Rotary District 6420 Governor Dave Emerick stopped in Sycamore to update our club on the new Rotary year.  Emerick said being District Governor is “the honor of my life.”  Emerick belongs to the East Moline-Silvis club and is Vice President at Blackhawk Bank in the Quad Cities.  He has a DeKalb County connection coming to Northern Illinois University in 1985.  He said he later got elected to the Student Senate on the “John Lennon” ticket and helped bring the red and white color scheme to buses and inaugurate late night ride service while serving on the Mass Transit Advisory Board.

 

Emerick took time to review the hope-focused agenda of Rotary International President Gordon McInally.  He began by talking about McInally’s theme “Create Hope in the World” and the bold colors in its logo.  Emerick says those bold colors hopefully translate into a bright reflection of the spirit of Rotary in local clubs.  International areas of focus are health (especially mental health), peace (such as humanitarian actions), and diversity, equity, and inclusion (including empowering women and girls).  He also noted potential action by the World Health Organization that may make a declaration of the world being polio-free possible in the next year to year-and-a-half.

 

Emerick says he is continuing the district focus on the five-year plan unveiled last year.  For membership, the goal is a net one new club in the district plus a new Rotaract club.  There are also benchmarks for women members and members under 40 years old.  For Foundation support he promoted the “Every Rotarian Every Year” giving plan along with overall increases in number and amounts of Foundation giving (both at 10%) plus continued support for the Polio plus fund.  Public Image remains a focus with Emerick reminding the club to promote its good works so others feel compelled to become a part of it.  He also stressed the need to be 100% compliant with current branding standards.  Emerick says there is a district-wide focus on Service that helps food pantries.  The goal is to have each member donate 20 pounds or more worth of foodstuffs to help a pantry.  Operationally, Emerick says district leadership is committed to keeping dues as low as possible while still making a community impact.  A special finance committee was created and works with Treasurer Steve Kuhn (Past District Governor and Sycamore Rotarian).  Emerick says there is some extra grant money available to clubs that was originally part of a distribution from the pandemic.  He also stressed the need for successor planning to fill club and district leadership posts.  Emerick announced that this year’s district conference will be held April 26 and 27 in Moline.

 

Emerick concluded his remarks with a motivational quote from polio vaccine pioneer Dr. Jonas Salk, who said, “Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.”

Career technical education and alternative education offerings are available to area high school students thanks to the Kishwaukee Education Consortium explained Executive Director Tom Crouch at this week’s Rotary meeting.  Crouch said the consortium is made up of students from Sycamore, DeKalb, Genoa, Hiawatha, and Rochelle High Schools.  He said there is record enrollment this year with about 500 youth in some type of trade or technical training program and another approximately 125 youth in their alternative education program (replacing a traditional school learning environment).  The programs lead to certifications and/or college credits.

 

There are multiple sites for the Consortium’s training according to Crouch.  Their main building is on the campus of Kishwaukee College, but Crouch says they have links with as many as 900 satellite sites for up to 21 different types of training.  He said “barbering” is a recently added certification with high interest.  Other programs with traditionally high interest are EMT training, nursing, and criminal justice training.  Their welding program recently relocated to expanded space provided by Innovative Growers Company in Sycamore.  Another program related to building trades is relocating to the same industrial complex and students will be constructing a so-called “Tiny House”.  In previous years, they built a traditional house but this limited some of the types of work the students could undertake.

 

Crouch said graduation rates remain high, mainly because of the special career interest their programs offer.  Funding comes from state and federal sources and per student reimbursements from the participating school districts.  He added that they are always looking for skilled instructors to meet the growing demand for trade and certificated job career paths.