Club Meeting- June 13, 2017
Club Meeting June 13, 2017
Opening and Welcome: President Jackie Guzie opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and the recitation of the Rotary Four-Way Test. Luis Lee gave the invocationand led the singing of “God Bless America”.
Members Present: Dale Baker, Joe Blake, Gayle Demko, Jed Dery, Greg DeSantis, Frank DiGennaro, Natalie Donais, Jackie Guzie, Greg Heineman, Richard Kisiel, Jon Kozloski, Luis Lee, Robert Lowell, Don Miner, Cat Morrow, Jack Muska, Paul Pace, Jay Presser, Charles Roumas and Thomas Sullivan (20/35….57.1%).
Guests: Rotary Student of the Month Amelia Picard, supported by her mother Dawn and sister Claire. Also present were our three Suffield students chosen for the Rotary Youth Leadership event (RYLA): Millie Kochman-Sabbatino, Evan Mankowski, and Olivia Murphy.
Announcements:
-Jackie Guzie reminded members of the upcoming Paul Harris Award Dinner on June 27 at the Suffield by the River locale. Tickets are $25 each, and a menu selection was passed around to members present. Please RSVP re members and their guests to Jackie in advance for proper kitchen prep and guest count. This is a fun evening dedicated to honoring our service award winners within the club and the community. It is also the night the new slate of board members and officers is officially announced and presented for the 2017/2018 fiscal year, which commences July 1.
-Foundation Chair Jay Presser was offering a last call to members for donation to the annual Foundation Giving Campaign. He was very pleased to convey that Rotary International has been integral to the reduction of globally diagnosed new cases of polio in the late 1980’s of over 200,000 to just 35 cases this past year! Our goal of global eradication of this terrible disease is almost complete.
-Cat Morrow wanted to remind members that the Packard Golf Tourney on August 11is detailed on social media on Facebook. Those members on Facebook are implored to “Like” our club page and reply there via a click regarding one’s attendance or participation at the tournament.
Program: We had two important programs this evening:
- President Jackie Guzie and RSOM Coordinator Natalie Donais were pleased to introduce and congratulate Amelia Picard as June 2017 Rotary Student of the Month!
Amelia began by thanking her very supportive family and our membership. While grateful, she referred to the award as bittersweet because it marked the end of a wonderful experience at SHS. Her passions included the art of debating, and also school government, where she learned the “art of compromise” as President. Amelia thrives on areas that take her out of her comfort zone; she managed the Boys’ Varsity Soccer Team and became a business owner related to her love of photography. Among her achievements was succeeding as President of National Honor Society, and ascending from that to become Vice President at the State level at a recent leadership conference.
The aspirations of this driven professional are lofty but very achievable. Amelia will be enrolled in a Biomedical Engineering program at UCONN where she can graduate with a Master’s Degree in just a five year period. She is also considering law school subsequently, specifically to study patent law. This will no doubt solidify her knowledge on how to patent any discoveries by her or colleagues during her biomedical training.
Questions from the audience revealed that her favorite SHS teacher was Mr. Kevin Courchesne, and her only constructive feedback for the school was to incorporate more school spirit into its curriculum and activities. Congratulations again Amelia!
- Three SHS Interact members were selected as our Rotary Club annual Youth Leadership representatives at the District Conference. RYLA awardees are Millie Kochman-Sabbatino, Evan Mankowski, and Olivia Murphy. These three talented sophomores took turns describing their Leadership Training day recently at Springfield College. They were asked to complete an adventure course containing exercises to test and develop situational leadership and adaptation skills. Each was part of a team of other students; often they were asked to work together with their respective teams to accomplish tasks without verbal communication. Establishing trust, challenging rules/assumptions, and thinking way outside the box were all part of the problem-solving skills learned.
Lastly, Natalie Donais was very pleased to announce that Millie Kochman-Sabbatino had been selected at day’s end to represent our RYLA region at the National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin next June! Evan Mankowski has been selected as an alternate for this event. Our club members are delighted for the students’ successful experience and also look forward to their volunteering with us at our Packard Tourney this August.
Blue Ticket Winners: Jackie Guzie had the winning blue ticket, with sides won by Paul Paceand Cat Morrow.
Queen of Hearts: Dick Kisiel had the winning ticket, but did not select the Queen of Hearts. Next week’s pot is $341+.
Birthdays and Anniversaries: Jed Dery was serenaded with a rousing rendition of the “Happy Birthday Song” by all club members and guests.
Adjournment: Jackie Guzie adjourned the meeting, deciding Jed’s birthday serenade was a fitting end to the meeting.
The next meeting is June 20, 2017. It will be preceded by a Board Meeting, but no formal agenda for the regular meeting has yet been announced.
Minutes recorded by Charles Roumas, Secretary on June 13, 2017.