Spokes - Tuesday, March 12, 2019

SPOKES                                      VOL. LXXIV NO. 35           March 12,2019               

We were greeted this morning by Don Kitchin and Bob Copping.

President Odland opened our meeting, which was followed by our singing of “God Bless America” and Art Ayers’ invocation.

GUESTS:
Sue Duvall(guest of Scott Mark), Kevin Schooley(Superintendent of SH Schools), Isley West(Dean of Students SH Schools),Amera West, Listy Smith(Assistant Principal, Baseline Middle School),Trashawn Sanders(7th grade),Kelsey Hodgman(7th grade),Hannah DeVries(7th grade),Drew Loikits(8th grade), Rotarian Ron Clark.

NEW MEMBER INDUCTION: Sue Duvall
Sue has attended our meetings for the past 6 weeks, and her membership was recently approved by the Board.Her sponsor, Scott Mark, formally introduced Sue. Scott and his wife have been friends with Sue for many years. Sue was born and raised in South Haven; however, she left after high school but recently returned. She attended KVCC, where she received a Nursing degree and also attended Western Michigan University. In her career, she was employed in the fields of Medical and Mental Health. Sue was welcomed as a new member after President Odland reinforced the requirements of membership: Show up, Pay your dues, Be involved in our service projects, and Help support our efforts in other ways.
WELCOME, Sue!

March 21st- Thursday Night Supper at the First Congregational Church

April 12th- Blessings in a Backpack

Dan Tomlinson announced that nominations for Rotary Club Hero would not be accepted after this week. Please go to our website for an application, and nominate, according to the determined criteria. Dan also encouraged members to submit nominations for the other awards (Rotarian of the Year, Citizen of the Year).

Scott Smith announced that the SH City Council is in the process of finalizing a City Priority list. Should anyone want to add to the list, please let Scott, or any Council member, know.

WELCOME BACK, Steve! Steve Larsen returned from Kenya, after visiting and assisting Dr. Marty Graber. Steve reported that Marty has slowed a bit, as he approaches his 85th birthday. He told us that Marty wasn’t feeling well one morning, which resulted in a 4.5 hour drive to Nairobi, as Marty was fearful of malaria. No indication of malaria was found, and Marty is fine now.

Rhonda passed out envelopes to each member, which contained an invitation to our Educational Fundraising Event on April 27th.

Julie said that 35 students participate in the club, and 26 qualified for the Regional competition, held at WMU. Of the Regional competitors, 13 qualified for the State competition, to be held in Bay City, at the end of April.

Julie has been coaching the History Club for 11 years and, for the last 9 years, the “club” has represented the state of Michigan at the National competition. EVERY YEAR that they have represented our state at Nationals, they have finished in the top 25% of all competitors!!

On behalf of the Rotary Club of South Haven, President Odland thanked Julie and the History Club members and presented them with a donation of $500.

SONGS:
Today, it was Program #2: “My Wild Irish Rose”, “On the Banks of the Wabash”, and “R-O-T-A-R-Y”. Bob Boerma was our maestro this morning and, since we had a number of students in our group, he made a point to highlight the fact that they PROBABLY had NEVER heard these songs or songs LIKE THIS. In honor of the state of Indiana and Purdue University, Indiana native Deb Davidson stood during “On the Banks of the Wabash”.

50/50
Sergeant-at-Arms Stuart Comiskey chose Isley West’s daughter, Amera, as today’s “honest and reliable” representative. She proceeded to draw the ticket belonging to Scott Mark, who then drew card #10, so Ted Weber’s “take” was but $2 today.

BIRTHDAYS and ANNIVERSARIES:Steve Larsen’s daughter celebrated a birthday(14), as did Pete Swanson’s grandson(13), and Nick Tuit’s granddaughter(18). Steve Miles’ wife will be celebrating a birthday on Thursday.

Did we sing “Happy Birthday”? Don’t think we did but, OF COURSE, I could be wrong

FINES:
Due to the anticipated length of our program, the basket was passed from table to table.

PROGRAM: “Be Nice” Program- Deb Davidson, Program Chair
Dean of Students, Isley West, led the discussion and was supported by our other representative guests: Listy, Trashawn, Kelsey, Hannah, and Drew.

The “Choose to Be Nice” program is a social and emotional learning program that began in Grand Rapids and has spread throughout West Michigan. Mental Health education is also a large part of the “learning program”.

It’s much more than a phrase…It’s an action plan! Essentially, it’s a social movement dedicated to encouraging and inspiring kindness wherever and whenever possible: “We’re improving the way people interact with one another, by reminding them that they have a CHOICE about how to “be” in the world.”

NICE is an acronym:
N-NOTICE what’s good, positive, different
I-INVITE yourself to say something, to meet someone, to make    changes
C-CHALLENGE yourself to act, to reach out…Challenge others to stop negative behaviors
E-EMPOWER yourself and others to give power, to be encouraging, and to be positive role models

A video presentation followed, which provided 3 scenarios of students encountering problems, and how they were helped by those who practiced techniques within the “Be Nice” program. We were then invited to participate in an “Iceberg” activity, which emphasized how much we really don’t know about others. Since the largest portion of an iceberg is beneath the surface of the water, sometimes as much as 90%, we need to remind ourselves that, much like the iceberg, there is so much about others that we don’t know. “Be kind, for everyone you meet is battling something”.

We were each asked to list 5 things that people would know about us, and 5 things which were “under the surface”…that most wouldn’t know.

A few of our answers were shared before we ran out of time. The club and President Odland thanked our guests from Baseline Middle School and, in appreciation, President Odland presented each with our traditional Rotary pen.

President Odland thanked all of our guests in attendance.

NEXT WEEK: March 19, 2019
Greeters-Kathleen Brickley/Steve Miles
Program Chair-Tom Rummel
Program- “Ramageddon”-The SHHS Robotics TeAM

Art Ayers, Seasonal Editarian