Good afternoon. Welcome to the Bloomington Rotary Club's weekly celebration of service. I'm Steve Wicks,
and I'm honored to serve as your president this year. Please silence your electronic devices.
We have a full, full schedule today, so let me get right to it. On this day in history, May 12, 1978, the U.S.
Commerce Department announced that hurricane names would no longer be exclusively female.
Marcy Hibbard has today's reflection. Good afternoon, fellow Rotarians and special guests. We have a
lot today. Today is May 12th. And for me, May 12th is a very special day. Today is my dad's birthday.
That's my dad. He would have been 90 years old today.
This is something, my dad's name was Robert Wanywood and he went by Wayne. My dad was a very active
rotarian when we lived in Squim, Washington. He was very wise, kind, gentle, caring, and a very hardworking
business owner. But mostly he was a funny man. And yes, he really did wear a monocle.
I chose today to give the reflection to honor my dad's memory. My dad had been a member of the Kiwanis
Club in Issaquah, Washington for many years, but when we moved to Squim, he wasn't too thrilled with
the Kiwanis Club there, so he tried out the Sunrise Rotary in Squim. He took to the club and their four-way
test like it was gospel.
He would come back from his meetings and share about the happy dollars he gave because of something
special happening in his life. By the time he joined Rotary, I was an adult with a family of my own.
I can remember the countless times I would go to my dad with a problem or an issue. And nine times out
of 10, he would ask me, is it the truth? Or sometimes, is it fair to all concerned?
Often he would throw in a, will it build goodwill and better friendships? And his favorite question
was, will it be beneficial for all concerned? And sometimes he asked me all of them. I used to roll
my eyes, but it always made me think. That's what our four-way test does. It makes us think and act
accordingly. My dad visits me in my heart every Tuesday
and at the times where I spontaneously think, will this be beneficial for all concerned? I told you
my dad was funny. And he was. A member of his Rotary wrote in his memory book, I had the honor of meeting
Wayne through our mutual activities with the Sunrise Rotary gang. He always had a twinkle in his eye
and most definitely a quick wit. That's why it always makes me giggle every time we end our meetings
with, and fifth, is it fun?
He would have loved that and wondered why he didn't come up with it all by himself. Happy birthday,
Dan. I love you. Thank you very much, Marcy. Glenda Murray will introduce some of our guests today.
Our speakers will introduce their guests during their portion of the program.
And I welcome all of you who are guests with one of the students. And I celebrate that they're introducing
you and not me. So welcome. We do have other guests. Becky Wan, who is the guest of Steve Engel and
spouse. Colton Riggs, who is the guest of Claire Kest, who's not there.
and my sister Betty Coffee, who is my guest. So again, welcome to all. Thank you, Glenda. Joy, do we
have any guests online? Yes, Steve. We have joining us Eric Ost, who is a guest of Jeff Richardson.
Thank you.
So we have three birthdays to observe. On the 15th, Mark A. Winston and Claire Kest, who's joined us
today there in the middle table. And then on the 17th, Marcus Whited. And a couple of anniversaries
to observe. On the 14th, Alan Barker and Dave Meyer both joined the club 12 years ago. And boy, that
was a good day for the club. Tyler, can you go ahead and start my PowerPoint?
So I'll start with a somber and a sad. I'd like to observe the death of a couple of former club members,
Roger Fierce and David Rogers. And may they rest in peace. And now moving to the happier. We have a
little bit of service to celebrate.
So last week, we did our club drive for the club portion of our annual scholarships. We had a goal starting
the day at $900. And by the end of the week, after a very generous match, we raised the total of $5,000
last week. So thank you very much. So help wanted. Our club executive assistant, Mandy Stewart, resigned
last Thursday.
So we're looking for a replacement. We plan to find someone as quickly as possible. Key is accounting
bookkeeping expertise, above average aptitude for learning and operating multiple software programs,
and usual things, personality, and character strengths. So if you know of anyone, send the person in
my direction. We'll have a hiring committee. We're about to update the job description, which will be
very similar to what we used last fall.
Also help wanted, Wonder Lab Summer Blast Off. So the club executive assistant is a paid position. This
is purely a volunteer position, and you'll be paid with fun. And what you have to do is you have to
assemble this really cool bookmark.
It's summer blast off, Wonder Lab trying to get kids to read during the summer. So the bookmark,
once again, has a little light so that they can read in bed when they're supposed to be asleep. So we
need people to work shifts this week at Wonder Lab, inside, good working conditions, and then day of.
So here are all the different times you can work this week.
And then day of, we'll have shifts on Thursday, May 21st, some setup, some helping children assemble
their bookmarks, or it might be children helping you assemble the bookmarks, and then teardown. And
then you have information on your tables. And then Leslie Katsenko is chairing. Michelle Cohen is helping.
Leslie is over there.
So if you want to volunteer, just sign up on your table or see Leslie after the meeting. Sure. Toot.
Next, please. Second Excel looking for sign up is for the actual event day. So two separate things.
If you are in a parade, maybe you want to be at the greeting table. If you are.
what to, can't make the event, but what it still helps is the nicotine. Thanks. So for those online,
Leslie told us that there are two different signups, before and day of. The work is a little bit different.
The day of work will be outside. They've got a canopy for us, so it'll be good working conditions unless
it's 97 degrees. Okay, a few save the dates. So the annual refugee summer pitch in on Sunday, May 24th.
Here are the details here. The details will also be in the roundabout. And club member Cindy Neidhart
can help you with more details. And others save the dates. The Chamber Business After Hours. After you're
done working your shift at Wonderlab on the 21st, go to the Business After Hours. We have Meals on Wheels
right behind that. A couple of people on the 29th. Then the Beacon Solidarity Sleepout in early June.
The Large Teacher's Warehouse Supply Drive.
And then the Rotary Toast in November. And the Rotary Toast Committee is selling tables. So if you need
any information about that, please see me. So this picture, so last week we heard from ROI, Regional
Opportunities Initiative. And the second speaker, Jen, played a video. And this is a clip from the video.
And one of our members online, Bill Murphy,
watching via zoom a 55 year Rotarian notice something special about this particular part of the video.
Bill, do you want to tell us what you noticed? Well, I was greatly pleased last week when I observed
the video and there was my son Mark and Mark is the president of PRD. It's a plastic molding company
located in Lawrence camp.
in Lawrence County, just over the Monroe County line. He's also on the board of directors of ROI representing
manufacturing. He encourages high school students to pursue careers in manufacturing by providing internships
for them. So Vera and I are greatly proud of Mark and we couldn't get him to become a teacher like his
parents, but we're proud of his promotion of education.
So thanks, Steve, for showing this. So anyway, you watch Rotary on Zoom, you may see a family member
someday. Thank you, Bill. OK, Rotary is seven areas of focus. I show this slide all the time. And then
May is Youth Service Month, and we're here today serving some of our best and brightest youth. And go
ahead and turn that off.
And then one other thing on the announcements, there is one other handout on your table with about America
250. If you have any interest in that, Liz Fiddle has lots more pamphlets in her car. So Liz is sitting
over on the far left, back left table. OK, if I can get Brad Meyer and Steve Engel to come to the front.
So we haven't had enough of these this year. We're having a new member induction. This will be a little
bit abridged because Brad, like the rest of us, really wants to hear what the high school students have
to say. So Brad Meyer applied for membership in the Bloomington Rotary Club months ago. I'm embarrassed
to say his application fell through the cracks. In the meantime, he occasionally attended weekly meetings
as a guest of Steve, though finally we got organized. And in April, the club board unanimously approved
his application.
And today, we'll induct him into the club. A native of Brownsburg, Indiana, Brad Meyer is a seventh
generation Hoosier. He married his high school sweetheart, Debbie, at age 18. Brad and Debbie then attended
Purdue together, where Brad studied electronic engineering. After graduation, Brad and Debbie started
a family. Brad began a 25-year career in local manufacturing, followed by nine years as a civilian engineer
for the US Navy.
A week ago, Brad won the Indiana Ninth District Congressional Primary and became the Democratic Party's
nominee for the general election in November. So Brad, on behalf of the board and membership of the
Bloomington Rotary Club, it is a great pleasure to welcome you as the newest member of the club. Though
Rotary is not a political organization,
Rotarians are vitally concerned with good citizenship and election of effective leaders to public office.
While Rotary is not a religious organization, it is built on those highest principles that have served
as a moral compass for people throughout the ages. Rotarians believe that worldwide fellowship and peace
can be achieved when people work together and uphold the Rotary motto of service above self.
Brad, you have been chosen for membership in the Bloomington Club because your fellow members believe
you to be a leader in our community and because you possess the qualities to champion the message and
principles of Rotary. Our community will know and judge Rotary by your character and service. Steve
will now pin you or hand you the distinguishing badge of a Rotarian, your Rotary pin. Okay.
All of us have limited dexterity, so we're handing him the pin. Fellow Rotarians, please rise if you
are able and welcome our newest Rotarian, Brad Meyer.
Thank you. Thank you, Brad. And welcome to the club. So this was a segment I've been trying to work
in. And so when I found out Brad would be available today, just jumped on it. Another segment that I've
been trying to work in is a DEI update. And club members Lance Eberly, Jim Sims, and Patrick Smith all
serve on the Rotary District 6580 DEI committee.
Earlier this year, past club president, past district governor, Lance Eberly, agreed to chair this district
committee. And Lance will spend a few minutes to provide us with a rotary DEI update. Lance?
Good afternoon, everyone. As mentioned, my name's Lance Eberle. I've had the privilege of being a member
of this club and certainly stepping into the role of being the Diversity Equity Inclusion Chair for
the district this upcoming year. I really just want to take a few minutes today to provide a brief update
on Diversity Equity Inclusion initiatives within Rotary International and how those efforts continue
to evolve. As many of you know, Rotary International recently did announce a change in terminology
by renaming the Advisory Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to the Enhancing Participant Engagement
Committee. While the name has changed, the underlying focus remains largely the same, strengthening
participation, engagement, and belonging throughout the Rotary clubs. I think this is important to remind
you that Rotary's efforts in this area have always been rooted in membership engagement and service
effectiveness rather than politics or labels.
The objective is to ensure that Rotary remains welcoming, relevant and sustainable for future generations.
At its core, Rotary has always been about bringing together people of different professions, experiences
and backgrounds to improve our communities. That philosophy aligns naturally with the idea of expanding
participation and encouraging engagement.
Several key initiatives with this are again expanding participation. Rotary clubs are strongest when
they reflect the communities that they serve. That could be in professional experience, age, community
involvement, leadership styles, certainly cultural and personal backgrounds, all kinds of things.
Many clubs, including this club, have actively worked to attract younger and different professionals
and emerging community leaders.
and maintaining the traditions of Rotary, why we continue to do that. We're also continuing working
to improve in our engagement strategy as reflected in the updated committee name, enhancing participant
engagement that really emphasizes the involvement and connection. Across Rotary clubs, we're continuing
to work for ways to increase membership participation and improve mentorship activities, encouraging
newer members to become involved in leadership,
create flexible and meeting times and service opportunities and strengthen fellowship and collaboration.
The goal is simple, helping members feel connected and valued so that they remain active in road reach.
Inclusion is often a big part of that as well. And it's much less about policy more than it is about
our club culture. And people stay involved in organizations where they feel welcome, impacted, and heard.
Rotary is long-term to sex. It continues to depend on creating that type of environment where members
of all backgrounds and experiences levels feel that they could contribute meaningfully to the club kind
of going forward. So plan is simple. We continue to invite newer members into projects, encourage different
perspectives and being intentional about our mentorship opportunities and continuing to support our
leadership development.
So Rotary continues to evolve just as communities involve. The challenge and opportunity is balancing,
you know, Rotary strong traditions with the need to remain relevant and accessible to all future generations.
Ultimately, whether we call it diversity, equity, inclusion, the purpose remains aligned with Rotary's
membership of fellowship leadership and above all service, you know, above self. So again, here in the
district, we're continuing to
basically march forward as we always have. And when I kind of came in, I was fortunate to be a district governor.
As Jennifer Jones has stated, that we want Rotary to be welcoming to all. So we continue to kind of
move forward with that and certainly would be available afterwards to answer any questions or anything
that anybody has. But again, thank you for the time to provide you a quick update of some of the work
that we're doing. And we're continuing as committee to move on, meeting monthly, looking for
ways, opportunity to make Rotary more welcoming to all members of our community. So thank you.
Thank you, Lance. At the club level, we have a DEI committee and don't see a need to change that. So
we'll continue to roll along as we do. Rotary, we want to look like the community we serve. With a couple
of exceptions. One, the people attracted to Rotary have to be above average in their level of care for
the community. People who
who want to do, want to belong to Rotary. They want to work at the polls. They want to be Little League
baseball coaches, various things. The other is as an international organization, Rotarians have to care
about things overseas. We need to care about polio being eradicated in Pakistan. We need to care about
clean water in Rwanda. We need to care about education in Peru. So anyway, doesn't matter if you're
a rock rift libertarian,
big government democrat. If you care about the community and you care about places all over the world,
there's a place for you in Rotary. So thank you, Lance. Jeff Richardson will introduce our four dynamic
speakers today.
We need more joy. We need to embrace joy, lift up joy, and share joy. In that spirit, welcome to our
club's most joyful meeting of the year, the celebration of our Bloomington Rotary High School Scholarship
awardees. A special welcome to the families and teachers of those we honor today, and thank you for
your devotion to cultivating intellectual curiosity and integrity.
The scholarship committee interviewed nine high school senior finalists this spring, all remarkably
talented. Today, we'll hear from the four outstanding seniors who were selected as Rode High School
Scholarship awardees. Each will receive a $25,000... We had a secret match came in just minutes ago,
actually $2,500.
Hmm, someday we'll get there. I'd like to have just for a moment the scholarship committee members.
We don't have time to introduce you, but if you could just stand or wave, we'd like to thank you for
your service on the committee. Thank you. Interestingly, but not by design, this year all three local
schools are represented. Edgewood,
Bloomington High School South and Bloomington High School North. And two are going in state, turns out
both to IU Bloomington, and two out of state. Last year, just for your information, three awardees went
to Purdue and one went to Ball State. So every year it's different. I'm not going to go into
long introductions because I want to ensure that we have enough time to hear directly from the students.
Each awardee will introduce and thank their guest
And then we'll spend four to five minutes on what's ahead for them post-graduation and any other comments
they would like to make. So our first awardee who will speak is Hannah Crane, an Edgewood High School
grad. She's going off to Murray State and she's going to be studying agriculture science. Hannah, please join us.
Hello, everyone. Thank you for having me today. I'm very honored to receive this scholarship. So just
want to thank you all for being here and giving me this opportunity. With me today, I have my mom, Lindy,
and my dad, Damon. So thank you for their support.
So as he already said, my name is Hannah Crane. I'm from Edgewood. A little bit about me. This is my
10th year of 4-H. I'm an active member of Harry Hopper's Rabbit Club, Country Sunshine Junior Leaders,
Swine Club, Horse and Pony, and Country Sunshine. I'm going to tell you about one of my most memorable
community service projects today. And it was a project I did last year. I created garden kits for Pantry 279.
and I applied for and received a $1,000 yes grant through Indiana 4-H Foundation, which funded my project.
The kits that I created included a tomato or pepper plant, a tomato cage, a bag of soil, fabric grow
bag, plant food, and then a little info sheet. And then I distributed the kits around this time last
year to Pantry 279, which is in Ellitsville. And the goal was to reduce food insecurity
you know, the surrounding areas, give people the opportunity to try something new. And that was also
an opportunity to share my love for agriculture, which I'm going into next year. At Edgewood, I'm involved
in Student Athletic Advisory Committee, Leadership Academy, National Honor Society, Key Club, Fellowship
of Christian Athletes, and Mental Health Club. I also run Cross Country and Track.
And cross country and track have been a big part of shaping me into who I am today. They've taught me
many valuable skills that I will carry far beyond college even into my, whatever I do after college,
whether my job and just daily life.
And they've taught me to work towards these long-term goals that might not come easy, but with dedication
and this hard work and commitment to my sports and my social life and my extracurriculars and school,
those goals are achievable. And this fall, I'll be attending Murray State University, which is in Kentucky,
and I'll be running cross-country and track. And I plan to study agronomy, which is like crop and soil
science. So thank you for having me today.
When I hear these students talk, I have to be kind of reminded that they're just seniors in high school.
They're like 17 or 18 years old. They've already done so much. And each one is this way. And our next
awardee is Lilliam McKaylee from North. She's also, you'll hear from another person, going to IU Bloomington,
and she'll be studying elementary education. Lilliam, please join us.
Hello everyone. My name is Lillian McHaleon. As he just said, I'm a senior at Bloomington North.
Next year, I am going to Indiana University to further my passion for elementary education. I'm very
honored to receive this scholarship and I couldn't be more grateful. And I just really appreciate getting
this opportunity.
Teaching was always something that I saw myself pursuing. I grew up with amazing teachers in my life.
Two of my grandparents are educators, and I looked up to them really, like, a lot. I looked up to them
greatly. And every teacher that I've had has helped shape me into the person I am today, and I look
forward to doing the same for my students. I'd like to shout out my parents and my teacher, Mr. Fife,
for being here today to support me. Mr. Fife, one of those amazing teachers.
At North, I'm involved in a few clubs. So I'm in Habitat for Humanity. I'm a co-president this year.
I've been involved for a couple of years now. It's just a really great way to connect with the community
and do things that I'm interested in. And then I'm also in a club called Project Middle Way that raises
money and awareness.
for Middle Way House in Bloomington and just the domestic abuse survivors there. So we get to do a lot
of work for them. And then I also do a lot of things that help me work towards my future of being an
educator. So after being a camper and counselor in training at the Boys and Girls Club Camp Rock for
many years, I received the opportunity to work as a part-time counselor last summer. And so I,
This like allowed me to work closely with larger groups of students or kids and grow some of those skills
that I will use in my career. And the Boys and Girls Club staff provided me with training that will
be really applicable to my future classroom such as behavior management and just like safety protocols
that will come in handy throughout my whole future. And just the community at
Camp Rock means so much to me, and I can't wait to go back this summer and continue that. Also,
this year, this school year, I was placed in a fourth grade classroom for my cadet teaching class. I
was at Binford Elementary School, and throughout the year, I've gotten countless opportunities to build
my knowledge of the classroom and see all of the behind the scenes work that goes into being a teacher
that I don't get from the student perspective in high school.
I've just gotten to build my knowledge of the classroom and one main project that we did was the kids
got to write fairy tales about IU women's basketball players. So they kind of worked those into like
a Cinderella story. And yeah, it was so fun to see like their creative minds come to life and incorporate
the stuff that
they don't usually get to talk about in a classroom setting. And then some of the players actually came
in and they got to read their stories to them. So it kind of brought the magic to life. And it was really
cool to see the kids' hard work pay off. And they got to go and shoot hoops with them too, which was
fun for them too. But yeah, it was just really fulfilling and rewarding throughout the whole year just
to see all of the hard work the kids put in and seeing it come and put
be put together and seeing it all work out and pay off. I've had really amazing experiences inside the
classroom and out, and it really just affirms that this is what I'm meant to do. And I look forward
to pursuing it in the future. Yeah. Thank you so much for this opportunity.
another thread that runs through all of these candidates. I get choked up talking about it. You know,
their love for learning and to share with others. You know, it's repeated over and over, including in
the ones that we couldn't give scholarships to. I mean, they were also incredible. That's one of the
hardest jobs that we have is getting it down to four people. Our next awardee is Aviv Seraf from Bloomington
House School South.
going to Duke in mechanical engineering and robotics. Aviv. Hi, I'm Aviv from Bloomington High School
South. First of all, I'd like to thank my family for supporting my whole life, my mom and dad and my
sister who's here today. Next, my amazing AP chemistry teacher, Mrs. Floyd, thank you for coming here.
and supporting me throughout the whole year. And so good afternoon, everyone. And thank you to the Old
Rotary Club for providing me with this scholarship. I'm very appreciative and thank you for supporting
students in our community. It's truly an honor to be speaking to you today. So I'll talk to you about
a couple of my activities. The first one is one of the most meaningful community activities
I've done, and it's my involvement in a group through my synagogue called Student to Student. And so
through that, with a few other high schoolers, we go around Monroe County and the surrounding area to
middle schools, and we talk about Jewish culture and introduce them to our traditions. And we teach
that it's important to be open-minded of all cultures and all people that are different to you. And
so many of the schools we visited, we go to middle schools. Many of them had very few or no Jewish students.
So us speaking to them was their very first interaction with Jewish culture and Jewish people. And this
is incredibly important because it's their first interaction with the whole culture
we are able to stop, to put a face to community and kind of tell them who we are to help prevent the
spread of harmful stereotypes and misinformation, especially today with social media. It's incredibly
easy for harmful words to spread quickly. And so by speaking to these people, to these students, as
students ourselves,
We put a human face to a culture that they're not familiar with. Um, and it becomes much harder to spread
fear and hatred, uh, when you've actually met a group of people. Um, and so this has been the most meaningful
community experience that I've done, but in, on the side of academic experiences, the one that has shaped my, um,
my experience throughout high school the most has been my involvement with FIRST Robotics. And this,
it's a local robotics team that we compete in competitions and we have students from all the different
high schools in the area and middle schools. And so now as a senior, I've been a student leader on the
team and my role has not only been to build the robot, but also
to help newer students develop the skills and confidence they need to meaningfully contribute to our
team. And one of my biggest goals as a leader on the team has been to make the team feel approachable
and collaborative, especially for newer students who might be intimidated or unsure of their place in
the team, as I definitely was when I first joined. And what I value most about this experience doing
robotics in high school is that
The success of the team depends on not just people's individual skills, but people being willing mentors,
as well as student leaders being willing to teach one another and help the whole team benefit. And no
one builds the robot alone. The team works together and every student improves because someone else
has taken out of their time to guide them. And so that's what I try to do as a student leader on the
team. And so these experiences shaped my
Um, belief that leadership isn't about just having experience and knowledge about a certain subject,
but it's about creating an environment where the people around you can really learn and grow all together
for the benefit of everyone. And so these two experiences have shaped both my goals and my future plans.
Um, I plan to go to Duke university and study mechanical engineering, uh, where I hope to continue,
uh, working on robotics in particular.
And throughout my time in college, I also plan to continue with high school robotics now, not as a student,
but as a mentor of local teams. And beyond college, I hope to pursue a career in robotics that help
specifically medical devices that help people in their daily life. I really am incredibly grateful for
this scholarship and thank you to everyone for investing in students in our community.
I'm hopeful that I'm able to pay forward your kindness in the future throughout my school and career.
Thank you. Oh, great. So another, not last, but next in line is Halit Patel.
We've had three scholarships. Last year we had four. It's a longer story, but we ended up with four,
and that was for kids to go anywhere they want to in the country. We still have three that are that
way, that are wherever you apply, and if you're past muster with the committee, you're selected.
This year, for the first time, we have a standalone award for someone who is from Monroe County,
and going to IU Bloomington. It turned out we had two people going to IU Bloomington this year,
which was, again, unplanned, a coincidence, but outstanding candidates. And so Halil is getting, Halil
is getting the first Bloomington, IU Bloomington award. And congratulations on that. And we look forward
to hearing from you. Thank you.
How are we doing, everyone? Good afternoon. All righty. Thank you, everyone, from this Rotary Club to
have me today. I'm honored to be here. And with me, I have my dad, Kulpish Kumar Patel, my mom, Dharmisa,
and my sister, Deep, who I love and hate at the same time. And I also have my favorite teacher,
Well, all my teachers are my favorite, but Miss Norris, she's my German teacher and she's been with
me, seen every single one of my crash outs for the past four years. And I'm eternally grateful that
she's been with me and I look up to her a lot now. Now, a community involvement that I've had and I
am really proud of is something called Global Minds. And it's similar to what you said about
teaching people about culture. But I want to tell you an experience that I had that was a catalyst for
this all. So me and my sister, one summer, we went to St. Louis with the Love the Loot organization.
And basically, this organization takes you and it takes you to an underrepresented community where you
volunteer. And in this case, we cooked, we garden, we set up all kinds of community events. And I saw
this bridge or this gap
between culture and the community that was there in St. Louis. And when I came back, I had this idea
that let's make a nonprofit organization with this. And so that brought me to Curate Global Minds. And
I took one of my classmates and we went to our administrators and they loved this idea. And so
With this organization, our entire goal was to spread cultural diversity. Because we know statistically
that when you're younger and you're exposed to diversity more often, you're going to grow up to be a
person who thinks more diversely, who critical thinks even more, who sees all the global perspectives
on an issue. And that is what I wanted.
And this is something that I want to take into my career at Indiana University and my studies at Indiana
University. Um, and hopefully I, um, do something with, um, nonprofits and yeah, a student activity.
Um, that I want to tell you guys about is, um, my internship. I intern for the coffee corral, um, at
Edgewood high school. I don't know if you guys have known it's, um, a student led, um, business and,
We sell coffee, we sell all types of drinks, all types of, hopefully all types of food now. And as a
financial manager, I track our expenses and profits, and I ensure that they meet our margins. I price
our new items, pay our vendors, and do much more. But that's all the boring stuff. But with this internship,
I have learned so many communication skills, all the soft skills that you don't learn in classes nowadays.
And I found a passion for business and problem solving, and which is why I chose to attend the Kelly
school of business at Indiana university. Um, and again, I went to honor my dad and mom. They are, they
immigrated here in 2001. They're from India and they built everything from ground up. And that is something
that I wanted to take. And I want to honor because that's hard to do nowadays. Like you can't just come
here and do something, um, fresh out of the ground. And it takes a lot of courage and it takes a lot
of bravery.
And that is something that, with social media nowadays, it's hard to come by. You don't find pure people.
And I want to share a quote that I go by. It's called, you make a living by what you get, but you make
a life by what you give. And I see my parents honor this quote all the time. They are genuine people,
and they've taught me that you are the person you are by what you value.
At the Kelly School of Business, I want to major in operations management and finance and hopes to be
well versed in public policy and hopefully attend law school, hopefully at the Marner School of Law
and be a practicing attorney. Don't know what type of attorney yet, but that'll come later in life.
But yeah, thank you. And I'm honored to be here. And I I hope that I as well honor the Rotary Club's
values as well.
So let's say congratulations once again to our newest Rotary High School Scholarship winners. So what
I'd like now is for the awardees to come forward, please. And we have some time for questions for them.
And let's do that. Let's ask them a few questions. All right, please come forward.
Or you can stand over here so you're not in the lights. How about right over here? We do have the checks
here. We'll be taking them. The checks won't be in the middle. They're actually here. And then we'll
present them shortly. We'll have some pictures. So please, question. Yes. Dave. I heard social media
mentioned a couple of times.
Can I have a volunteer that would like to talk a little bit about how in your own life you balance the
negative and positive aspects of your participation in social media? Sure. So social media has been
a really great and a really bad thing for me.
on different aspects. On the good side, it's been a source of a lot of inspiration for the projects
I do with robotics. And there's so many great ideas that other people are doing that you can take inspiration
from social media. And a lot of the time, that is what I use it for, for learning and seeing just great
things. On the other side, there's a lot of
bad on social media. As I talked about earlier, there's a lot of, it's incredibly easy to spread hateful,
you know, hateful words. And so you just got to, for me personally, you just have to be careful of what
you, what you choose to expose yourself to on, on social media. And if you choose to use it in the right
way, it can be a great, a great tool. Yeah. Anyone else want to add to that or?
Well, you know, other than that, it takes a lot of your day away. Like, you know, the mics, other people
online. I just want to say it does take a lot of your time away. Like as a student, I swear to God,
I'm at school and I'm just scrolling sometimes because it's just it sends in what's it called dopamine
to your brain and it just keep going. So I guess that's also a con that you have. You just got to learn
to put it away and and just focus on what is it's at.
It's at your hand. Congratulations to you four wonderful students. I'm curious about whether any of
you hold jobs outside of school and aside from that activities and sports extracurricular. I heard lots
of extracurriculars and how you balance that with maintaining your academic schedules. I'm just curious
to hear how you manage your lives.
Um, I work only in the summers, so I don't really have to worry about balancing my work life with school,
but I play tennis. And so right now I'm in season and like sectionals are next week and during finals.
So there's a lot going on, but luckily, um, Bloomington North does block schedules. So we only have
four classes a day and it like switches off every other day. And so it helps a little bit with like
balancing when I'm going to do my assignments. Cause I know that I have two days until
I have that class again. So I really just like staying organized and like planning out when stuff is
due and when I have to get stuff in by so that if I have a match one night, I can do that stuff before
it's actually due. So that kind of helps out a lot.
For me, yeah, I also do run cross country and track. So that's a year round. I'm training in between.
I have like a two week break after each season, but that means I'm training all through the winter and
all through the summer. So, I mean, I don't have a lot of free time, but I mean, I enjoy being busy,
especially with 4-H, whether it's club meetings or, you know, organizing these things outside of club
meetings. I have those responsibilities because I'm holding these leadership positions in my club. But I mean,
Obviously I've learned lots of time management skills through 4-H and I always say it's like the animals
have to be fed and then you can go in when it's dark and be doing your homework and doing all that stuff.
So 4-H has definitely played a huge role in developing those time management skills. And then also just
using your time wisely during school. It's easy to go on social media and scroll all day, which I do
sometimes, but I also have to hold myself accountable.
and be responsible during school hours so I can have free time after school to do things I enjoy.
Anyone else? Sure. So time management has been a big struggle for me, especially the last two years
of high school. I play soccer, travel soccer. I did play travel soccer. And so my junior year I was
doing travel.
I was traveling for robotics and traveling for soccer. Um, and a lot of the time it meant I had to sacrifice
one or the other. Um, and eventually this year I had to sacrifice soccer completely during the spring,
at least, uh, for robotics. So I think that's just the nature of, uh, wanting to do a lot of things.
You have to choose which ones are, are like most important and which ones you have to prioritize.
The younger generation seems to be more enthusiastic about change than a couple of the previous generations.
For all of you, what do you see around you that maybe is something different to encourage change in
the world and to make the world a better place without being political?
For me, especially with working with kids, I see a lot of like, I think it really inspires change or
like inspires me to like want to work for their future as well. Because I see all the things that they're
capable of. I see all the things they like doing and the things that they are passionate about, especially
the younger kids where they're still excited to come to school. They're excited to learn. They're still
like kind of developing their own personalities. Like I think that it like sparks
a little bit more like, I see more of what I want the future to look like for them. Does that answer
your question? Yes, congratulations to each and every one of you. So I would like for you to quickly
reflect and just speak to the role that mentoring has played
uh, in your lives, uh, up until this point. And then as you proceed on through your trajectory, how
do you see yourselves, uh, contributing to the lives of others as mentor? Um, so to touch on that, um,
I, my biggest mentors have been my teachers and as well as my parents. Um, I feel like nowadays a lot of,
us teens and younger generations are starting to like get heated in the moment and think of responses
sporadically without without thinking things throughly. And a lot of us take responses way too deep.
Um, and so sometimes, um, all the time our mentors teach us like to slow down, think about what you're
going to say. Um, and that's always been like a thing that I struggle with. Um, and they,
They remind you like I know Ms. Norris always reminds you making mistakes is okay. I think a lot of
us try to be perfectionist, but that's not how the way life is. You have to be constantly making mistakes
to learn and grow from that. And I know nowadays our culture is very like be perfect or you're not perfect
at all. And that's not how you should live life. And yeah, and you should always like keep in mind of
what others like put, put others feelings,
Like think about what others would feel if you said something to them. And yeah, like put yourself in
other people's shoes for sure. That's always been something that my mentors say to me. For me, the most
obvious example of mentorship are the mentors on my robotics team. And they are 100% volunteers and
they give so much time and effort into the team.
And they have been really what's inspired me to continue with the team and want to actually become a
robotics team mentor in college and throughout my life. Just the work they give to the team just because
they want to is really amazing. You know, spending nights sometimes until like 1 a.m. working on the
robot, traveling with us to
They just, we all just went down to Houston for a competition and their volunteer mentors just coming
with us just cause they love to do it. And it's really inspiring. It's been inspiring for me. Yeah.
To kind of answer your question too, is that like, I keep referencing 4-H because it's a big part of
my life. So, but I have all these mentors that I look up to. I follow their lead and, you know, incorporate
their leadership
into my leadership qualities. I've been surrounded by so many great people the past 10 years in 4-H.
So, and I just, I look up to them. I want to be just like them. And surrounding yourself with people
is just with the people with the same goals as you, you know, it builds you up and it's something I
want to continue to do in my future. I want to be surrounded with people that want to make a change
in the world. And I see myself after college, you know, coming back to Monroe County. I mean,
The 4-H program has been a big support system for me in the past 10 years. So I think I'd probably come
back and whether that's using my education from college to help or just volunteering my time as a leader,
something like that, something I see myself doing. If my math is correct, I believe the four of you
would have been sixth and seventh graders when COVID hit us. And I'm just curious to know
Do you still take any of those times with you socially, academically? Is there a long-term impact from
that? I believe that yes, there has been a long-term impact. The isolation that we were in just
like hindered our learning abilities. And when you're young like that, you need to be tactile with things.
You need to have one-on-one communication. And that just really took away communication skills. I feel
like a lot of us in my grade don't know like good communication skills, email etiquette, all of that
stuff. Like it's just taken away because our time was taken away. And I have a younger brother who was
just a child when
Corona hit, and I can definitely see the impact it's had on him. It's definitely made him more close-minded
than open-minded. And so yeah, that's very sad to see. But yeah, I do want to make sure that he's more
open in the world and sees things that he never got to see when he was little. So yeah.
For me, COVID, I think it had good and bad effects. Well, I think the bad was obviously, moving,
transitioning from elementary to middle school, I already was switching, like the middle school I went
to, only a couple of the people from my elementary school had gone there. So already that, I would have
to make new friends, but being online the whole year made it even
harder coming back in eighth grade trying to meet new people. And I didn't have, you know, an established
group of friends. And so I had to figure that out in eighth grade and throughout high school. So I think
that my life would have looked quite a bit different if, you know, I had had that whole start of middle
school in person. And so that was a negative thing. The good thing for me, I feel like it allowed me to have
some freedom to kind of find what I was interested in instead of being in school all day, you know,
being taught kind of a structured curriculum. I was able to kind of explore things on my own on the
internet, find what I love to do, robotics and watch videos and see stuff like that. So that was one
good thing that came out of it for me.
Thank you all. One of you mentioned the concept of doing an assignment before it's actually due. I wish
I had known that when I was in high school. So the four of you are going to inherit a world filled with
tremendous challenges, but also tremendous opportunities. So thank you for inspiring us and giving us
all hope for the future. So in honor of your talk, a donation will be made this quarter to Wheeler Mission.
I'd like to thank today's volunteers, Daniel Schliegel,
Glenda Murray, Jeff Richardson, Joy Harder, Marcy Hibbard, Bill Oates, Lance Eberly, Hank Walter,
Alan Barker, Sally Gaskell, Sarah Loughlin, Brad Meyer, Steve Engel, Jonas Chang, Diana Hoffman, lots
of volunteers. Our next meeting, thank you. Our next meeting will be here in the Georgian Room on May
19th, excuse me, next Tuesday,
Dason Anderson, the Limestone Post, will speak to us about stories that inform, engage, and inspire.
Please join us. Tyler, if you would share the graphic for the four-way test, and please stand if you
are able, and join me. Of the things we think, say, or do, first, is it the truth? Second, is it fair
to all concerned?
Third, will it build goodwill and better friendships? Fourth, will it be beneficial to all concerned?
And fifth, is it fun? Right here. Go ahead. And now we're giving out the $25,000 checks.