Rotaract Getting Established on WKU's Campus

This week's meeting was about the new Rotaract chapter on Western's campus. Rachelle Phillips Shults spoke at our regular meeting and brought us up to date. The fledgling club sent 150 pairs of shoes to a village in Kenya. This was greatly facilitated by Rotarian Cheryl Kirby-Stokes who works with her husband there each summer. (Cheryl will have baskets from those villages at our meetings for sale soon.) The Rotaract club is scheduled to meet first and third Wednesdays in the first floor of the Cravens Library at 4:30. [It is in the Leadership Office just as you enter the building off Normal Drive.] In the photo are John and Elise. Elise thought a good local project would be to provide toiletries for battered women centers. The club is planning on exploring that.

Yesterday afternoon our President Kevin Mays with faculty Adviser Sally Ray, Rachelle, Communications Professor Colonel Jim Allen and myself (Ken Embry M.D.) assembled with this year's Rotaract group for their second meeting of the year. Kevin spoke to the club for a few minutes and encouraged the members to light the Rotary fire on campus. There were nine club members present. This year's officers are Chris Neiswinger, Treasurer; Sarah Moore, President both of these two from Evansville, Indiana. The Vice Presdient is Jade Lynn. The group discussed organizational and project issues. Nearly everyone present participated it is obvious that the individuals in this group will be leaders in their chosen fields. If you get a chance visit a meeting.

Singing at our Meetings

Janet Bass Smith wrote lyrics to Row Row Row your boat and we sang it as a round at this week's club meeting. I think everyone had a big time doing it and thanks to Janet and her helpers. She asked me to publish the words in the blog so here they are: Ro-ro-ro-tar-y A name heard wide and far Hon-or Truth and Ser-vice to all This is who we are.

PDG Kay Sharon talked about our District's Rotary Youth Leadership camp held the past two years in Greenville under her leadership. It is a great program and a great presentation

Mark your calendars for OCTOBER 7. That meeting will be held at the CULINARY ARTS RESTAURANT at the Technical College. Club Member Nathan Hodges is the President of that organization and is anxious to show case to our club the students' achievements.

Next week the lovely Rachelle Phillips Shults talks about Rotaract on WKU's campus.

International Convention Booklet from 1931

Joe Taylor's office is next to mine in the Campus Plaza Suites behind Zaxby's on the Bypass. Recently he shared with me a booklet for the 1931 Rotary International Convention in Vienna Austria. A local opthalmologist, Dr. Jim Willoughby had given this to Joe about fifteen years ago. The invitation in the booklet is so appealing and the photos of Europe are truly of a by-gone era. This is Austria before Hitler. Joe and I decided that if we could find a means of time travel we'd surely like to attend this convention.

I scanned the booklet and have uploaded it here for all to see. Wouldn't you love to know how many American Rotarians actually went and what was the overall attendance? I'd like to know something about the speakers and their subjects. How many countries were represented among the delegates? Look at the photos and if you know, tell us how many of these landmarks survived WWII or have since been rebuilt. This blog site will only display the first several pages on one screen. However at the very bottom there is a button for Older Posts and if you'll press there you can seamlessly see all of the pages. The text is readable if you have a large enough screen or if you use a magnifying glass as I did.

Cover of 1931 Rotary International Convention

Invitation to 1931 Rotary International Convention from the President of Austria

To VIenna in 1931 Page 1

The Danube Page 2

The Rotunda Page 3

Aerial View Belvedere Palace Page 4

Beethoven's House Page 5

St. Stephens' Cathedral Page 6

Vienna City Hall Page 7

Vienna Orchestra Photo Page 8

Johann Strauss Photo Page 9

Schonbrunn Palace Page 10

National Library Photo Page 11

Palace of the Vienna Fair Page 12

Map of Europe Center Fold Page 13

Belvedere Palace Photo Page 14

Hochosterwitz Castle Photo Page 15

Trafalgar Square Photo Page 16

Paris Photo Page 17

Brussels Photo Page 18

Graz Photo Page 19

Hamburg Photo Page 20

Munich Photo Page 21

Badgastein Photo Page 22

Acropolis Photo Page 23

Rome Photo Page 24

Official Tour Companies

Back Cover

Ambassadorial Scholar Rachael Reetzke Speaks

PDG Joe Phillips accompanied Franklin, Kentucky's own Rachael Reetzke today (Sept 2, 09). Rachael has been selected an Ambassadorial Scholar. She plans on pursuing her studies in Autism. She spent part of the last year in China visiting three major cities. She did the tourist thing in Beijing then spent a few days in Xian where she saw the Terra Cotta Warriors. She got to visit a high point in the Great Wall and actually participated in harvesting silk. The bulk of Rachael's work was in Chengdu where she studied at the South West University of Economics and Science. She studied the Chinese Language in the International Studies Institute and also was able to spend time looking at the Chinese management of Autism. She says Autism is still not a common word in the normal Chinese person's vocabulary. In the center that she visited they seemed to be behind in their understanding of the problem. (Racheal is a student at WKU and works at the Kelly Austism Center. ) The therapy she observed involved a lot of group activities. However when she told a grad student what her interests were they did not know what the work autism meant.

Rachael got to see a lot of the cultural heritage of China in a trip that will influence her for the rest of her life. She obviously was a great representative of our country and was a superlative Ambassadorial Scholar. Unfortunately her Power Point failed her and she hopes to have those slides sent to our membership via email. I personally did not think their absence was a major distraction and we appreciated so much Rachael's composure and excellent report.