Rotareminder for the Rotary Club of Kent
Meeting on September 8, 2026
Acting President (AP) / PDG Larry welcomed the group by calling the meeting to order at ~12:10pm. Our patriotic song was God Bless America with our tech team of Marc and Bill controlling the screen. Sandy Roeger delighted us with a medley of tunes this afternoon including Fight on KSU, followed by AP / PDG Larry leading us in the pledge of allegiance.
The Invocation for today’s meeting was offered by Dominique, with Nithya handling photos and Brian as the newsletter author.
There were no visiting rotarians.
Student of The Month
N/A
Visitors / Guests
- Asad introduced Liz and Zack Sullivan, host family for RYE student Sophia Milia.
- Roberta introduced member-candidate Kathy Bates.
Announcements
- AP/PDG, Larry once again reminded rotarians about the MANDATORY Youth Protection Training. Presently, the club is just under 60%. Our meeting on the 29th will be held at the home of Sue Whiting. It will be in a “Speak Easy” format with a $20 door charge (of which a portion will be used for student scholarships). Attendance is limited to thirty-five members so please get your name to Larry if you are planning on attending. Finally, CoCoDa sent a thank you regarding the most recent water project in Central America.
- Jen announced the next meeting with our companion club is tomorrow the 9th, at the Bell Tower. Also, on Oct 24th the tree planting project will happen. There will be at least fifty oak trees. Planting commences at ~9:00am.
- In the month of September, Doug announced there will be a series of events designed to highlight Kent history – 15th at North Water Brewing – history of Kent music (7-9pm); 16th will be an open house at the Kent Historical Society (4-7pm); 17th KSU Museum (5-7pm); 18th Historic Pub Crawl – Over Easy at the Depot (5-7pm); 19th Historic Landmark Building Tour (11am-1pm); and 20th Historic Homes Tour (2-4pm). More details can be obtained from the Main Street Kent / Kent Historic Society websites.
- Janet Mortimer Sessions reminded the audience that the Portage Foundation Online Auction is up and running through the month of September. You may find it on the website: PortageFoundation.org.
- Todd Packer, who works for American Network Preservation, announced that a program titled Building Network Innovation Ecosystems, will be held next Tuesday the 15th at 5:00pm. See Todd for more details.
- Past president Rachel announced that she was part of a committee at the district level dealing in matters related to peaceful societies. She was happy to announce that our club is now a “peace building club,” and has extended invitations to any member who may wish to be part of our club committee for peace.
- Past president Kathy reminded members about the upcoming Coleman Health Services auction, “Changing Destinities” on September 17th. It is not too late to register for the event, which will feature an online auction element.
Program
Rotary Youth Exchange
presented by
Kevin Wermir, Past president
Rotary Club of Medina/ Sunrise Club
with RYE student,
Sophia Milia
Two-time past president Kevin Wemir, has been a member of the Medina and Medina-Sunrise clubs for the past thirty years. Across that time he became involved in what is referred to as Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE). RYE is a program that was started some fifty years ago in response to the need to foster understanding between different cultures – a charge consistent for an international organization that has touted understanding, peace, and caring since the time of its own inception.
The idea, simplified, reperesents an exchange of high school students (inbound [IB] or outbound [OB]) for a full academic year.
The two primary goals are simple and daunting: 1) become proficient with the local language and, 2) develop a strong sense for the culture, all-the-while learning and forging new friendships. While expectations are high, the student ambassador will have the support of a local host family to provide a comfortable home during their stay, as well as the support one might expect from a caring family environment. For Sophia Milia (Kent’s IB RYE student), Liz and Zach Sullivan are that host family that has stepped up to the plate.
Moreover, the program provides support to address other basic needs, academic challenges, or running interference on matters that require more practiced hands. For Kent, Ryan Brannan and Shawn Gordon are two such people that serve in those roles.
On the matter of Sophia, she was given the opportunity to speak about her country (Italy), on the island of Sardinia, a moderately-sized land mass off the west coast of Italy’s mainland in the middle of the Mediterranean sea. Her sponsoring district, 2080, has ~1100 clubs with ~3300 members. As one might expect, the mountains, architecture, local customs and festivals are important parts of her culture, all of which were representated in her power point.
On school, Sophia commented on the differences that seem to stand out. Differences such as when school starts and ends; when lunch is served; or the opportunity to participate in school-sanctioned sports, such as field hockey – something she is having fun with.
What often goes unnoticed in presentations by young adults is the enormity of the task of speaking to a gathering of older adults from a different country, all speaking a different language. This RYE student was very poised and organized in her presentation, sporting a confident attitude with an infectious smile – a fact that underscores the care Rotary takes in selecting the best candidates. It should not be surprising who Sophia becomes ten months from now – something she will have the opportunity to show towards the end of our Rotary year.
Fellow Rotarian Past president Asad, delivered the club’s response.
Respectfully submitted,
Brian K Bialik