President Brian Hayes welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Centerville Rotary Club and led the group in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Ray Merz provided the prayer.

 

President Brian shared the Thought of the Moment - writer Paulo Coelho stated, “You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It’s just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.”

 

Brian noted our speaker today is Rick Willits, Career Services Director from the Modern College of Design, and he will receive a proper introduction in a few minutes.

 

Adam Manning announced the sign up sheet for the holiday party is on the tables. Let him know if you’re able to attend and if you’re bringing a guest. It will be held at Yankee Trace, next Thursday, Dec 16, 6-8 pm.

 

Ron Hollenbeck sent a note saying we were one of only 1530 clubs to achieve the "Top Three Highest in Per Capita Annual Giving" honors in their district. Not only were we in in the top 3, but we were number one!!!  Centerville Rotary per capita giving was $270. The next highest club in the District had a per capita giving of $172. Congratulations to this generous club!

 

We received a certificate recognizing our club's financial support of the "End Polio Now" campaign.  Frank Scott had mentioned that if every Rotary club gave $1500 towards Polio Plus, RI could raise $52.5M in total.  Our club contributed almost $12,000, which is eight (8) times the requested amount. 

 

He also sent a reminder that if you want to donate to the Annual Fund or Polio Plus, let him know by end of this week

 

Brian said he needs feedback from the Board on an issue so please watch for his email and OPEN IT!

 

Our Sergeant of Arms today was Pat Beckel

 

 

Pat Beckel noted how generous our club is and that we do so much more than just give money.

He recognized visiting Rotarian and our Assistant Governor,  Mary Nenninger, who echoed her congratulations for being one of the top clubs in the country. She said we should be proud of ourselves.

 

 

 

 

Rick Willits is a native Daytonian, who grew up in the Centerville and Kettering area. He graduated from Alter High School, and later taught and served as the Advancement Director. He was an executive recruiter in the printing and graphic arts industries for 10 years and has served as the Director of Career Services for The Modern College of Design since September of 2020. He has recently also accepted a dual role handling strategic partnerships for the college.

 

Rick first asked who had heard of The Modern College of Design, and many had not. It was founded in 1983 in Yellow Springs and first offered a 2 yr diploma in advertising arts. In 1999 they added an Associate degree to their offerings. Jessica Barry was the first president of the college, and she eventually purchased the college. In 2017 they had a groundbreaking for a new building and in 2018 added a Bachelor’s program.

 

 

The school graduated 13 students in the bachelor’s program last year. They currently have 200 students enrolled and offer in person or online classes that can be taken at their own pace

 

The program includes internships, and externship - one month paid assignment, real world opportunity where they receive a $500 stipend;. Many companies in the Dayton area utilize the students. In the 4-year program, students do internships between their 2nd and 3rd year, and also co-op.

 

 

Rick helps students determine their career paths and roles in those jobs. He said video grads get hired immediately and social media design is one of the hottest careers.

 

Grads may just use their skills as freelance or work their way up in a company. There are many freelance sites where they post their work and hope to get noticed.

 

Graphic Design USA named The College of Modern Design as one of the top programs in the country, and they have students on the “ones to watch” list determined by national creative directors.

 

App design is very popular now, too. Students participate in the NSAC competition where the team gets to work on a real product. Students recently worked on a rebranding of the Oculus VR goggles. (Augmented reality - people in room interact with the VR they are all looking at and can interact with is such as learning car engine repair.)

 

Rick showed some examples of student work:

 

 

 

Work can be found all over the country but 80% of their graduates stay in Ohio. Many companies are now bringing design talent in-house as it is too expensive to outsource.

 

90% of their grads are placed in the industry. All 13 grads this year were placed within 90 days of graduation, mostly where they did their co-op.

 

He asks student what they love to do when not working? He then helps them find ways to do what they love while utilizing their skills. He educates students on professional development and finding ways to build networks. Students ask for feedback on a project on LinkedIn and many are willing to respond. Students are then building a network without even knowing it.

 

Rick is always looking for professionals to do mock interviews.

Students are always great artists, but not always able to express it to others, so the mock interviews help with that.

 

Rick shared the top brands where graduates work and it was an impressive list

 

Salary can vary depending on the artist’s field:

 

 

Tuition is $25,000/year and they give out $1 million in financial aide yearly, which equates to about $5,000 per student. They also share scholarship opportunities.

 

Partnership with the Commons at end of David Road for student housing and they recently purchased land adjacent tot he college for future student housing.

 

Most of their students are just out of high school and the oldest student is mid 30’s. Employer programs sometimes allow grads to come back for completion of bachelor’s program while working

 

For more information visit the website:

https://themodern.edu/

 

Brian thanked Rick for the interesting presentation and reminded everyone that there will be NO LUNCH MEETING NEXT WEEK since we are having our holiday party in the evening. He said there will be no announcements, just time to enjoy each other’s company.

 

The next meeting will be January 6, 2022.

 

Brian led the group in reciting the 4-Way Test.