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Rotareminder for the Rotary Club of Kent
October 6, 2026
Meeting opening:
Past president Rebekah Wright Kulis called the meeting to order and welcomed members and guests. Rebekah will serve as our acting president for this second quarter of the Rotary year. Prior to the start of the meeting, we were entertained by a trio of Brad Bolton, Christie Anderson and Randy Ruchotzke. The trio also played “America” while we sang along. The invocation was offered by Jim Myers. The second song was “Edelweiss” in honor of the upcoming Octoberfest in Kent. Bill Childers took photos and our tech volunteers were Bill Nome, Roger Kramer and Mark Pennell.
Visitors/Guests:
There were no visiting Rotarians. Ben Tipton introduced several guests, including his daughter Finn, wife Morgan, and parents Mary and Chuck. Dave Myers had two guests who were here with today’s speaker. They were Doug Delahanty and Michael Kavulic, both at KSU.
Announcements:
Steve Dennis announced the start of the Every Rotarian Every Year campaign. Checks can be given to the secretary. Venmo will work. These funds go to The Rotary Foundation.
Melissa Stewart told us about a Scouting for Fraud workshop that will be held at the American Legion and will be hosted by Hometown bank. It will be held from 1 to 4 pm on October 7th
Dennis Campbell had two events to talk about: October 21st is the Bowman breakfast and November 10 is Tree City awards.
Student of the Month:
Alison Bogdan, principal of Stanton Middle School introduced Finn Tipton as the October student of the month. Her parents and grandparents were in attendance. Finn is very active at school and in the community. She is also a student athlete. She is a person who leads by example and she credits her parents and grandparents for inspiring her service to others.
Happy bucks were contributed by Paul Organ and Will Underwood.
Program:
Dave Myers told us that October programs will feature KSU specialty organizations. Today’s program introduced us to the Brain Health Research Institute. Our speaker was Dr. Karin Coifman, director of the Institute.
Dr. Coifman told us that the Institute is outside of university departments. It is designed to bring together a diverse group of personnel who are all focused on doing research and training on neuroscience, brain health, and related topics. The Institute was founded in 2018. It is located in a new building on the KSU campus. The BHRI is housed on the ground floor of the new building. Workshops are offered to faculty and students dealing with the brain and health. Younger students are invited to come to the Institute to learn about neuroscience.
Karin told us about some novel educational events such as Brains on Tap to be held at Bell Tower Brewing. This December 3rd program will feature work on mindfulness and mind wandering. In January there will be a Trainee Research Showcase to highlight student research. We were invited to go to the website and join. It is www.kent.edu/brainhealth. By joining, we will get information on programs that are open to the public.
After Karin’s initial talk there was a lively question and answer session.
Response:
Will Underwood thanked Karin for her talk and her responses to our questions.
The meeting was closed by the reciting of the Four Way Test.
Respectfully submitted,
Sue Hetrick