Tuesday, March 11, 2014

PETS March 7-8

Hello, all!
Over this past weekend two of our Rotaractors, Terry Thompson and Susan Dalessandro attended the President-Elect Training Seminar as prospective future e-board members. They had a wonderful time and learned quite a bit! Here's what they had to say about it;

It was more than a priviledge to be a part of this event! As a fresh Rotaractor, it was inspiring to see what the possibilities are when sticking with Rotary. The speakers that attended spoke in a way that resonated with its listeners on topics regarding the great strides Rotary has made with the permanent elimination of the Polio virus, how to improve Rotary, how to lead like a Rotarian, and others including personal "Rotary Moments". I was handed so many Rotary cards with names and contact information on them from many smiling faces as they stated, "Let me know if I can ever help you out." I can go on and on, but all in all it was a rewarding experience that I will forever remember and look back on when I am going through my time as a Rotaractor and eventually, an official Rotarian.
Viva Rotary!!!

-Susan Dalessandro



Over this past weekend, March 7-8, I had the most fantastic opportunity to attend a PETS conference.  PETS, President-Elect Training Seminar, is where the newly elected Rotary Club Presidents in the districts go and learn what their job in the upcoming year will entail.  At this particular conference there were many speakers, each with their own advice about how to become a great President in your respective Rotary Club and many other things that are important to the whole Rotary International organization.  After attending a small breakout session with the Presidents of my district, 7280, I enjoyed a wonderful dinner, at which I was able to meet with President-Elects from other districts and ask them what was going on in their area.  Fundraising and membership were hot topics that evening, of course, and I am happy to report that with the knowledge I gained over the weekend, I have some really great ideas for the upcoming semesters with the Slippery Rock Rotaract.  One of the best parts of the weekend, however, was not learning about fundraising (although that is very important!).   My favorite part of the weekend was hearing a speech at the end of the first day by Dr. Peter Salk.  For those of you who do not know, Dr. Salk is the son of Dr. Jonas Salk, the man who discovered the polio vaccine.  He was able to give an in-depth lecture about his father’s study of the disease and subsequent research done to create the modern polio vaccine.  It was also much to my surprise that on the following day I was able to sit down and eat lunch with him.  Dr. Salk is a very kind and humble man, and also extremely knowledgeable.  To learn from him about the intricacies involved in getting the cure for polio was truly something I will cherish all my life.
            At the conference we were also able to meet some of the past Rotary International Presidents.  It was Friday evening when I was riding the elevator down to the hotel lobby that I happened to join Wilf Wilkinson, Rotary International President from 2007-2008.  Having never seen him before, I had no idea who he was, nor did he know who I was.  But, that did not matter to him, we talked on the way down and into the conference room about Rotary and where we were from.  It was not until later that I learned just who this kind man was, and it hit me.  Rotary is full of people who care, no matter where each one of us comes from.  What unites us all is that we care, not only about each other, but others, oftentimes more than for ourselves.  That is, after all, why we are a service organization, is it not?  We have so much that we take for granted, that we would be remiss not to share what we have with people who may not have as much.  That is why we Rotaracters do our annual Dump-N-Run fundraiser and why over this semester and the past one we have been helping to raise money for clean water in Uganda.  Rotary is about service, it is where other leaders can unite and lead on to help others not only locally, but globally.

-Terry Thompson, Jr.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Swimarathon

Good morning!
Sunday, February 23rd was the Swimarathon at the Grove City YMCA. Quite a few of the Rotaractors attended this event and walked or swam to help support the cause. The club was so kindly sponsored by Ken Bennett. It was a wonderful opportunity for the club to talk to other Rotaractors and hear about projects going on worldwide. We met several of the Duquesne University Rotaractors and Grove City College Rotaractors and discussed projects that we are currently working on. The club discovered several new and inspiring organizations and we now have ideas for future projects!









Friday, February 7, 2014

January 29th, 2014 Meeting - Welcome back!

Hello, everyone!
It's been a long time, but we are finally back in session! We had a meeting on January 29th to welcome the club back and go over the plan for the semester. The meeting began with a discussion about future e-board members. Our current president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer are all seniors, so the group will be going through a transition at the end of the semester. Several people expressed interest in taking over one of those positions.

Jenn announced to the club that our $1,000 donation to the Global Uganda project was sent.

Next we discussed upcoming events, including the Swimarathon and Dump 'n' Run. The Rotaractors who are available signed up for Swimarathon and agreed to hang posters around campus about the event. Dump 'n' Run will be covered in an upcoming meeting.

Another topic brought up was Adopt-a-Highway. Josh was contacted by someone from PennDot and was told that the section we originally thought was ours will be expanding. All Rotaractors agreed that this was a good thing and that we will plan a highway clean up day once the weather becomes warmer.

Have a great day! :)