Rotareminder for the Rotary Club of Kent
Meeting on March 3, 2026
President Amanda welcomed the group by calling the meeting to order at ~12:10pm. Our patriotic song was our National Anthem and our tech team of Mark and Bill were on hand. In the interest of time, president Amanda announced we would forego today’s song. President Amanda did lead us in the pledge of allegiance.
The Invocation for today’s meeting was offered by Anne Moneypenny, with Dominique handling photos and Brian as the newsletter author.
There were no visiting Rotarians.
Student of The Month
Stanton Middle School principal, Kathy Scott, introduced this month’s student of the month – Gigi Lewis. In the first half of this academic year, Gigi has achieved a perfect grade point average, underscoring her prowess in the classroom. Gigi is a multi-talented individual who enjoys dancing, music, as well as serving as a student ambassador and morning crew announcer. She aspires to be a professional educator one day as she contemplates college in the not-to-distant future.
Visitors / Guests
Dennis Campbell introduced his guest Joe Hartman; Tom Hatch introduced KSU faculty member JR Campbell; Todd Kamanesh introduced his son Charlie.
Announcements
- PP Bill Childers announced United Way’s watch party at Ray’s on Friday, March 20th. All are invited. He also announced that Salvation Army would be conducting its next food distribution event on Wednesday from 9-11am, for the Red shield Food Pantry, near the intersection of Summit Street and Horning Road. (In the parking lot across from the Christian Life Center.)
- Dominique announced that the City of Kent will be hosting a reception for Student artists on March 13th at city hall. In addition, Dom reminded everyone that next week is the auction, so there will be no normal lunch meeting. There is still room to sign up, so please reach out to Dom if you would like to attend.
- PDG/PP Larry Lohman provided literature on Companion Clubs. There will be a meeting at Belltower restaurant on March 12th to learn more. Please see Larry about any interest you may have in attending. In addition, Larry announced an upcoming district grant seminar on March 5th (Zoom call) starting at 6:30pm, with another seminar scheduled for March 21st (Sat) from 9-11am. Finally, Larry reminded club members about the upcoming district conference starting on April 24th at the Marriott East in Warrensville Hts. The conference actually starts at 2:00pm on Friday and goes into Sunday. There will be a slew of interesting speakers which will include the winners of the 4-Way District Speech Contest. All are encouraged to attend.
- PP Dave Myers announced he is now accepting entries into the club’s annual March Madness fundraiser, whose proceeds go to support literacy needs locally.
- Todd Kamenesh and his son Charlie, will be conducting a small preview of the Rotary auction event – Night at the Races - while judges of the club’s speech contest compile contestants’ scores.
Program
Rotary Club of Kent’s Four-Way Speech Contest
Will Underwood, current member, introduced faculty member and student advisor to our speech contestants, Nicki White.
Nicki White comes to us from Phoenix, AZ where she ran a middle school theatre program, taught ELA, and founded a Speech and Debate Team at the high school she taught in. Now she has revived the Speech and Debate Team here at Roosevelt, and Kent has a competitive speaking team for the first time in twenty years. She also teaches English, including for the celebrated Expedition Academy, and is a mom of two young children.
Today, she has the privilege of introducing three of her speech proteges competing for the honor to represent our club later this month in the District Speech Contest.
Avian Gillig-Monroe
Avian is a student of the Forestry and Environmental Studies program and proud Yale applicant.
He is an avid social activist with a passion for writing, public speaking, and plant science. He is a National Merit Scholar, and the historian of the Speech and Debate Team. Avian competes in Lincoln Douglas Debate – a one-on-one values-based format that focuses on philosophy, ethics, and morality and asks students to debate on both sides of every resolution.
Avian’s speech topic this afternoon is on State Bill (SB) 104, sometimes refered to as the “bathroom bill,” that has implications for people who are transgender.
Ash Riddick
Ash is a student of the engineering academy, a Glisten Education Network; member of student council; future medical leader, and National Honor Society member. She is a member of the speech and debate team and competes in international extemporaneous speaking – a competitive, limited-preparation speech event focusing on foreign affairs. Participants have thirty minutes to prepare a seven minute speech answering a specific, prompt-based question regarding international politics, economics, or culture. She is a state qualifier and will be competing in the Varsity State Finals this weekend.
Ash’s speech topic is one familiar to many – “climate change.”
Colemann Packer
Colemann is the vice president of the Environmental Club; president of the Chess Club; involved in the band, and an officer in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Kent’s Youth for Justice group. He has been accepted to Haverford College and intends to study philosophy. Colemann is also the president of our Speech and Debate Team. He is a state qualifier in Lincoln Douglas Debate and will also be competing in the Varsity State Finals with his classmate Ash, this weekend.
Colemann’s speech topic deals with the slaughter of Ukrainian jews during WWII.
As cliché as it may sound, this year’s contestants were extraordinary, making the job of judging, once again, difficult. It was the decision of the judges , however, to select Avian as our club winner, and district representative later this month.
Fellow rotarian, Jeff Roeger, delivered the club’s response.
Respectfully submitted,
Brian K Bialik
