Meeting opening: David Dix played the Star Spangled Banner; Dave Myers gave the invocation, and the song was Let There Be Peace On Earth.
Guests: There were no visiting Rotarians. Guests included Dale Barak, father of the Kent Theodore Roosevelt Student of the month Nicholai Barak; Asad Khan’s wife Beth; speaker Alfonso Hinojosa’s wife Erin; Jeff Roeger’s pharmacy intern from NEOMED Sukndeep Singh; David Sommers’s guest architect Ted Manfrass, and Dave Myers’s guest and soon to be member David Patterson.
Announcements:
- President Kathy said she was looking forward to seeing everyone at the 100th anniversary celebration this Saturday. She again thanked the committee for all of their hard work.
- Anita Herington announced that the milkweed planting for the monarch project would take place tomorrow, October 20 at 3 p.m. If interested in helping, meet at the Towners Woods kiosk at 3 p.m. and bring a shovel.
- Jeff Roeger explained the flyer he distributed about how to schedule flu and COVID shots at Wallgreens or any other pharmacy. Scheduling is required due to the demand for vaccines.
- Curt Stumpf reminded Rotarians of the Main Street Kent Family Friendly Halloween on October 29 where the club has committed to providing candy and people to distribute candy. You can still donate candy or money for candy at next week’s meeting (October 26).
- Rachel Kern said Habitat for Humanity is building a house for a mother with five children. With building costs rising, Habitat is going to host Homes for the Holidays on Saturday, November 13 at 6 p.m. at the NEW Center of NEOMED.
- Will Underwood announced that our club will again host the District 6630 4-way speech contest. The event will be held at Kent Theodore Roosevelt High School on Saturday, April 9. Please see Will if you can help with the contest.
- President Kathy said more volunteers are needed to help with AV to allow the club to continue with hybrid meetings.
Student of the Month: Roosevelt Principal Dennis Love introduced Nikolai Barak. Nikolai is a senior with a 4.33 gpa. Principal Love described Nikolai as dedicated, motivated and positive. He is president of the German Club, member of the Drama Club, on Student Council, chair of the silent auction, freshman mentor and on the leadership retreat planning committee. Nikolai plans to attend Bowling Green State University and become a German and Spanish teacher.
100th Anniversary Moment: Jim Myers said he has done 70 of these memory moments. Today was the last one as the past presidents of the club have contributed to publish a 101st anniversary book that will be distributed at the celebratory dinner and to other members not in attendance afterwards. The book will incorporate the three previous books and is being written by David Dix and published with the help of Tom Hatch. The members gave Jim Myers a standing ovation for the great work he did over the past year and a half bringing our history to life.
Speaker: Program Chair Asad Khan continued this month’s theme of immigrants in leadership by introducing Alfonso Hinojosa, controller at MetalTek International.
Alfonso was born and raised in Mexico City. He earned his bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting at a Mexican university. He came to the United States in 1998 to work for Sherwin Williams and has had several important jobs with manufacturing since then. Alfonso earned his MBA in international business from Baldwin Wallace. He is an avid tennis player. He and his wife Erin have two daughters.
Alphonso said he was working with Sherwin Williams in Mexico for a company there. Based on his ability so speak English well, he was given the opportunity to come to Sherwin Williams headquarters in Cleveland several times. On one visit in 1996, he bought a baseball at a Tower City store called Successories that guided and changed his life. The baseball inscription was “Risk: You can’t steal second base with your foot on first base”
When he was offered the opportunity to work in international coatings for Sherwin Williams in September of 1997, he talked to his parents and sister and they were very supportive. The opportunity was supposed to be a 3-5 year commitment but he met and married his wife of 22 years and they had two daughters.
Life lessons: Take risks; build relationships (can’t underestimate their value); live your dream; be yourself; be kind, and be good.
Alfonso said he is proud to be an American citizen.
His current employer is a foundry and machine shop business headquartered in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Alphonso is located at the Sandusky plant that produces castings for paper production machines. He said his company follows the main concepts of Extreme Leadership which was developed by two Navy Seals who fought in Afghanistan. These concepts include accountability, extreme ownership, tolerance, open and honest communication, lead by example, explain the why, empower everybody, show results, focus on what is right not who is right, and be humble.
He concluded that everyone can be a leader. It is actions, not titles that make a leader. His mantra is: We’re a team because we care, trust and respect each other.
Response was by David Dix.
