Our April 10th meeting was held at PeoplesChoice Credit Union. For those of you who went to Run of the Mill how long did it take you to figure out we weren’t there? I did ask Paul Deschambault and he said mistakenly going to the Run of the Mill constitutes a makeup because it is the thought that counted.
While I confess that I was downstairs manning the worlds slowest elevator (I climbed up the outside of the building in less time than it would have taken me to ride the elevator) I understand that we dispensed with most meeting formalities other than the Pledge of Allegiance which they did while looking at the image of an American flag on someone’s cell phone. Really, what’s next watching movies on a phone?
I guess Joe did remember to pull the 50/50 and in an upset Peggy Bean won stopping Jackson’s winning streak at 3 weeks.
Joe did again mention the May 11 (that’s a Saturday) Rise Against Hunger hands on event during which we will help to put together 10,000 meals. The event will be at the Saco Elks Club on the Ocean Park Road starting at 9:00.
Of course, the reason we were at PeoplesChoice is because it was our annual essay contest meeting. A big thanks to Sue Gajewski for picking up food at Panera Bread for the meeting. The spread was very good and with only about 20 Rotarians in attendance there was a lot left over.
Elaine Palmitessa and Brenda Pollack did a great job coordinating the essay contest and running the meeting. We the exception of some confusion related to the winners’ certificates, the event went very smoothly.
The essay contest has as its theme “What Family Means to Me”. Eighth grade students from St. James, TA Middle School, Loranger Middle School, Saco Middle School and Biddeford Middle School write essays on their thoughts on family and they are judged at the school level. The 3 winners from each school are identified and the top winners from each school get to come with their families and teachers to read their essays. A list of all the winners is set forth below. The top winners received $100 from the club, the second place finishers got $75.00 and the third place winners received $50.00 but far more important, each winner received a certificate signed by President Joe. Joe made me write that.
My overall impressions were that the essays were very well written, very creative and well read. With a few exceptions, I found the essays far less likely to invoke tears than essays from past years. Themes revolved around unconditional love, no matter what ( I don’t remember that but I am so old I remember little about my youth); family means far more than a Mom, Dad and siblings and includes friends, aunts (my only aunt was a democrat, need I say more?), uncles, grandparents and boy bands (seriously). A predominant theme throughout the essays was the fact that whoever constitutes your family has your back which is refreshing to hear from young teenagers.
For those who went I hope you were impressed. For those who missed the meeting, you missed some inspiration and a reminder that we have some really good kids who will grow up to take care of us by paying excessively high taxes and perhaps having the right to put us to sleep if the law changes.
And the winners are:
Loranger Middle School
1St Place - Lizzie Johnson
2nd Place – Camryn Blatchford
3rd Place - Alex Nguyen
Thornton Academy Middle School
1st Place – Jack Tripp
2nd Place – Casey Ouellette
3rd Place – Ivy Turbide
Saco Middle School
1st Place – Antonia Farago-Dumsch
2nd Place – Olivia Toppen
3rd Place – Alexyia Talarico
St. James School
1st Place – Marielle Rue
2nd Place – Madisyn Ayers
3rd Place – Rose-Mary Blake
Biddeford Middle School
1st Place – MacKenzie Day
2nd Place – Brittany Baumgardner
3rd Place Cecelia Keller
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