Meeting called to order at 7:15
Thanks to Turner for greeting
Today in history: 1924, first Little Orphan Annie comic strip published; 1962 John Steinbeck is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature; 1978 “Halloween” was released; 2001 Windows XP becomes available
Quote: “Next time you’re afraid to share ideas, remember - someone once said, at a meeting, ‘let’s make a film with a tornado full of sharks.’” - some church sign somewhere
Guests: prospective new member Mona
Student Rotarians: Josh Nordheim and Megyn Ayotte gave us the report in spectacular tag team fashion. Josh has a new haircut for soccer playoffs against Middleburg. He is also doing outreach for FBLA. They enjoyed a recent trip to the Big E, and the had (or are going to have?) the fall FBLA leadership meeting. There is a business management pathway (through FBLA?) which will earn students 9 college credits by the end of the year
New Member Induction: Welcome to Debbie Cox, our newest member
Announcements:
Tristam- met Maria Leonard this past weekend and ironed out the February trip to Honduras. Lisa is working on a quote for the travels, but estimated cost for the entire trip is $900/person
Sadie - community service list is going around, remember to fill out your hours. 1st night of overflow shelter dinners will be in December. The shelter will be at Winston Prouty, and they will be hosting 33 people per night. Leftover food will go to the drop in center the next day
Damon- will be meeting with faculty at BUHS regarding Interact club on Wed, Nov 7 at 3:30; members are welcome to attend
Toni - Sell your Raffle Tickets!! Turn them in ASAP once they are sold. Michelle will email the poster to the club so you can print them out
Jon - offered to host the holiday party, offering a date of December 20
Sandy - organizing a Halloween Road Trip. Meet at Ramunto’s at 7.
Ali - we have a social with the Nooners tomorrow, 10/26, from 5:30-7:30; appetizers will be paid for by the club
CAAAAAHDS: 9 of Hearts, (student Rotarian) Josh wins it
Brags:
Jim M - for his daughter who will be working for Planned Parenthood
Jeff - harkening back to last week’s description of a “bull market”, Jeff attested to the attack methods of a bull by recalling a bull he used to have who left him sore for a week and a half
Kevin - sent out the link for the inaugural episode of Rotary Cares, featuring Empress Michelle. It will be a monthly youtube video show, and Sadie will be a guest on the next edition
Cindy - for her career expo, which attracted 250 job seekers, and 40ish employers
Erin - missed us for 3 weeks; her husband is currently in Mumbai, India, working at an orphanage; and for a film maker friend whose film “Break the Silence” will be showing at the Latchis on Sunday
Ali - thanks to Jon for the drive by catcalls while she was working at the Rotary garden; also for 4 great tires from Dan
Debra - for Cindy - Debra had a booth at the career expo, and got her picture on the front page of the newspaper as a result
Damon - son Aiden was inducted into the NHS; son Torin finished 2nd in state Cross Country finals
Marcy - won’t be here next week due to recovering from Halloween, hoping to see lots of you come through her haunted house (at 134 Park St. in Springfield!!)
Valerie - is recovering from a 50 mile bike ride; she is also going to a farm to plate conference tomorrow, and notes that the state has grants and programs to promote and help agriculture related businesses.
Guest Speaker: Jim Rumrill, with the District Youth Exchange program, and Josefine Peterson, exchange student from Denmark
Jim wants to open up more clubs to Youth Exchange, noting it is a great opportunity for the club, the community and the student. We currently have 17 exchange students in our districts, they come for a full HS year. We have 10 students out on exchange, in places like Romania, Bosnia
Overall, 8-9,000 students participate in this program per year. They receive extensive support through their host clubs.
Jo spoke to her experience so far… she appreciates that she has people to support her if she needs it, which has helped her to feel comfortable and not homesick. She is on the soccer team (Black River High School). She was asked “is school easier here”, to which she answers “yes”. Her best experience so far has been being part of the soccer team on game days. She might try skiing. Jo chose to be an exchange student to make friends across the world.
To be a host club, we would need a Youth Exchange officer, a counsellor, and committee members to help with rides. Jim would be willing to work with us if we wanted to set this up. Students do not need to be with a Rotarian, and it is OK if they are house out of town, as long as it is OK with the school. They need 2-3 host families for the year.
He didn’t get away with it… Ed thought we were going to miss his birthday, but the entire club sang him Happy Birthday at the end…