Rotareminder for the Rotary Club of Kent
March 18, 2025

Meeting opening:
President Rachel Kerns called the meeting to order and welcomed Rotarians and guests.  She thanked audio booth volunteers Adam Alderson and Roger Kramer.  Photos were handled by Dominique Bollenbacher.  Our patriotic song was the National Anthem, played by David Dix.  We recited the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the invocation offered by Todd Kamenash.  We then sang Your Song by Elton John, with David Dix providing the accompaniment and Dom leading the singing.
Visitors/ Guests:
Steve Bossart was visiting from the Akron club.  Lori Wemhoff, a former club member, has moved back to this area. Dennis Campbell introduced his guest, Jeff Forstner.  Laing Kennedy introduced his wife Saundra.
Announcements:
Steve Dennis reminded us that the Every Rotarian Every Year campaign is in its final push. All club members need to donate at least $25 for our club to receive credit.
Doug Fuller announced that Tap Talks tonight would be about our national park.
Carol Crimi thanked the club for her receiving the Glenn Saltzman award this year.
Dennis Campbell announced that Chamber will host a breakfast with KSU leadership on the morning of April 8th.
Nithya Venkataraman thanked everyone for auction participation.  She noted that the event raised about $33,000.  About 120 people attended the event.  A survey will solicit feedback.  
Bill Childers reminded us about the NCAA watch party scheduled for March 21st from 11:30 am until 6 pm at Ray’s.  Proceeds benefit United Way.
Todd Kamenash told us that March Madness brackets are available on each table for us to fill out or we can request that Todd fill out brackets for us.  The proceeds of our donation of $10 per bracket benefit literacy projects of our club.
President Rachel thanked everyone who worked on the auction and thanked Amanda Senn for filling in for her while she traveled to Turkey for the Rotary Peace Conference.  Rachel also noted that we will be helping  the District to prepare care packages for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Student of the Month:
Dennis Love, principal of Roosevelt High School introduced Jackson Puhalla as the March Student of the Month.  He was joined by his parents Steve and Ann.  Ann is a teacher at Roosevelt.  Jackson is described as a role model who is respectful and polite.  He is taking advanced classes and receives high grades for his work.  He went to Buckeye Boys State and received numerous other awards.  He is an accomplished competitive swimmer and golfer.  In the Fall he plans to attend Ohio State to study biology.
New Member Induction:
Pete Kenworthy was introduced by his sponsor, Dave Myers.  Pete has a career in media and now has his own company.  Pete lives in Kent.  He is married and has children, including twins.   He was inducted into the Rotary Club by Rachel Kerns.
Happy Bucks:
Todd Kamenash collected happy bucks from the following Rotarians:
   Asad Khan – for the auction and the student of the month.
   Nancy Whitehead – getting ready to do a trip to the Smokey Mountains
   Steve Bossart – happy to see Lori, a classmate.
   Dennis Campbell – rooting for the Zips.
   Lori Wemhoff – happy to be back after a number of years in Chicago.
   Kaleena Gharky – for Habitat’s newest home completion.
   Randy Smith – for the high school swim team.
   Anne Moneypenny – happy to see Lori and rooting for the Zips.
Kathy Myers – proud of grandchildren performing music and plays and wishing Dave a happy birthday.
   Dominique Bollenbacher – excited to see her new office at the new city hall offices.
   Adam Alderson – happy about his gigs with his Irish Folk Band.
   Bill Childers – happy about KSU basketball wins.

Program:
Todd Kamenash introduced Kent Rotarian Laing Kennedy to talk about the NCAA and March Madness.
Laing talked about his time at KSU as Athletic Director.  He liked the simplicity and effectiveness of ethical principles.  The early ethics code was four words: integrity, responsibility, respect, and concern.  He then showed us the hefty NCAA manual.  The manual’s complexity required the hiring of a director of compliance to keep on top of all of the do’s and don’ts.  
Conferences are changing.  The size is enlarged.  Territory goes coast to coast.  The number of teams within a conference has expanded to about double the size as before.  It’s almost impossible to attend all games in person.  Now you need to watch games on TV.  
Money is driving some of the changes.  Laing is not in favor of the transfer portal as it is today.  Nor is he in favor of the NIL (name, image, likeness) that influences athletes today.  Some NIL arrangements are being made before athletes even go to college.  Beware of teams made up of transfers.
Laing talked about the brackets for the men and women for 2025.  He told us that he thought Akron Zips could win their first game.  In predicting winners, Laing is predicting that Duke will win over Houston for the men.  In the women’s tournament, Laing thinks that USC will win over South Carolina.  Todd picked St. John to win for the men and U. Conn to win the women’s contest.
Response:
Bill Childers gave the response.  He highlighted Laing’s career and had Saundra receive recognition as Laing’s wife of over 60 years.  He told us the Laing has his own Wikipedia page!
The meeting closed with the Four Way Test.

Respectfully submitted,
Sue Hetrick