President Asad gaveled the meeting to order.  Rotarians sang “God Bless America”. Nelson Burns offered an invocation that prayed for peace and comfort for those who are victims of the world’s suffering.  Dominique  Bollenbacher led Rotarians in singing, “Do-Re-Me,” a popular Rodgers and Hammerstein song from the musical, “The Sound of Music.”

 

 

*Protecting Our Youngsters:  Todd Kamenash, our club’s Youth Protection Officer, said Rotary District 6630 is providing online training to help Rotarians better protect young people when they are subjected to improper contact.  Todd said we will be getting an email from District 6630 about this.  Undergoing the training is voluntary.

*New Paul Harris Fellows:  Jennifer Lennox presented Paul Harris Fellow Medallions to Sherry Joy and Sandee Reid.  The medallions recognized donations to the Rotary International Foundation of $1,000 or more. 

*Rotarians Win Trivia Night:  Jennifer Lennox reported that six or more Rotarians turned out for the fellowship night at the Lake House Kitchen and Bar on East Twin Lake and President Asad said our club took top honors at the weekly Trivia Night there.

*Invocation Signup:  Roberta O’Keefe circulated the signup sheet for invocation volunteers saying there are not many dates open.

*February Programs:  Bill Childers announced February programs saying his focused is Black History.  The upcoming programs are listed in our bulletin.

 

Doug Fuller donated $6 because his younger brother, Dean, the Fitchburg State University Hockey Coach for 40 years, just notched his 600^th victory placing Dean in the elite company of about 17 college hockey coaches.  He said Fitchburg, located in Fitchburg, Massachusetts is Division III and does not offer scholarship.   Doug and Karen and their daughter, Lauren, traveled to Fitchburg to be on hand for the big victory.  Nelson Burns donated to celebrate having climbed Camel Back Mountain in Arizona.  Kathy Myers donated $18 for Maria Zanona, our Rotary Exchange student who was in attendance and celebrating her 18^th birthday Tuesday.  She also donated $1 for Jeff Miller, our speaker, whom she has known since Jeff and her son David were youngsters.  John Flynn donated $1 saying he is happy he will not have to watch the Super Bowl between San Francisco and Baltimore since he does not care for either team. Roger Sidoti donated to honor Jeff Miller, a Roosevelt alumnus, and Dominique Bollenbacher who in her capacity as Kent City Engagement Officer put together a very successful Snow Day in Downtown Kent. Amy Mucha donated to also honor Dominique’s Snow Day and for the fact that her Daisy Pops business was recently featured on Cleveland TV.  Tom Larkin donated to honor Jeff Miller, our speaker, and Maria Zinona, our Brazilian Rotary Exchange student.  Tom Hatch gave $1 for Dominque Bollenbacher’s successful Downtown Kent Snow Day.  Bill Childers donated $1 to honor the memory of Jack Hurd, Kent Rotary’s pianist and principal in the Kent Schools, whose grandson, Dylan Schmidt, was present with his mother, Julie Schmidt, as our Student of the Month.  President Asad donated $100, the club’s winnings at Trivia Night at the Lake House Kitchen and Bar, saying Rotarians who participated that evening decided the winnings should go to Happy Bucks.  Amanda Senn donated $1 to celebrate the second birthday of her family’s pet dog.

 

Jeff Roeger recognized the following:  Bill Myers, January 16, Stacy Richardson, January 22, Carol Crimi, January 28, Jim Arthur, January 29, and Larry Lohman, January 31.  Our Brazilian Rotary Exchange Student, Maria Zinona, was present and celebrating her 18^th birthday on Tuesday, so Jeff made an executive decision and awarded Maria the free lunch.  Carol Crimi, the only Kent Rotarian present and celebrating in January, responded to the Kent Rotary Birthday question of:  1) What did you want to be when you were growing up and 2) If you had not followed your career path, was there another you considered?  Carol said as a youngster she aspired to be like Dale Evans, the wife of Roy Rogers, the movie cowboy hero.  She said she always admired that Dale and Roy adopted so many children of different nationalities and races.  She said in a way her career as an attorney handling the issues of international students at Kent State for 15 years, had aspects of that.

 

Roosevelt Principal Dennis Love introduced Dylan Schmidt as our Roosevelt Student of the Month.  The son of Eric and Julie Schmidt and the grandson of the late Jack Hurd, a Kent Schools administrator who served our club so well as its pianist, Dylan, Dennis Love told us, is an excellent student academically and stands out for his leadership in his high school’s fine arts programs.  He cited Dylan’s performances in music and theater and for being a good shot put and discus thrower for the Roosevelt track and field team.  He said Dylan is president of the Theodore Roosevelt High School Drama Guild land is a percussionist in the Marching Band and Wind Symphony.  He said Dylan is the news anchor for the morning announcements and is a yearbook staff member for the Digital media production and publication team.   Dylan, he said, aspires to a career as a movie actor, a choir teacher, or a musician and will study Music Composition and Education at Kent State starting next year.  He said Dylan carries a 3.2 grade point average and has taken many advanced and Advanced Placement classes including Anatomy and Physiology, Algebra, Advanced English 12, Digital Media Production and Publication, and Choralworks.  Dennis quoted several teachers who praised Dylan as a student, leader, and all-around good person.  Dylan appealed to Rotarians to attend the Roosevelt performance of “The Fantasticks”.  One of the longest running Broadway musicals ever,  “The Fantasticks” will be performed March 2 through 5 in the newly remodeled Roberts Auditorium.  Although his father, Eric, could not  attend the Rotary meeting, his mother, Julie, was present.

 

 

Amanda Senn, our program chairperson for 2023-2024, introduced our speaker, Jeff Miller, a Roosevelt graduate, Class of 2002, who resides in Chicago and is a successful author, whose “The Nerdy Dozen” series has been published by Harper Collins.  His latest book is “Rare Birds.”   Jeff credited the Kent Schools for being supportive of his aspirations as a writer early on.  He said his teachers at Franklin Elementary were very encouraging and he wrote his first story in 5^th Grade about a dog that enjoyed skateboarding on top of cars.  He attended Davey Middle School (now an elementary school) and that gave him the opportunity to perform on stage.  He said he communicated with the ghosts of Roosevelt’s history who reportedly still hang out in Davey, which prior to the current Roosevelt High School complex on North Mantua Street, served as Theodore Roosevelt High School and was built in the early 1920s.  Participation in Roosevelt’s Fine Arts program nurtured his writing abilities.  He said he did production work in the auditorium that supported the dancing performances of Seth Stewart who has performed in “Hamilton” on Broadway.  He wrote for The Colonel, the high school newspaper, and enjoyed writing humorous articles and appreciated Carol Danks, his teacher and advisor.  At the University of Cincinnati, he continued to pursue  his interests in Fine Arts and studied electronic media.  He also wrote for the University’s news publications concentrating on sports and entertainment as a weekly columnist.  After college, he served in AmeriCorps, worked as a summer camp counselor, worked as a professional cactus cutter,  and volunteered in efforts to build houses in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.  In Chicago he lives and performs as a small part of the live-lit storytelling scene.  He said he is writing a story about a brother and sister who visit their father in Montana with the boy getting lost and finding himself.

 

Responder:  Dave Myers, a contemporary and a friend of Jeff’s, said they were part of a stage production of Lewis and Clark in fourth grade.  He said he appreciated Jeff’s good sense of humor.

 

Respectfully submitted:  Dave Dix