It was great to hear Dr. Taléa Drummer-Ferrell last Tuesday. What an interesting person and a great speaker!
This week we have the privilege of having our club’s 4-way speech contest. We have three brilliant Kent Roosevelt students who will speak on various topics all adhering to the backdrop of the 4-way test. Then, the winner of that contest along with all the winners from our district’s other clubs, will compete on April 9, 2022. Our club is honored to be hosting the competition at Kent Roosevelt on Saturday, April 9th.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR! April 22 and 23 is the District Meeting. It will be at the Sheraton Suites in Cuyahoga Falls. Since our very own Larry Lohman is District Governor, we want to show every other club in the district how AWESOME we are! (They know Larry is awesome, but we need to make sure they know the rest of the club is just as awesome!) Details will be coming soon. Please plan to be there for as much as you can be!
In sports news…. Kent State Men’s Basketball is 21-9 going into the MAC Tournament. Speaking of tournaments, March Madness is quickly approaching. Don’t forget that you can join the Kent Rotary March Madness Bracket Buster for either the Men’s or Women’s Tournaments for $10. You can pick as many brackets as you’d like. All of the funds go to our club’s literacy projects. On March 15th, Laing Kennedy will give his annual March Madness Prognostications. It’s always fun to hear… even if you’re not a basketball fan.
Remember, we can pay for our lunches and other Kent Rotary costs (like the March Madness brackets) via Venmo. If you don’t have the app on your phone, take a few minutes to go to www.venmo.com. You can learn more about it and download the app. There are no extra charges for you or the club, so it’s a way of making everyone’s life a little easier.
Patriotic song My Country Tis of Thee was arranged by David Dix followed by our Rotary Hymn.
President Kathy led the Pledge of Allegiance.
The Invocation was offered by John Flynn.
Brian Bialik handling Rotareminder duties
Visiting Rotarians
None
Guests
*Anthony Horton introduced the entire Khan family (related to the student of the month)
*Todd Kamenash introduced multiple members of Kent State University.
*Bill Childers introduced Tammy Hunter of Townhall II and Bill Drugan of the Kent Lions club.
Announcements
Rotary Auction is May 6th…auction committee meets after lunch this afternoon.
There is an ongoing need for audio visual help at lunch meetings. Please see President Kathy or President-Elect Dave.
The district conference is scheduled for April 22nd and 23rd.President Kathy would like to encourage attendance, particularly in light of the fact that our District Governor is a member of our club.
United Way is having an NCAA watch party at Ray’s, Friday, March 18th from 11:00am to 4:00pm.
Bill Drugan from the Lion’s Club announced that there annual pancake breakfast is this coming Sunday…all are welcome.
Tom Hatch announced that the College of Arts and Sciences is hosting a panel discussion on the Russian invasion of Ukraine today at 5:15pm in Bowman Hall, or via zoom https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89892613500.
Todd Kamenash will be back at the lunch table soliciting players in the men’s and women’s NCAA bracket buster tournament. All proceeds will go to towards the literacy programs.
Amanda Senn announced that going forward, she would be sharing updated stories of former students of the month and how their lives have unfolded, professionally, personally, or otherwise.
Student of the Month
Simon Khan.
Program
Dr. Taléa Drummer-Ferrell,KSU Assoc VP for Student Affairs & Dean of Students shares her career journey
Dr. Drummer-Ferrell shared that her passion for education started when she was in elementary school. As early as fourth grade, she was tutoring students who struggled with reading, and it was that experience where she realized that teaching was her calling.
Dr. Drummer-Ferrell’s background is varied. As a photographer’s daughter and former intercollegiate athlete, she cites faith, family, and football as three of the most important principles that have guided her life. She admits to being a Bengals fan largely due to her Southwestern Ohio roots - much to the dismay of a few faithful.
Challenges are not new to her, and in fact, have been the source of her drive and will to succeed. This notion became very evident upon graduation from Miami of Ohio University, with a BA in Family Studies. Her application for the master’s program at the same was turned down.
Not to be deterred, she eventually applied to the University of Louisville, was accepted, and graduated in 2008 with a Master’s of Education. Somewhere along the way, she was crowned the Kentucky Derby Queen.
Subsequent to the completion of her Master’s, she took some time to work in a summer internship involving student housing. It was during that time she had been planning to complete her formal education by applying, and getting accepted into, the PhD program at KSU in Higher Educational Administration – a degree she completed in 2014.
A job opportunity became available to work at the Student Multi-cultural Center at KSU. This came at an interesting time when she became increasingly aware of numerous micro-aggressions in the broader community. She saw this opportunity as a way to affect change, working closely with students, digging deep into their lives to learn about their needs, and responding in ways intended to address changes, whether it was related to discrimination, food or housing insecurity, or something else not easy to detect.
On Juneteenth, 2020, she was named Dean of Students, overseeing student affairs and has never looked back.
“I am grateful for the gifts I have and believe I am my ancestors wildest dreams”
Today’s responder to the program was Steve Dennis.
Never underestimate the importance of our weekly programs or the speakers who give of their time to address us!
President James Engleman, 1928 to 1938 was retiring and it was time to select his successor. Keep in mind that having been established in 1910, it was 1925 before Kent Normal won its first Football game. And during 1932, our team not only failed to win a game, it never even scored a point all season. Later our football head coach was Joe Begala, who became a legend later as our successful wrestling coach and coach of our golf team to its first Ohio Conference Championship in Golf that included two of our former members, Bill Gressard and Don Ulrich. But I digressed, back to Engleman's replacement.
The trustees thought that because Kent State had finally attained University status, that rather than an educator, as all of our preceding presidents were aligned to our primary force as a teachers normal or college, it was time for a more liberal arts approach, and Dr. Karl Leebrick, dean of the College of Liberal Arts of Syracuse University, was their man. Our own Major Roy Smith was a member of the trustees at this time. Leebrick was virtually unknown to our community except for the favorable impression he had made speaking before the Kent Rotary Club. So favorable was that impression, not to just our club, but to the KSU Trustees who were in attendance that his selection was without public contest. July 1st, 1938 he took office. He was an oratorical spellbinder and sold himself and his ideas to service clubs, patriotic orders, fraternal groups and learned societies.
As well as selling himself to Kent Rotary, in his first year as president he delivered no fewer than 75 public addresses throughout the nation. Thus the importance of our weekly programs.
Information in this eBulletin comes primarily from the Rotareminder, board meeting minutes, and stories submitted by members.
If you have any Rotary stories, events or speaker information to benefit the Club, please submit it to info.rotarykentohio.org@gmail.com. We will add it to the next appropriate eBulletin.
It was great to hear Dr. Taléa Drummer-Ferrell last Tuesday. What an interesting person and a great speaker! 
The trustees thought that because Kent State had finally attained University status, that rather than an educator, as all of our preceding presidents were aligned to our primary force as a teachers normal or college, it was time for a more liberal arts approach, and 
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