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Welcome to the Rotary Club of Kent

Are you an established professional who wants to make positive changes in your community and the world? Our club members are dedicated people who share a passion for community service and friendship. Becoming a Rotarian connects you with a diverse group who share your drive to give back.

Laing Kennedy prognosticates on the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournament

March Madness is back. Before sharing his tips on tournament betting strategy, Kennedy had some thoughts to share on matters of collegiate athletics policy. Kennedy commented that one of the hot issues is the new ability to compensate players for using their name and likeness in advertising. Kennedy is concerned about how this wealth and popularity can affect teams. Transfer portals are another concern; turnover is becoming quite high, affecting team cohesion. Kennedy said wellness coaches are essential to support the health and well-being of student athletes, a positive addition to sports departments. He also said social media networks present a challenge for college teams. When social media first emerged, Kennedy instituted a rule: “No student athlete at Kent State can be on social media.” The rule lasted about a week — it violated freedom of speech. He also cautioned parents and athletes against sports camps that claim to guarantee D1 athletic scholarships. And finally, he said that the NCAA has a long way to go in creating equality in women’s sports.

Kennedy offered tips about filling out March Madness brackets: 1) Usually #1 and #2 seed teams win games. 2) Don’t pick your underdog to win the tournament, but you can give them a shot at the Final Four. 3) Don’t pick a team seeded #8 or greater to win it all, unless it’s Kent State. 4) If you pick all favorites to win the first round, you’ll likely do well.

Todd Kamanesh offered his alternative approach to picking teams: Bill Childers throwing darts. “You can listen to Laing … or you can take it from the fingertips of Bill Childers.”

Kent Rotary History Moment for March 8, 2022

Never underestimate the importance of our weekly programs or the speakers who give of their time to address us!

President James Engleman, 1928 to 1938 was retiring and it was time to select his successor. Keep in mind that having been established in 1910, it was 1925 before Kent Normal won its first Football game. And during 1932, our team not only failed to win a game, it never even scored a point all season. Later our football head coach was Joe Begala, who became a legend later as our successful wrestling coach and coach of our golf team to its first Ohio Conference Championship in Golf that included two of our former members, Bill Gressard and Don Ulrich. But I digressed, back to Engleman's replacement.

Hafiz Haq speaks to Kent Ohio Rotary

Assad Khan introduced November 30 2021 speaker – Hafiz Haq, an independent entrepreneur from the United Kingdom. He is presenting via Zoom and will be providing remarks regarding his 52 year professional journey….

Mr. Haq has amassed a remarkable professional record across the past 52 years – from manufacturing and logistics to a business development consultancy. An engineer by education, Hafiz’s professional journey has taken him all across the world, providing invaluable experiences that have helped shape and expand his knowledge of the inner workings of business. He attributes his success to a subscribed set of themes that have served as guiding principles:

Self-development and competitiveness – This comes from within. An individual must make a whole-hearted indivisible commitment to the idea or notion of success.

Ambition and Passion - Cited an example from a former mentor who gave him an impossible task. What he learned from this experience was that it was not good enough to be good…one must strive to be different.

Managing people - What was key here is the importance of catching people when they achieved success and to reinforce the same. People need to know their contributions are valued – cultivating ideas from them will help boost your relationship to develop a chemistry necessary for successful collaborations.

Learning from Cultural aspects – Helps develop / foster better understanding; needs/desires; behaviors and work ethic.

In closing, Hafiz shared with the audience what occupies his time today – an organization called Transformation Beyond Imagination. It was founded out of the need to pay the lessons of success forward. The program is geared towards individuals and provides professional scholarships to those who lack financial resources to receive the proper educational opportunities to improve oneself.

Today’s responder to the program was Tom Larkin.

The Gratitude Project

President Kathy Myers presented herself as the speaker on November 23, 2021 with little fanfare, noting most everyone knew all about her. Her topic for the program was Attitude of Gratitude and she utilized a series of slides to organize her presentation into various parts.

The introduction included an overview of research studies she had reviewed, listing the definition and the underlying benefits derived from gratitude:

-it may be broadly defined as the appreciation of what is valuable and meaningful to

ourselves.

-it makes you happier.

-it helps you sleep better

-it improves you physical and mental health.

-it can help our financial life.

-it improves our work life

This set the stage for a participatory exercise by the members of the club in the form of a Gratitude Quiz. Using booklets on the tables, they were given a list of statements and asked to individually rank them 1 thru 7: 1 STRONGLY DISAGREE, 2 DISAGREE, 3 SLIGHTLY DISAGREE, 4 NEUTRAL, 5 SLIGHTLY AGREE, 6 AGREE, 7 STRONGLY AGREE.

The statements were:

I have so much in life for which to be thankful.
If I had to list everything, I feel thankful for, it would be a long list.
When I look at the world, I don’t see much to be grateful for.
I am grateful for a wide variety of people.
As I get older, I find myself more able to appreciate the people, events, and situations that have been part of my life journey.
Long amounts of time can go by before I feel grateful to something or someone.

Club members were directed to add up their scores for items A, B, D, & E. They were directed to invert their scores for items C & F (1 becomes 7, 2 becomes 6, etc.), add them to the total. President Kathy speculated, based on our club membership being a “happy group,” most of us scored between 35 and 42, demonstrating a high degree of gratitude and appreciation in our lives. She indicated that, based on research, there are various ways to impact gratitude.

In the last part of her presentation, President Kathy explored these practical, researched ways, by posing the question “How Can We Cultivate Gratitude?”

Write a Thank You note

She noted that a thank you note becomes a treasure and provided note cards, and envelopes the members could take home and utilize for this activity.

Thank someone mentally

Simply find ways to do this, such as while driving, etc.

Keep a Gratitude Journal

List each day a pre-selected number of items you are thankful for that day. Include items you may be thankful that don’t happen.

Count our Blessings

Take a moment to think about all the things that went right and how moments of gratitude make you feel. Especially those moments of giving.

Prayer

Even if not religious, a small prayer of gratitude.

Meditate

Practice mindful meditation, focusing on the present without judgement, being grateful for the simple things of nature, etc.

Kathy summed up her presentation by reminding us that as we move forward this Thanksgiving week, take the booklet with us. Start writing down those things we are thankful for. Take the note cards and write a thank you note to someone you care for. Let them know how much you appreciate them. Citing author Lisa Ryan, “If you tell someone, you leave a memory. If you write it down and give it them, you have given them a treasure”, Kathy encouraged us all to follow through in this exercise. She encouraged us to share with someone why you are grateful for them this week and ending her presentation.

Asad Khan prefaced a question by thanking Kathy and asked what her inspiration for the program was. She indicated that her happiness is linked to maintaining an “attitude of gratitude” and keeping things in perspective, especially during this week of preparing for the Thanksgiving celebration.

Responder

The response was provided by Nelson Burns. He Thanked President Kathy for her presentation, noting that her husband Tom and son David were happy they did not have to respond. He noted that her message reminded him of the idea that in giving gratitude, you get it back twofold! He pointed out that we all can apply the ideas she presented over this Thanksgiving holiday.

Sri Peruvemba - Spoke to Kent Rotary on November 16, 2021

Sri Peruvemba is CEO of Marketer International Inc., a marketing services firm specializing in the global high-tech industry. Sri’s Zoom appearance was arranged by Program Chair Asad Khan, as part of his “Immigrant Success Stories” month.

Peruvemba was previously Chief Marketing Officer for E Ink Holdings, where he played a major role in transforming the startup to a $1 plus billion global ePaper company. With over 30 years of experience in the technology industry, Peruvemba has been an influential advocate in the advancement of electronic hardware technologies. He is an acknowledged expert on sensors, electronic displays, haptics, touch screens, electronic materials and related technologies; and consults, writes and presents on those subjects globally. He is a personal mentor to 35 people and involved in a number of activities, including a cricket club he started in Silicon Valley.

Sri told stories about his academics in India and journey to the U.S., where he took his first job at Pizza Hut to help pay the bills while studying for an MBA. He was frustrated with the slow pace of business in India and thrilled with his quick promotions in America. He shared stories of his “lessons learned” and positive attitude and work ethic with the group, including a breathing exercise and gratitude habit. He says the key to success is to have people who believe in you—and to be a person who believes in others.