.

We can work with Interact and Rotaract.  We can encourage and support these groups to work on projects that they can work to spread the message of stopping Cyber Bullying.  We may also work with the local Youth Advisory Council (YAC) at the Keweenaw Community Foundation.  This Rotary Story narrative is still in the works.

In conclusion, my Rotary friends, as we enter the new year of Roaary, let us together continue to show the community and the world that "There is incredible value in being of service to others."

Engage Rotary and Touch Lives!