The African Queen (aka President Gailey) called the meeting to order at 12:20p.  Meeting at Cal High Library provided ample opportunity for members to get all nostalgic about our High School years when football games, prom night, final examinations and fighting acne were our primary concerns of the day.  As you might expect, there were no visiting Rotarians.

Our own Glen Weber was the greeter for the day who shared with the thought for the day as the 4 Way Test.  Glen proceeded to explain the history of the 4 way test as one of the key hallmarks of Rotary committing to truth, fairness and consideration.  After the pledge of allegiance, Don Jones led the club in a rousing rendition of My Country ‘Tis of Thee.  Announcements included:

 

Pizza and salad were on the menu for the day.

President Kathy turned the meeting over to the ever capable Colette Lay (Rotarian advisor to Interact) who introduced Sarah, the principal at Cal High for an update on what’s happening at the school.  Sarah announced that the uplifted spirit in the school was primarily due to the change and extension in the semester end dates before the holidays when all students took their exams rather than the traditional after holiday exams. Everyone, both student and teachers prefer this arrangement.  Women’s soccer team, men’s wrestling and some excellent performing arts activities were featured items of interest.  The principal shared that Rotary and Interact positively affected the high school. She thanked the club for the amazing auction funds some of which were being used to promote technology educators and students.  Colette shared that 20% of our auction funds were used to fund scholarships amounting to $20,000 to $25,000.

 

Colette shared that many people at Cal High contributed to the success of this program.  Scott Hodges has been the long time High School onsite advisor while “Nick” another interested teacher extended an invitation to Interact to use his classroom as a meeting space to accommodate the large and growing Interact kids.

Colette introduced the Interact Board President Natlie Lee who introduced other Board Members:

 

 Jessica Yuan:              Vice President

Ji Won Kim:                 Vice President

Pooja Patel:                 Secretary

Connor Jow:                Treasurer

Heidi Kwong:               Membership

Shannon Lee:               Publicist

Athena Aghighi:          Publicist

Jillian Weber:              Projects and Fundraising

Amanda Li:                  Projects and Fundraising

Liam Siu:                     Web Master

Swtha Sankar:             Communications Liaison

 

Natlie acknowledged the school adviser, Scott Hodges and thanked Colette Lay and John Sramek for their leadership and guidance.

 

Interact Projects are diverse and many.  The Interact Board members articulately and proudly presented their accomplishments for the year which included:

 

-Camp Royal participation with funds from Rotary

-Care Package for the Homeless distributed in conjunction with St. Anthony

-End Polio Now fund raising events.  The Interact played a self made video on their efforts to stop the spread of polio.  This video and presentation demonstrated an amazing understanding of the disease and the efforts of Rotary!  Interact District had a fund raising goal of $10,000 and the Interact at San Ramon established a $1200 goal for the club.

-Pack School Drive – 3 packs were contributed by Rotary

-Heart Walk Team was a District effort with great participation

-Xmas Tree lot earning $116 toward Stop Polio Now campaign and helping Rotarians sell trees!

-Stop Hunger Now in which Interact Members will participate again on Feb 2^nd.

-Food Bank Drive where 1914 LBS of food or 1,595 meals were distributed.  This year’s event will be on 2/11/17 and 2/19/17 for interested Rotarians who wish to participate in the distribution of 3,000 bags of food this year.

 

The Interact Club members also designed some cool club gear and were selling Long sleeve shirts at $17.44 and Hoodies at $32.92.  See Colette if you want to purchase and help support Interact.  Gary Sloan and Marv Remmich provided funds to help with the initial purchase of the club gear.

Before handing the meeting over to President Elect Lucky, Colette wanted to thank Jenny Meade in the front office who is the key person instrumental in arranging rooms and student communications.

 

Lucky gave an impassioned presentation on the upcoming District Conference to be held in Berkeley on March 24^th.  He invited Cal students to join in the festivities so enable intergenerational opportunities.  Lucky adroitly put to rest the myths that:

 

            The District  meeting will be boring ---  Great speakers, fun parties will abound

            The District meeting is on Prom Night --  Come in the morning, enjoy the Prom at night

Registration fee of $150 too high – Contact Lucky if the fees are too high to afford   (Interact students only need apply)

 

It was announced that Bill Brodie would not be the greeter next week and Mike has stepped up.

President Kathy concluded that meeting with the announcement that next week will be an Assembly. Critical issues will be discussed.  Those who do not show will no doubt be volunteered and or assigned to a variety of tasks so BE THERE or BE SQUARE.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Gary Sloan, Scribe