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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.

We Mourn the Loss of Jim Bennett and Tom Baird

In the last two weeks we have lost both Tom Baird and Jim Bennett. I'll try to have special articles on each but sufficient to say they will be missed. Tom had just received his 46 year perfect attendance pin the week before. His widow says he wore it on his lapel to his grave. We have ordered duplicates to present to his two daughers.

Kevin Mays takes the Reins

Kevin is the former head of the local National City Bank branches. When his job was to take him out of Bowling Green he resigned and took a job with Holland CPA's. We are delighted that he elected to stay in Bowling Green. In my opinion Kevin is a natural leader and "do gooder". His whole life has been in service to others and his deep spiritual anchor makes him a treamendous asset to our community and to Rotary in particular. I look for active, forward looking leadership from Kevin during his tenure.

One of the first things Kevin did when he took over as our club president was to outline the challenges ahead and speak about his plan to meet them. He said we need to address the financial challenges of our club and make some difficult decisions. (Spoken like a true banker.) He wants us to help the international organization match the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation challenge grant by assessing $130 from each member.

Kevin wants to improve the quality and quantity of our membership during his tenure. We were one of the few clubs over the last year that actually had a net gain in membership. Hang on to your hats fellow Rotarians we're in exciting and challenging times during the next twelve months. Good Luck Kevin.

Margaret Curtis Talks about Teaching in China

Parapatetic Dr. Margaret Curtis, a retired Professor of Eastern Studies from Western Kentucky Unitversity, spent a block of time over the last twelve months teaching at two universities in China. We have published some of her correspondence on this blog. Those entries can be seen by checking the archives. This time we got a splendid power point presentation from Margaret herself and the audience was captivated. What I took away from Margaret's comments is how beautiful and collegiate her students looked. She obviously became very attached to them and I suspect it had a lot to do with their sincerity and enthusiasm. She commented during her presentation that it was the best group of students she had ever had.

Although Margaret was afforded very comfortable living conditions in heavily polluted industrial cities, the students attended classes in modern looking classrooms that Margaret said were neither heated nor cooled. It rained abundantly during the time she was there. One student is trying even at this moment to get here to Bowling Green to attend Greenwood High School. Let's hope things work out so she can and we'll keep you posted on that story. Thank you Margaret for such important work towards international understanding and for your great presentation at our meeting.

Adopt A Class Review

David Sparks and Alex Downing reviewed the progress of our Adopt A Class. Below on the left is Edmira Christanovich and on the right is Laura Southard. Both sophomore's at WKU. Laura is Pre Vet and Edmira is in Sociology.
What a treat to have them with us today.

Our club adopted Mrs. Jan Coombs class from Warren Elementary in the year 2000. They graduated in 2007. Of the original 24, four moved away and 12 are either in higher education, have been, or will be this fall. This was our second attempt to adopt a class. We had learned several important lessons from our failed original attempt in 1991. This time each student was assigned to a mentor to kept in touch on a regular basis. We had outings with the students and took many to WKU's campus to introduce them to campus life. We are anticipating a third group in the near future and will use the successful students and continuing lessons learned to have another successful adopt a class.
Many thanks to Charles Hardcastle for generous funding and to Linda Thomas, Col. Spiller, and many other members who contributed lots of time and effort.

Dr. Brian Moore talks about his deployment to Afghanistan

Brian Moore M.D. is the son of our own Bill Moore M.D. Both are ENT doctors. Brian is a Major in the Air Force and is currently based at Eglin Air Force Base near Pensacola. He has recently returned from a deployment to Bogram, Afghanistan. Brian's Mom and Dad along with other friends of the family watched a Power Point presentation along with the rest of us about his tour of duty. It has only been within the last few years that ENT surgeons were deployed in this War Zone. Brian showed come captivating photos of the terrain, facilities, and personnel. Some of their work is humanitarian as well as military. He said much of the country is still mined with all the deadly consequences to civilians and military personnel alike. Brian also said that U.S. forces are trying to bring Afhanistan medical facilties and professioinals up to speed on modern medicine. At best it has been very rudimentary throughout the country. Thank you Major Moore for taking the time and effort to come all the way to B.G. to give us such an outstanding program.