January 2, 2025 Breakfast Meeting Notes

 

Tony was not here so we did not have trivia. In his stead, Mike reminded us of some Rotary facts: the organization was founded 1905, and went international in 1912 with the inclusion of England and Canada. Rotary now operates in over 200 countries around the world. 

The 50/50 was won by guest student Sabina.

The card game was won by guest student Shelby, who selected the queen of spades.

 

 

Scholarship winners and the scholarship committee members are show above.

Sharon introduced our scholarship winners for this year. The committee members were Sharon, Nancy, Tony, Ken and Lora, and they read over 40 applications. This is a big job, as we have so many excellent applicants each year. Sharon reminded us that the funds for the scholarships are raised within our community; local people have been generous. Each student spoke to us, briefly, about how their education is going. 

 

We started with Sabina Cassale. She is the Skip Van Sickle student for this year. She is studying dental hygiene at NHDI. She is working at Lakes Region Children’s Dentistry here in town and works with children undergoing deep sedation. Sabina is considering going back to school to become an oral surgeon.  

 

Elisa Foote was next. She is attending UNH in communication sciences and disorders (which includes speech pathology and audiology) with a minor in special education. She did AP classes in high school,, which allowed her to get a jump start on her core courses. She has been pleased with UNH and has joined several clubs (she is a collegiate lumberjack). She is excited to be working on a language assessment tool with one of the faculty. 

 

Caleyn Lange is attending the University of Vermont, where she is studying animal science as preparation for attending veterinary school. She is taking a lot of science and math courses. She has been working at a local vet’s (in Rumney) doing all of the technician’s work. The animal science program is centered on cows and horses and she enjoys the large animal work. She hopes to get accepted into the milking program at UVM next year. She has also joined the college gymnastics team. 

Madelyn Levin is studying in Halifax, NS at Dalhousie University (She has dual citizenship so attending school in Canada is more affordable.) She is studying community design, which is essentially urban planning. She is on the rowing team but did not make the lacrosse or squash teams! She noted that there are no general education requirements in Canada so she has been able to get right into courses related to her field of study..

 

Lily O’Brien is attending Columbia University where she is studying government and history, with a minor in French. She has joined the undergrad law review and is active in voter registration. She works with Students for Sanctuary to translate applications for persons seeking asylum.She is also Involved with college radio. Lily wants to go to law school. 

 

Caden Sanborne is a returning student. He was an undecided major but has gone to St Anselm and is studying nursing. He joined a service society, the club accumulated over 1000 hours of volunteer work in the last few months. He will start clinical work this year.

 

Gillian Thurson attends Endicott College in Beverly, Mass, studying environmental science. She is doing a lot of labs, with hands-on work (she did a project studying the response of snails to different environmental parameters, which is important in helping us understand how they respond to global climate changes). She joined the Environmental Justice Society, which works with the school to be more sustainable. She wants to join the rowing team next semester and also is planning on an undergrad research project. 

 

Trevor Tobin is another returning student. He is attending PSU and is also studying environmental science. He has done some work with electro-fishing in NH streams. 

 

Alicia poses with Rotary exchange students Shelby and Clara.

 

Alicia then introduced the Rotary exchange students. Shelby did a short-term Rotary exchange this spring in Argentina. She lived with a family in Argentina and now that family’s daughter, Clara, is here from Argentina. Shelby really enjoyed the experience and had a great relationship with her host family; she also feels that her Spanish improved while she was there. The schools there are very different from ours. Clara also enjoyed her stay and agrees that the schools are quite different between the two countries. . 

 

The speech contest is coming up. In January, our club forum meeting will (hopefully) be at Tenney Mountain on January 22. Details will follow.

 

Happy dollars were shared by Sharon, Mike, Beth, Denise, Alicia, and Erica.

 

At our next meeting, the Common Man for Ukraine will be presenting. After that meeting we will do a followup meeting for our 100th anniversary project. 

 

Respectfully submitted, 

 

Lora Miller, secretary