On October 16, 2026 the Minden Rotary Club Foundation was pleased to present checks to six Grant Applicants. With a focus on helping the most deserving children in Douglas County the Foundation considered each request based on need, number of students impacted, benefits and each grant application.

Foundation Board member, Marsha Leeg, presented the first check to the Principal and Vice Principals of Pau-Wa-Lu school. Jennifer Worthington accepted the check that will go towards expanding the “Student of the Month” program. With funds from the Rotary Foundation a $25 gift certificate will be given to one boy and one girl selected by teachers for their outstanding citizenship and efforts.  Pau-Wa-Lu school is the only Title One school in Douglas County. That designation means that at least 40% of  students qualify for financial assistance. 

The next two Grant recipients were also from Pau-Wa-Lu. Angela Goff, head of the Band Program, requested a Grant for the purchase of a tuba. Who would have known that the cost of a tuba is upwards of $4500? The Grant from Rotary Foundation represents a partial purchase of this sum. Music is especially important for Title One School students as music provides the opportunity to expand a brain’s capacity in countless ways. 

Reading Specialist teacher, Valerie Wilkinson, received a Grant to help purchase the specialized books and reading materials for students in the K-5^th grade. Valerie’s young learners struggle with reading and require specific types of books that offer techniques for de-coding language.

Aspire High School’s principal, Alecia Rohde, welcomed the Grant money to help buy shirts and sweatshirts for students with financial needs. Students at Aspire all wear uniforms to school in order to reduce competition, promote equality and focus on learning. Principal Rohde said that often times the sweatshirts students wear are the warmest clothing in some student’s wardrobe. 

Corey Thacker from Douglas High School received Grant money for the Sports Medicine program. The specific need was for Athletic Tape. Tape(s) are used in multiple sizes and vast quantities for the important work of stabilizing joints including: shoulders, arms, elbows, wrists, fingers, legs, ankles and toes. 

Denille Miller, the Douglas High School’s Media Specialist, was given a Grant for the Literacy Project. With funds from the Foundation a specialized program for book marks will be purchased to help strengthen and annotate books. Students will be able to use these coded bookmarks as guidelines to improve literacy and understanding.

On October 16, 2026 the Rotary Club of Minden welcomed the day’s speaker, Mr. Bill McGillis, from the University of Nevada. Mr. McGillis serves as the Senior Advisor for Nevada Athletics, managing the Wolf Pack’s game-day efforts and external operations. By overseeing marketing and communications for the Athletic Department, Bill makes the case for driving the fan and game experience.  Drawing on his vast experiences as athletic director at University of San Diego, Southern Mississippi and the University of Evansville, as well as senior advisor to A.D.’s at seven different schools, Bill brings a wealth of knowledge to Nevada. As he stated with pride his goal is to “Share the gospel of the Wolf Pack.”

Bill spoke on the moniker of the University of Nevada, which proudly belongs to the first and original “flagship institution” in Reno. However, once the “southern” campus became established and grew the legislature stepped in and dubbed the University of Nevada with it’s current three initial name of UNR and the southern school in Las Vegas as UNLV. The University of Nevada boasts 18 division one teams (10 women’s, 7 men’s and 1 co-ed team). Which team is co-ed, you might ask. Why it’s skiing. All of these teams combine to make up approximately 400 student athletes with a 56 million dollar budget, climbing toward 60 million.

Bill happily gave some statistics about those 400 athletes: they average a 3.3 GPA, with the exception of the Women’s Golf team who earned a 3.9 average! Besides being athletes at the top of their game, they are outstanding individuals who last year gave over 10,000 hours of community service. Those stats speak volumes to Nevada’s student athlete’s character and focus. 

Also contributing to the positive atmosphere at the University is President Brian Sandoval. Bill said that during his career in college athletics he’s worked with 14 College presidents. Nevada is blessed to have Sandoval’s leadership and commitment to the student athletes and athletic programs.

Looking forward Nevada athletics is on a trajectory to becoming a winning program in more than grades and character. Athletic Director, Stephanie Rempe’s, initiative to make Reno “Nevada’s College Town” has solid support from the Board of Directors, the Board of Regents and President Sandoval. They are all working in unison with Bill McGillis and staff who are 100% committed to making improvements which can be seen throughout the campus and through a commitment to hiring top coaching and student  talent. The University has partnered with the Grand Sierra Resort, securing funds from Reno City Council and Redevelopment. The new 10,000+ seat GSR arena will be the future home of the men’s Wolf Pack Basketball team and also potential action by the Women’s team. Other needed improvements in the works or completed: a new indoor fieldhouse under construction, new turf at Mackay Stadium and resurfaced track, updated facilities at Cashell Fieldhouse, locker room updates, fully staffed Sports Medicine and Academic office all giving support to student athletes.

After this season, Men’s Basketball Coach Steve Alford, will retire. Coach Alford is one of two coaches in NCAA history to take six different teams to the NCAA Tournament. Thanks to Coach Alford’ leadership, the team will see the return of four of the top five players from last year, including the 6’10” star, Elijah Price. A nationwide search for Alford’s replacement is underway. Fans can rest assured that the team will have a great replacement for the next year.

Bill spoke on the subject of the transfer portal for college athletes similar to “free agency” in professional sports, which came about because of a court decision.  Today a college athlete can transfer anywhere at any time. In order to put a lid on this volcano and the chaos in collegiate sports today, a bill in Congress, the Protect College Athletes, is now being debated. Sadly, another court case was lost to further corrupt the pure intent of college athletics. This one has given collegiate athletes the opportunity to receive compensation for name, image and likeness contracts from advertisers, plus pay from their respective colleges. To remain competitive, University of Nevada now has a line item in the budget for player’s compensation. In order to retain top players at UNR a commitment has been made to remain “competitive” and to make the athletes feel comfortable to stay at Nevada while being lured by other schools offering more money.

The future is bright for the Wolf Pack based upon the schools commitments and the coaching commitments to the athletes for this year and for the years ahead, thanks to Bill McGillis and the leadership at the University of Nevada.

Minden Rotary meets Thursdays at the COD Casino Garage in downtown Minden from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. Come join us for fellowship, great speakers and local projects focused on at-risk youth.