Chartered in 1967, Madison South Rotary is a group of friendly professionals who value the Rotary motto “Service Above Self.”
While contributing to Rotary International’s worldwide projects, we also support Madison area students through scholarships and fund dozens of local nonprofits through our Foundation's Grant program.
Our club meets on Mondays for lunch 12:00 - 1:15 pm at
Madison College Goodman South Campus
2429 Perry Street (2nd Floor)
Madison, WI 53713
We enjoy fellowship, networking, a delicious catered lunch, and an informative, engaging presentation.
We celebrated our Presidents' Luncheon with 17 of the 58 leaders who have served Madison South Rotary since 1967.
Front Row L to R - Tara Ingalls, Lisa Gits, Peter Williams, Glenn Rindfleisch, Jacci See, Dean Rugotska, and Don Taylor
Back Row L to R - Alan Selene, Randy Sproule, Mike Dillis, Steve Busalacchi, Ted See, Adam Peck, Bob Gorsuch, George Croal, Dan Millmann, and Steve Fine.
Chris Gomez-Schmidt joined us today to talk about Galin Scholars. The mission of Galin Scholars is to increase access to college preparation for high school students with strong academic potential who are from low-to-middle income families and from a broad range of demographic groups underrepresented in college. Galin Scholars selects 4-6 students finishing 10th grade to join their program for the next two years. Program activities include: college counseling, ACT tutoring, academic tutoring, connections to extracurricular opportunities (internships, research, academic programs), financial aid workshop, college visits, transition to college workshop and networking/connections assistance. Students completing this program are attending UW Madison, Northwestern, Marquette, Chicago University and many more colleges. If you would like to learn more about Galin Scholars, their website is: www.galinscholars.org
Public Health expert Ed Belongia, MD, confirmed the efficacy of vaccines, affirming that “they've had an amazing, dramatic effect of saving hundreds of millions of lives.” He noted that the small pox vaccine, in particular, is “among the greatest public health achievements.” Dr. Belongia is a retired vaccine specialist who practiced at the Marshfield Clinic for nearly three decades and served on a prestigious national panel that reviewed vaccines for safety and effectiveness. The current administration fired all of the members of that committee and has prevented an already approved review of the COVID-19 vaccine that found it effective from being published.
Given the wildly successful history of vaccines, Dr. Belongia says “vaccine hesitancy” unfortunately, is more common today, partly because politics has entered the fact, and evidence-based world of science. Much of the misinformation was fueled by skepticism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ironically, that occurred even though Belongia says that COVID-19 vaccine was produced quickly and effectively, saving “many millions of lives.”
One of public health's greatest challenges is thwarting the efforts of anti-vaccine groups. Dr. Belongia says they are weaponizing public reporting systems designed to investigate problems people might be having with vaccines. He says our monitoring system works very well. but is now being impeded by anti-science activists.
After his presentation, Dr. Belongia urged everyone to discuss vaccine effectiveness with their family doctors to assure they are getting the protection necessary to remain healthy.
Kathy Siebert and Ginny Olson Share Their Life Stories
After nearly 35 years in Rotary, Kathy Siebert has some advice for fellow Rotarians: Get involved! Kathy says the club is much more rewarding when you volunteer and get to know fellow club members better. She helped the club get to know her better by telling us about her upbringing. She was one of 6 kids who grew up in a large, beautiful home in Michigan. Her father was a brain surgeon. Kathy followed his medical lead and became a pediatric nurse. But she got restless in that career and applied for a job posted by a guy named Terry. He hired her and later married her, too! They ran a Dale Carnegie speaking business for many years and really enjoyed the experiences. In retirement, they've done a lot of traveling, with Italy being their favorite destination. Kathy and Terry have a large family with many beautiful grandchildren.
Equally beautiful grandchildren are what brought Ginny Olson to Madison. Her daughter lives in the area and is an attorney at Epic Systems. Raised in Chicago, her “favorite city,” Ginny met an insurance guy named Don when she was just a teen. The two hit off and built a life together. Ginny became a teacher and earned her Master's in Mathematics. Like Kathy, Ginny is a big traveler, having been to England, Ireland, Australia, France and Sweden (multiple times). She's a big reader and participates in three book clubs. Ginny's claim to fame is nailing a hole-in-one on a 70-yard hole! Ginny became a Rotarian in 2009 in Sturgeon Bay, after founding a Bed & Breakfast there.
Terry and Kathy Siebert's travel talk covered their recent trip to Paris, Nice, Florence, Prague, and Bologna. Beautiful scenery, delectable-looking food, and stunning works of art were captured in photos and Terry's upbeat, story-telling style. Amazingly, in spite of all the gourmet eating and adult beverages, they each lost five pounds! Lots and lots of walking every day.
Through Rotary, police officer Joanne Serkeyn expanded her view of how to make a difference. In July, Serkeyn will become the governor of District 7090
Members of the Rotary Club of Custer, South Dakota, played a role in the construction of the Crazy Horse Monument and continue to support its federation
Program aims to improve living conditions and reduce waterborne disease by 25% in three local government areas in Haiti by 2030