The GREETERS
06/18/15 Matthew Kuhn and Butch Spencer
06/25/15 Ray Merz and Brad Thorp
07/02/15 No meeting
07/09/15 Greg Horn and Mark Balsan
0716/15/ Judy Budi and Joyce Young
If you cannot greet on the day assigned, contact Kitty and she will schedule a replacement.
06/11/15
Club President Vas Appalaneni opened the Centerville Rotary Club meeting at The Clubhouse at Yankee Trace by leading the Pledge of Allegiance. Ray Merz gave the prayer, and Peachy Metzner led the singing of God Bless America.
The guests at the meeting included: Ray Merz's wife Sue; Jeff Senney's father Walter; James Traylor, a guest of Shelley Fisher; and the parents of our Rotary Scholarship winners Zach Balsinger (Dave and Ruth Balsinger); David Zelinski (Jeff and Theresa Zelinski); Abigail Hecht (Patti Hecht); and Abhijeet Mulgund (Anand Digambar and Apurana Anand Mulgund). Harsh Agrawal, a RYLA participant representing our club, was among the five students speaking at the meeting.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Club president Vas passed around the invitation to the June 17 dedication of the Louis B. Gunckel Grotto Lake Fountain at the VA Center. The event takes place at 1 p.m. The Dayton VA Medical Center is at 4100 W. Third Street in Dayton. The grotto is near the Gettysburg Avenue entrance. Parking will be down the hill from Building 320, the Community Living Center. Additional parking is in the Building 115 parking lot.
Club member Boyd Preston said the incoming board members decided at their recent Monday meeting that they would like to get more input from members on what projects they think the club should continue and any new projects that might be added. Projects that can be done in the Spring and early summer would fit into the club schedule easily, he said. He passed out a survey at today's meeting that should be brought back to the June 18th Assembly meeting at Benham's Grove. The club needs to know what service projects club members really want to work on. The current six projects are to be evaluated by the members and suggestions for new projects would be appreciated, he said. Carol Kennard also e-mailed members information to send in the survey via computer.
HAPPY BUCKS:
Happy Bucks were not collected due to the number of speakers on the program.
SPEAKERS: Rotary scholarship winners Zach Balsinger, Abigail Hecht, David Zelinski, and Abhijeet Mulgund, and RYLA participant Harsh Agrawal.
The Centerville Rotary Club’s Educational Foundation provides scholarships to graduating seniors from the Centerville/Washington Township community. Criteria for these awards is based on financial need, participation in service oriented projects and potential for success in college.
Members of the Foundation Committee are executive director Kim Senft-Paras Don Stewart (club treasurer), Cynthi Fraley (club secretary), Ray Merz, John Laufersweiler and Ed Flohre.
Kim gave a brief overview of Rotary's mission before presenting four of the eight Rotary scholarship winners at our meeting. Each of the students told briefly of their goals and thanked the club for the financial help in achieving them.
Kim's overview: "Rotary is an International Service organization with clubs around the globe focused on clean water and sanitation projects; polio irradiation; basic education and literacy; peace and conflict resolution; maternal and child health; and economic and community development. Interact and Rotaract are the branches of Rotary established to encourage youth to participate in community service at an early age. There is an Interact Club at Centerville High School. At your respective colleges, you might want to consider joining their local Rotaract Club."
Kim told of the club's scholarship program:
"For 40 years, the Centerville Rotary Educational Foundation has given scholarships to graduating seniors at Alter and Centerville High Schools. Since 1975, we have awarded over $200,000.00 in scholarship money.
Monies for this project are raised from our annual Pancake Breakfast which is held the fourth Saturday in October at Centerville High School. Mark your calendars now for October 24 and plan to support an event that supports our community."
She said, "This year, 19 seniors from Alter and Centerville High School applied to our Foundation for scholarships. Because of the need and exceptional characteristics of those applicants, our club awarded 8 scholarships this year totaling $16,000, our highest number and amount of awards to date."
Brief bios of this year's four scholarship recipients at the meeting follow. Four others could not attend. Youngjun Park and Aditi Singh are traveling out of the country with their families to South Korea and India, respectively. Cassandra Rogers had a last minute opportunity to take a back-packing trip out west, and William Nichols was required to be at Camp Kern, his place of summer employment. All four have been invited to meet club members at a meeting later this summer. Those at the meeting were:
Zachary, David, Abhijeet, Abigail
Zachary Balsinger, a Centerville High School football player, impressed the committee with his poise and sense of humor; service to the East Dayton Food pantry; and the statement “I will not disappoint.” He wowed me, the librarian, with a reference to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby! His parents are David and Ruth Balsinger. Zach will attend the University of Cincinnati to major in accounting. He was given the book, Outliers, by Malcom Gladwell.
Abigail Hecht is also a Centerville High School athlete, a cross-country and track enthusiast. Abby’s calm, dedication to hard-work and honesty captivated the committee as she described her enthusiasm for running; her commitment to education; and loyalty to her family and community. Abby will attend The Ohio State University and major in health sciences with the goal of becoming a physical therapist. Her mom, Patricia Hecht, attended the luncheon with her daughter. Abby was given the book Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall.
Abhijeet Mulgund is a Centerville High School musician and a National Merit Finalist. His academic awards coupled with his service projects which include the Asian American Youth Council of Dayton, Chemistry Buddies, Fysics Friends, India Club and Habitat for Humanity put him in the committee’s scholarship winner circle. Abhijeet ‘s parents, Anand Digambar and Apurana Anand Mulgund came to the luncheon with their son. He will attend Rice University to study engineering with a focus on entrepreneurship. Abhijeet was given the book Tesla: inventor of the electrical age, by W. Bernard Carlson
David Zelinski is also a scholar athlete and was captain of the baseball team at Alter High School. His faith guided him to the Peer Ministry service program at Alter. His references call him a ‘solid citizen who is respectful, responsible and resourceful.’ David is the genuine thing! He will attend the University of Dayton and major in mechanical engineering. David’s parents, Theresa and David Zelinski, attended the luncheon with their son. A Year of Mercy with Pope Framcis, by Pope Francis, was the title selected for David by the committee.
RYLA Speaker: Harsh Agrawal was one of four students our club funded to attend the RYLA three-day leadership program at Camp Kern this year. His parents are Ashesh and Shivani Agrawal.
The others, who could not attend this meeting, included Justin Flanagan of Centerville High School, and Joshua Holtz, also of Centerville High School. Sabrina Grandhi was also accepted as an applicant but did not attend the program. Harsh said he made good friends at the camp and learned that leading doesn't always mean getting your own way or making the decisions. Sometimes you need to step back and listen to others, he said. You need to understand your own weaknesses and realize that sometimes others have better ways or more experience.
Centerville Rotary Club member John Beals, who introduced Harsh to the club, said Harsh is an honors student at CHS. He is in the Interact, Octagon, and Key clubs, on the school's tennis team, received the Spirit Award in taekwondo, and was named Mr. India for the entire state and community. He also is in the school's Spanish Club and Ping Pong Club, among other things. He hopes to enter a medical field as a career.
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