From Rotarian Jon's post to our club's FB page: Dr. Jessica Cabak stopped by to let us know how the school year has been in her 1st year as the principal of Two Rivers High School. Before joining Two Rivers, Dr. Cabak spent 13 years in the North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale School District as a teacher, instructional coach, and dean of students. She has extensive experience leading AVID, overseeing district curriculum improvements, and supporting professional development for educators.
As she progresses in this role, Dr. Cabak will focus on sustaining Two Rivers High School’s positive momentum and continuing to build strong relationships with the school community, Jess's main goals/focuses are getting all students ready for their career or college. The programs they have at Two Rivers like Advanced placement, Concurrent enrolment, Almas, PSCO, and CAPS all contribute to this.
Another program to help with this is BARR. Building Assets, Reducing Risks (BARR) is a research based model of student support that we implement with our 9th grade students since the 2023-24 school year. 9th grade students are placed on a team for 2 - 4 of their core classes (Language Arts, Science, Social Studies and/or Math). BARR is a research based model shown to improve academic outcomes and support social emotional learning needs of students particularly as they transition to high school.
Thank you for your direction Jess!!
Pictured below is Ben Kusch, Dr. Jessica Cabak and Peter Olson-Skog:
Wine & Beer raffle fundraiser going on now! Raffle tickets are available from Bob Gullick at meetings now through mid November. The tickets are $10 each. Beer raffle winner gets a Wall of Beer. There are two winners for the wine raffle. Please bring wine and six packs of beer to any upcoming meeting. The drawing will be on our November 19th meeting at the Copperfield restaurant.
No need to clean up Delaware Ave this fall. The street was just resurfaced and looks pretty clean. We'll get it in the spring! We still might be doing a yard clean up!
For more than 100 years, the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International has helped Rotary members advance the mission of Rotary by advancing world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing education, and improving the environment, and alleviating poverty. In 1957, the Rotary Foundation established special recognition known as Paul Harris Fellows to encourage and show appreciation for substantial contributions of $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation.
For many, a $1,000 contribution in a lumpsum can seem like a lot of money, so if you would like to become a Paul Harris Fellow by gradually contributing a $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation, our club is organizing Paul Harris Groups within our club membership. You can join a Paul Harris Group by contributing $100 each quarter through the quarterly dues bill you receive from Bob. Thus, in two and a half years, you will have contributed $1,000 and have become a Paul Harris Fellow. Please Don at dmccall@lethertcpa.com know if you would like to join a Paul Harris Group>
On Saturday, November 15, the Dakota County Braver Angels Alliance will host theFamilies and Politics workshop.
Here is a brief description:Family relationships can become casualties of a toxic political environment. Family members are having bitter political arguments, avoiding each other, or even cutting off lifetime relationships.
If you want to preserve important family bonds while still being true to your values and political beliefs, this in-person workshop will offer you:
Insight into why family differences over politics are uniquely challenging
Recognition of common roles that family members play in political conversations
Strategies and skills for handling family political differences in a constructive way
Although the focus is on family relationships, you can use learnings in this workshop with any loved one. You’ll laugh and have some fun in this workshop—it won’t be all serious. After all, we all come from quirky families
Two reasons to attend:1. It will be presented by Bill Doherty, one of the co-founders of Braver Angels.
I have been in a number of workshops and talks presented by Bill and he does a great job presenting the concepts behind Braver Angels.
2. It is a benefit for The Open Door Pantry which serves over 15,000 residents in Dakota County each month with fresh, healthy food through pantries, mobile programs, and community gardens while working to end local hunger with dignity.
Here is thelinkto register. The donations all go to support The Open Door Pantry. Given the cut in SNAP benefits by the Federal Government, they can use the support.
President - Jennifer Giovinazo; Treasurer - Bob Gullick; Secretary - Dave Hanson; Jon Smale; Susan Hommes; David Miller; Alan Ruvelson; Don McCall; and Past Prez -Val Namen
Rotarian Jon is heading up our club's Fundraising Committee. Please let him know if you have any fundraising ideas and/or would like to join his committee!
We meet at 7:30 Wednesday mornings at Saint Anne’s Episcopal Church located at 2035 Charlton Road, Sunfish Lake, MN 55118. Join us for a continental breakfast with good coffee followed by an engaging program. On even number months, we meet at 7:30a at the Copperfield restaurant in Mendota Heights. (e.g. first Wed in Aug)
