President Doug rang the meeting to order at 12:25 PM. In honor of our Student Awards Program, he offered four quotes:
1. "Every young person has the potential to reshape the course of history." - Justin Trudeau
2. "The youth are the beating heart of social transformation." - Nelson Mandela
3. "Young people are the architects of a better world."
- Kofi Annan
4. "The youth are the hope of our future." - Jose Rizal
For the benefit of the many non-Rotarian guests, Doug reviewed the Rotary mission, (Service Above Self), carried out by some 46,000 clubs around the planet. Our own club was started in 1917
Doug noted that we are looking for three more sponsors for the Tattler at $350 per year. He announced June birthdays and anniversaries. It’s remarkable that so many of our members have been married 50 years or more.
Doug then welcomed the representatives of the various educational institutions attending today’s program - see guest list below.
Finally, Doug asked for Happy Bucks:
Rob Westford led us in a song about the rain, Dennis Williams for a granddaughter graduating from Roosevelt High School in Seattle with a Rotary Athletic Scholarship, Felicity Dye for the first woman elected President in Mexico, Sandy McIntire for 50 years of marriage, and Steve Ban for cycling in Europe and attending the Rotary International Convention in Singapore.
Guests:
Special Guest attendees were the award students who are highlighted in the Program Area.
Additional special guests were Dean Fulton, Foundation Director with BTC; Kendra Norton, Resiliency & Program Manager of Whatcom Community Foundation, Nicole Ebersole, Director of Donor Relations with the Western Washington University Foundation; Laurel Messenger, Scholarships Program Specialist with Whatcom Community College Foundation; Megan Dunham, Squalicum Assistant Principal and Pam Behee, Activities Athletics Admin. Assistant with Squalicum High School.
Student Zoom Attendee: Naweedullah Naweedi
Felicity Dye introduced our Exchange Student, Joao Vito Haas de Macedo (JV) from Curitiba, Brazil.
Members on Zoom: John Pedlow, Dick Tucker, Loch Trimingham, Mike Bradburn, and Rick Kaiser
Club Events and Committee Announcements
Rotarians on the move: Many Rotarians and exchange students joined the Memorial Day Parade May 25th.
Doug thanked all those who were involved in Rotary’s float in the Memorial Day parade. These included Mike Diehl for the truck and Ward and Shauna Naf for storing, setting up and driving the float. With George giving us one more operatic voice to “I love a parade”, President Doug officially put away our parade work until next year.
We are looking for Website sponsors for the next Rotary year, starting July1. It is a great opportunity to advertise your business and support Rotary - $350 for the year. Check out the current sponsors on our website by going to bellinghamrotary.org. Contact Sandee if interested.
Rotary Hands Across the Border Event
August 23rd mid-afternoon
Mark your calendars - more details to follow!
Major Awards - Last call
The Executive Board is looking for nominations for the club’s Major Awards that will be presented June 24th at our Changing of the Guard. People are encouraged to consider the criteria and send nominations to Executive Secretary Sandee Lindhout or the Executive Board: Doug Cole, Paul Grey, Steve Ban, John Moffat or Steve Gray. Click Here for List of previous awardees
Join us for an evening of international trivia and food tastings from current inbound/outbound students' exchange countries. Highest scoring team receives bragging rights and a Winner's Medal, the likes of which you've never seen! Get to know more about our current exchange students, try some traditional foods from their home countries, see where our outbound students are going next year, and where next year's crop of inbound exchange students are coming from.
Families and friends are welcome! Suggested donation of $10/each covers food and other expenses; additional donations to support the RYE program gratefully accepted.
Please register at the link below so we can get an approximate headcount for the purpose of preparing food. That said, if you haven't registered, feel free to show up at the last minute anyway (there are food trucks on site if we run short on snacks).
Rotary members, please use the Guests button to register. This event is being run from the D5050 RYE Clubrunner site and we don't have you in our system.
President Doug introduced RCOB Foundation Board President Teri Treat, to emcee our annual student award program.
Teri noted that this year we are handing out over $97,000 in scholarships. Our Foundation assets are currently $1.8 million. She thanked the Foundation Board members for their service, Dennis Williams, Dave Blair, Nathan Twining and Scott Wilson. She also noted the vital role of D. C. Morse as a founder and a Board Member. D. C. passed away on January 25, 2024.
Teri began the program by calling on Felicity Dye to present the RYLA CERTIFICATE to our exchange student from Brazil, Joao Vito (JV) Haas de Macedo
STUDENT AWARDS:
NON RCOB FDN FUNDS – HELD IN INSTITUTIONS FOUNDATONS – generally $1,500 each based upon balances held.
ADMINISTRATED BY WWU: Nicole Ebersole presenter
ROTARY CLUB OF BELLINGHAM ENDOWMENT WITH WWU SCHOLARSHIP: $1,500
Nora Gerstl will attend WWU and begin her collegiate education with a study abroad program in Nepal, studying the social sciences.
ADMINISTRATED BY WCC: Laurel Messenger presenter
ROTARY CLUB OF BELLINGHAM ENDOWMENT WITH WCC: $1,500
Arelhy Escabar – who will study for a Physical Therapy Assistant Program with a plan to become a Physical Therapist at WCC.
ROTARY CLUB OF BELLINGHAM ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIP
Somit Chhim – who also plans to enroll in the Physical Therapy Assistant Program at WCC and continuing coaching track and field.
ADMINISTRATED BY BELLINGHAM TECHNICAL COLLEGE – Dean Fulton, presenter, reminded us of the importance of scholarship to support to BTC students. He said the average student is 30 years of age, has a mortgage, children, and is just $400 away from dropping out.
ROTARY CLUB OF BELLINGHAM ENDOWMENT: $2,195
Andrew Ledgerwood - Electrician
b. THE ERSHIG FAMILY SCHOLARSHIP (2) $4,450 Total
1. Tifany Clark – Nursing (RN)
2. Samuel Rinaldi – Radiologic Technology
c. ROTARY CLUB OF BELLINGHAM FOUNDATION DAVID C. MORSE MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP $1,425 X (4) $5,700 total
1. Christopher Grundberg – Machining
2. Jacob McMillan - Machining
3. Tommy Olinger-Stirrat - Machining
4. Dylan Morgan - Machining
d. DOUGLAS BLAIR MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP $2,494 X (2) $4,988 Total.
1. Briana Dearing – Dental Hygiene
2. Tania Estradagarcia - Nursing (RN)
ADMINISTRATED BY WHATCOM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION WHATCOM SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM:
Kendra Norton, from the WCF, led the announcement of these scholarships. She noted that she, herself, was the first member of her family to go to college, on a $1,000 scholarship, completed her bachelor’s degree and went on to recently complete her M.B.A. She announced the following scholarships:
PHIL MILLARD MEMORIAL ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIP (6) $4,000 EACH FOR A TOTAL OF $24,000
a. John Kummer, from Sehome High School, is a first generation college student who will attend Georgetown.
b. Marcella Christine Leita, from Sehome, plans to attend George Fox College.
c. Sidney (Coco) Haggen, from Bellingham High School, plans to attend Gonzaga and study psychology and join the dance team.
d. Kaleb Payne – Bellingham High School, could not attend
e. Sarah Leslie, from Squalicum High School, will attend WWU’s Honors Program, studying the social sciences with a minor in Spanish.
f. Colby Lewis, also from Squalicum, plans to attend the University of Puget Sound with a focus on business and psychology.
MICHAEL MISCHAIKOW SCHOLARSHIP (1) $2,000
a. Jasmin Bautista Chino
Dennis Williams then announced:
ROTARY CLUB OF BELLINGHAM FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS FOR: $3,000 EACH FOR A TOTAL OF $30,000
a. Most Improved: (3)
1) Daphne Concepcion, from Squalicum, plans to attend BTC and enter the surgical technology program.
2) Naweedullah Naweedi, from Sehome, plans on attending Whatcom Community College
3) Nikyla Kinley - Ferndale
b. Outstanding Academic Achievement: (2)
1) Catherine Chen, from Bellingham High School, will attend the University of Washington and study communications.
2) Sidney (Coco) Haggen, from Bellingham, plans, as noted above, to attend Gonzaga and study psychology.
c. Vocational Excellence: (3)
1) Odalys Rosas-Marquez, from Squalicum High School, is the first person in her family to attend college. She plans to attend Seattle Pacific University and study nursing.
2) Justin Reed - Options
3) Yaneli San Juan Chino, from Squalicum, will attend B.T.C. and join its radiology technician program.
d. Best Overall Student: (2)
1) Jagteshwar Preet Singh - Meridian
2) Adria Clines - Sehome
Dennis, a member of the RCOB Foundation Board, concluded our student awards program by acknowledging the parents, teachers and guidance counselors who support these students. He reminded us, again, that our club is distributing $97,000 in scholarships this year and thanked the club members for their support for this important program.
CLOSING COMMENTS:
President Doug acknowledged the achievements of the students and, after thanking those who helped put our meeting together, rang us to adjournment at 1:20 PM.
Weekly Payment Reminder
VENMO:
@RCOB- Bellingham.
Give Sandee a call if you need help. 360-734-5532.
CASH / CHECK:
Yes, we still take these and saving on fees is appreciated.
RCOB apparel, including polo shirts, dress shirts, vests and hats is now available. These are items that every Club member simply must have in his/her wardrobe! Besides looking great, Club members will be contributing to branding for the RCOB as well as supporting our Club's Foundation, which will receive part of the proceeds.
Click on the button below for the the clothing catalogue, with the Order Form on the last page. Fill out the order form, turn it into Vinson Latimore at a meeting or email a scanned copy to embroidery@choicesscrubs.com.
