Arriving at the April 26, 2016 meeting #40 (#5149 of the Rotary Club of Everett), we were greeted by John Staniford and Brian Hollingshead,
The Meeting of was called to order by President Deborah Wright around 12:08 and was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance,
the Thought of the Day by Eric Lucas, and
Opening Song by Walt Greenwood.
There were no visiting Rotarians
(unless you count Andy Skotdal),
but we had many guests including Allan White, president of Blue & Gold Club, Kelly Shepherd from Sequoia HS, Jeanne Willard from Everett Public Schools,
Bryan Rodriquez
and Idriz Aksamovic, both AVID recipients, Cathy Woods Principal at Cascade High School, Becky Ballbach from Everett Public Schools,
and Mary Sievers from EverTrust Foundation.
Announcements included:
Classification Talk –
Mike McGinnis (in under 3 minutes! Nice job, Mike): Mike is a native of Seattle, and was introduced to Rotary by Kathy Webber and Shelley Hutchinson-Smith. He joined the Snohomish County Boys & Girls Club in the early 2000’s, and is proud to be able to follow his passion with his involvement there and with Rotary Club of Everett.
Rotary History –
Larry O’Donnell: 78 years ago the club decided to actively support seeing eye dogs for the blind, getting Rotary clubs from Bellingham to Sumner to support sending 9 blind people to Morristown to be trained with dogs.
Fireside Committee –
Jessica Mitchell: Everett Mall tonight at Buffalo Wild Wings and Tomorrow night at Hopeworks Cafeworks.
AVID Walk-a-Thon, May 7th – Will McMahan; our participation is breaking the cycle of these families by allowing kids from families who haven’t gotten to go to college. We are investing in these families futures. GET INVOLVED
National Holiday guess – Jim Staniford (National Pretzel Day)-winner Jerry Tucker.
World Community Services – Ed Petersen: tomorrow evening meeting will present the plan to those interested in knowing or participating in the Dominican Republic trip: 7pm 4/27 at 3331 Broadway (Hopeworks Cafeworks)
Everett Community College Breakfast (this morning): It was a makeup opportunity; double if you were wearing your pin! Let Judi know
Happy Bucks/Birthday Bucks:
Rose Goulet: “emotional dollars”-28years ago gave birth to her youngest son, just 2 weeks after her mother died;
Bill Dobler-birthday ($100) “the older you get, the less math you have to do to get to 100!”,
Ralph Quass-first day since 16 years old that I am not wearing my glasses!,
Guinn Rodgers-Habitat for Humanity- May 12 BBQ/Wine/Beer tasting at Thomas Family Farm, please come!
Andy Skotdal- keeping with his theme of “firsts” from several weeks ago, outed Julie Willie Freunholz who way back when was the first girl who shaved his legs (for swimming!),
Kathryn Goforth-son Steve named Assistant Fire Marshall (he’s come a long way since his heart transplant!), Marc Baker- first big Harley ride of the season “No Laundry Tour” over 1k miles this past weekend,
Mike Hawks-hard times babysitting grandkids (“its been a long time!”),
Amy Norman-oldest child Delaney who is on a robotics team keeps winning Rookie award and is now traveling to world championships!
Raffle: winners getting pretzels, beer, etc: Larry ODonnell, Tim Coulter, Marc Baker. The Club needs Raffle items!
Our Program was introduced by
Sally Lancaster, highlighting the important work and our involvement as a Club in the Next Generation Project/AVID and the many lifechanging benefits it provides to the students and families.
The Program:
“Rotary Next Generation Project” presented by Ted Wenta: Looking back 4 years and looking forward with first-hand reports of what the program does for our local students in middle schools and high schools. Past President Lyle Ryan’s year challenged the club to find a Signature Project. We wanted to develop a program that provided lasting impact, we were passionate about and built collegiality amongst our members and the community. We have given out over $3.5M in traditional scholarships, but there are many students who are on the margins who wouldn’t have been able to apply for these scholarships, so we wanted to do something to have a greater impact. We invested $200k over 4 years, and with thanks to partners including Everett Public Schools Foundation’s $40k, EverTrust Foundation’s $16k, Blue and Gold Club’s $6k, this provided community matching funds that were required to receive to meet the minimum for the Gates Foundation matching grant (an additional $50K), which we received towards our project. Ted presented a Thank You to Allan White and Mary Sievers for their organization’s involvement in helping us reach that goal. The club’s goal was to reach 240 AVID students within Everett Public Schools (originally just EHS and Sequoia HS, but it then grew and expanded). We heard that academic achievement by 8th grade was one of the largest predictors of college (Executive Office of President, Jan 2014), so we decided to reach larger. Providing assistance, resources, role models for Financial Aid reporting and other college-prep activities to high schools as well as North and Evergreen Middle schools, and then expanding to include 4 elementary schools. Jeannie Willard, Director of on-time graduation and AVID program manager reported a strong, steady enrollment with a lot of diversity. Most are low income students and minorities (Hispanic and African American mostly). Last year 104 AVID seniors (74% never had a college graduate in their families, 65% free and reduced lunch and 14% ESL), 38% applied to 4 year programs (remainder applied to 2 year programs, 30% accepted to 4 year colleges/universities). AVID graduation rate was 92% (vs 90% high school at large), with the 2 prior years at 100% graduation rate of AVID students. Many get college credit for courses taken at the High School (Rotary funds help to pay for these college credits)
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Bryan Gonzales, CHS graduate spoke. He is a junior at UW Bothell in the BA/management program. “AVID has pushed me to not settle for adequate and reach higher. Rotary has helped to take the stress out of funding the education so I could focus on participating in my education.”
We were also visited by Idriz, who is the first person in his family to go beyond middle school. He is currently working helping building a home for his mom with Housing Hope and works full time with T-Mobile in management/sales and is a Top 10 performer. He has been a student at UW. AVID has helped motivate him to participate in college, establish better study habits, build relationships and meet new people. He is working on starting his own business buying and selling cars for now while he decides what his future career path might be. He stated that his life could not be what it is today without the help of Rotarian’s assistance with the Next Generation project.
Ted wrapped up by introducing Andrea Sekora to report on Career Speakers to the AVID students in the high school and the strong impact these talks have made to these students. There has been a total of 375 speakers, 70% are Rotarians. We also learned that 700 students have attended College Campus Visits. Amy Norman spoke about the College Essentials Shopping trip. 48 recipients of $500 scholarships, attended by 48 Rotarians at Fred Meyer of Mill Creek. Next event is June 9th (giving away 12 scholarships this year)-most students come prepared with lists and coupons and where in the store they can find it since they only have 2 hours to do the shopping. It is a special day.
Ted also reported on the Tuition Assistance program: $198 subsidy for college credit of classes taken at the high school. There is still 80% of students available for credit who do not apply for it and/or can’t afford it, so there is still work to do!
We were shown great quotes from students, parents and teachers of recipients about the high impact of our program, and highlighted the importance for us to continue our work as a club. We have succeeded far beyond our goal of 240 students and will continue!
So, remember to participate in the AVID Walk-A-Thon on May 7! Volunteer, pledge, walk, get involved!
President Deborah Wright thanked Ted and our presenters and reminded us of the great work that we do!
MEETING ANNOUNCEMENTS AND MAKEUP OPPORTUNITIES:
Fireside at Buffalo Wild Wings, April 26th, 6-8pm hosted by Glen Bachman
Rotary Board Meeting, April 28th, 7:30am 3rd Floor Chapel at Bethany
District Conference, Semiahmoo, April 29-May 1st, Club pays registration for 1st time attendees
Rotary/AVID Walk-a-Thon, May 7th, 8:30-11:30am, Cascade High Track
Wheeler’s Meeting, May 10th, 11am at Boys & Girls Club – Rotary History
Rotary Park Clean Up, May 14th 9-noon, Rotary Park on Lower Lowell – lunch provided
Next Program: “Kineta – Transitional Science; Transforming Lives” presented by Ken North introduced by Steve Miller
Aphorisms : “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give” – Winston Churchill
Be a Gift to the World
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