Brian Hayes handled the Happy Bucks this week in the absence of our Sgt.-at-Arms Erich Eggers. Gerry Eastabrooks did the collecting.
The Happy Bucks were postponed last week to allow time for the RYLA students to make their presentations about their experience.
With time at a premium, the Happy Bucks were hurriedly collected this week, with most people giving for the student scholarship winners and/or Sofie for her passing the last hurdle to citizenship with flying colors...red, white and blue....no doubt.
We had donations from students and their families thanking the club for inviting them to our meeting and for the awarding of the scholarships. John Callander gave his Happy Buck for having a sandwich for lunch this week and last week, sarcastically, of course.
Sally Beals said they were just back from Florida. Dale Berry said a gas main break caused the detour at Paragon and Spring Valley roads this day.
Tom Groszko said he had his children ages 6 and 10, help with bagging groceries and directing traffic to help victims of the recent tornadoes. "They still need a lot of help," he said.
Judy Budi welcomed and congratulated the graduates and their families, and talked briefly about the mission of Rotary. She said:
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 or trade school. Since 1975, we have awarded over $232,000.00 in scholarship money.
Members of the Foundation Committee are Judy Budi, Deb Dulaney, Mark Febus, Dick Hoback, and Ray Merz. Dick serves as our secretary and I am the chair person. Rotary member Brad Thorp is our Investment Manager. I also want to thank Centerville High School Counselor Samantha Stingley who was invited to our luncheon, but could not be with us today. Samantha made sure our scholarship application was posted for the seniors to consider and assembled the documentation for the Foundation Committee to review.
Money for this project is raised from our annual Pancake Breakfast which is held the fourth Saturday in October at Centerville High School. Mark your calendars now for October 26 and plan to support an event that supports our community. I want to thank club members for their support of our scholarship program through our annual Pancake Breakfast.
Before I introduce this year’s winners, I want to bring you up-to-date on several of our past scholarship recipients:
She read from letters from a student attending Duke University and one attending Wright State University. Both have continued to be involved in service projects, and continued to excel in their studies. Danielle Meyer said she chose Wright State because it was close to home and had programs in business and theatre. During the fall of 2018 she was cast in the theatre studies show, Woyzeck, as the lead actress. She was also cast in multiple short films and feature films that filmed across the state of Ohio. She was awarded the Best Supporting Actress for the short film "Our Last Day." For the 2018-19 academic year, she was also awarded a place on the Raj Soin College of Business Dean's List with Highest Honors. She works two part-time jobs and volunteers at Incarnation Church. She concluded her letter by saying: "Congratulations to the year's recipients! You are our future and a great one at that!" She signed off with:
Actress, activist, student, and advocate: Danielle Meyer.
Judy Budi continued:
This year, 15 seniors applied to our Foundation and we awarded six $2,000 scholarships totaling $12,000.
Rotary’s motto ‘service above self’ has been exemplified by the 6 students Centerville Rotary is honoring here today. Each of our winners will introduce their families and briefly tell how their academic and career goals relate to one or more of Rotary International’s areas of focus that I mentioned previously.
During our interviews with the students, some remembered receiving a dictionary or thesaurus from the Centerville Rotary Club when they were in third or fifth grade. So today, we want to again include a special element to today’s presentation. Each student will receive a book especially selected for them because of an interest, career or educational goal described to the committee during the interview. Many of them participate in Unit Assembly, chem buddies, lunch buddies, Elk Connectors and a variety of like volunteer activities at school- I plan to try to note some of the highlights of each but rest assured this is just a small snapshot for these amazingly smart, talented and service focused individuals.
Tonya Kaissieh
Tonya is active in many activities including those at her church. She is accomplished Greek dancer. One of her favorite activities is the Circle of Friends in which she has lunch with special needs students and this past year participated in a special prom with them. A few of her volunteer activities outside of the school opportunities include St. Leonard’s, House of Bread, and St. Vincent de Paul. She participated in Science Olympiad and was a club officer for the Diversity Club. Her two older sisters are in college. She plans to attend The Ohio State University and major in psychology and Spanish with the hope of becoming a physician assistant. When asked why she choose Ohio State, Tonya shared one of the deciding factors was the proximity of the church she could attend. One of her references had this to say: Tonja is one of those rare people who can truly accept anyone and everyone in to her friend group- she does not know a stranger and she has the ability to everyone as a person before she sees their character. I believe she is able to do this because she is a wonderful listener- she listens with her heart and take that time to show people she genuinely care about them.
Tonja reiterated a number of the points Judy gave about her, also thanking the Rotary Club for the invite to the luncheon and for the scholarship, along with her parents and family for their support along the way. Her aunt from Sweden was a part of her support group this day, she said. The book she was given by the club was:
Becoming By Michelle Obama
Mrs. Obama’s memoir, tells the story of the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the White House. With honesty and wit, she describes her successes and her setbacks, both public and private, telling her story in her own words and on her own terms. This story is written to inspire us to set our goals high and deify expectations.
Madeline Mills
Madeline plan to pursue a degree in chemical engineering at Purdue University. She has worked at Archer’s, Panera and Mathnasium while in school and saved over $2,300 for college. She was a leader on the Tennis team at Centerville; receiving the Black and Gold Award and being recognized as an ALL GWOC player. She also participated in Model UN, Speech and Debate, and was the Vice-president of the Key Club, officer in the French Club, National Honor Society, and a leader in her youth group at Incarnation where she has done many service projects and received the Youth Ministry Award. One of her references noted: For Madeline, it is not about how much serve she can put on a resume, rather, it is the way she lives her life. She is one of the most genuine, loving, humble, grateful, honest, caring, selfless young ladies I have had the pleasure of working with over the last fifteen years. I hope my children learn how to truly love others the way that Madeline loves others.
Madeline also thanked the club and her mom and said that next year she plans to study chemical engineering and continue to participate in service programs.
The book she was given was:
Fermat’s Enigma by Simon Singh
Simon Singh tells the story of Andrew Wiles of Princeton University and his attempt to find a solution to Fermat's last theorem. Pierre de Fermat was a French lawyer and mathematician who is given credit for early developments that led to infinitesimal calculus. When in 1993 after seven years of trying to solve the equation, a flaw was discovered in the proof, Wiles had to work for another year to establish that he had solved the 350-year-old problem. Mr. Singh tells the astonishingly entertaining story of the pursuit to answer the mystery, and the lives that were devoted to, sacrificed for, and saved by it.
Jamal
Jamal is the second oldest of 5 boys and his older brother is in college. Jamal plans to attend the University of Cincinnati and study neuroscience. He has served as a hospital volunteer at two local hospitals and works at Mathnasium. He has been in Interact several years and served as the club artist for 2 years designing the club t-shirt logo as images on items they used as fundraiser. He designed the hand holding the earth with the slogan- momstrong which raised $3,000 for Artemis. He also served as secretary this past year. Liz Cameron, the Interact Adviser noted that Jamal frequently brought snacks for the 100- member club and he works diligently, longer and harder than other students to raise money to support others in need, truly demonstrating that Service Above Self theme. He was Vice-President of the National Honor Society, and participant in Model UN and Science Olympiad.
Jamal also thanked his mother for her support and said he chose the University of Cincinnati because it is close to home.
The book chosen for him was:
The Mind’s Eye by Oliver Sacks
Neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks has spent his career examining patients struggling to survive with a wide range of neurological conditions: Tourette's syndrome, autism, Parkinson's, musical hallucinations, Alzheimer's disease and phantom-limb syndrome.
In this book, The Mind's Eye, Sacks shares his experience of being diagnosed with a rare eye tumor and the subsequent total loss of vision on his right side. Included in this text are the case studies of other people who learned to compensate and adapt after neurological disorders robbed them of their ability to recognize faces, read or see.
Nick Reibly
Nick was a captain of the Centerville Football team this past year and has played football for many years. He plays center and educated us about the position of long snapper. Nick shared that while this past year was one of the worst in school history for the team, it taught them all about not giving up and as a captain he learned how to keep the team motivated and focused on goals. Nick was awarded the Sonny Unger scholarship and our Committee was impressed that he has applied for over 15 scholarships- this guy really wants to finance his education. Nick has been working at Home Depot and helps with kids sporting camps. He participates in Target Ministries and was selected to be in the Leadership Academy.
One of his references noted: Nick is a very diligent worker and possesses a lot of the same qualities that he takes to the playing field. He is respectful and acts with great integrity and morality. He peers look up to him and he always finds ways to add to classroom discussion. He’s very fore-thinking and has a creative way of looking at different problems. In groups, Nick flourishes because he keeps everyone on task, adds to discussion and pushes those around him to think deeper and achieve higher.
Nick hopes to teach social studies at a high school. He plans to attend the University of Findlay, which his brother also attends. Nick’s brother is applying for physical therapy school.
Nick also thanked the club and his mother, and told of hoping to become a social studies teacher and come back to Centerville High School to teach.
The book chosen for Nick was:
Make Your Bed By Admiral William H. McRaven
Make Your Bed is based on Admiral William H. McRaven’s commencement speech for the graduating class from the University of Texas at Austin. In it, McRaven shares the ten lessons he learned from Navy SEAL training. They are simple lessons that deal with overcoming the trials of SEAL training, but the ten lessons are equally important in dealing with the challenges of life—no matter who you are.
Make Your Bed Summary: 1. Start your day with a task completed; 2. You can’t go it alone; 3. Only the size of your heart matters; 4. Life’s not fair—drive on; 5. Failure can make you stronger; 6. You must dare greatly; 7. Stand up to the bullies; 8. Rise to the occasion; 9. Give people hope; 10. Never, ever quit!
Amisha Saini
Amisha plans to attend the University of Cincinnati and study neuroscience with a goal of becoming a neuro-surgeon. She has great leadership qualities as demonstrated by her roles as President and Vice-President of Key Club and serving as liaison with the Interact Club. She served as an officer for the National Honor Society, French Club, President of Speech and Debate and participated in Model UN, and Destination Imagination. In addition to her rigorous class schedule and many activities she found time to work at Kuman and she plays the piano. Her references highlighted her leadership qualities, positive attitude, work ethic and her special interest in children in her service work.
Amisha thanked Rotary and her mom and the panel that interviewed her. "It was a great interview," she said, "and not stressful." She mentioned a sister and summer school and geometry. She said she noticed that many students in high school had mental health issues and suffered from anxiety and/or depression, and hopes to be able to do more in the field of neurosurgery to learn about these issues.
The book chosen for Amisha was:
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: a Hmong child, her American doctors and the collision of two cultures By Anne Fadiman
This title is the poignant story of a young Hmong girl suffering from epilepsy who is caught in the cultural chasm between her family and her rationalist American doctors. The story shows the tragic consequences of a lack of cross-cultural communication and reveals the weaknesses of western medicine in caring for patients with beliefs that are different from that of their doctors.
Keerat
Keerat is committed to her family and older brother and she choose a school close to home so she could continue to be of support, she plans to attend The Ohio State University and study psychology as a pre-med major. While she ran for the office of President of the Interact club she ended up serving in another role but as Liz Cameron noted in her recommendation- Keerat would step in and cover for various tasks that the president could not do- she was an amazing support to the club. Keerat, you might all recognize worked at the pancake breakfast! She has served as a volunteer at Southview Hospital, and the many Interact Club activities. She competed in dance and participated in Speech and Debate, Octagon Club, Circle of Friends, and the Chemistry Olympiad program. She has worked at Hollister and Archers.
Keerat also thanked everyone and said she plans to study psychology and continue to be active in community service, which she said is always a valuable part of life. She said she is not sure what she wants to do, but it will involve helping the community.
The book chosen for Keerat was:
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder
This is a title we have shared with other scholarship students and one of our favorites. A non-fiction, biographical work by American writer Tracy Kidder, the book traces the life of physician and anthropologist Paul Farmer with particular focus on his work fighting tuberculosis in Haiti, Peru and Russia.
Judy and the Rotary Club wish to congratulate and pay tribute to our scholarship winners and their families and thank them for Being the Inspiration to others. Your future is awaiting.
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