Jan 11 Mtg - Essays - Becky reporter

We had a completely full house and what a great group of guests! After a somewhat questionable rendition of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (in honor of the Fallen Ducks), we welcomed our many guests. Chris Boland’s guest Bobby Bakshi. From Woodinville High School, the Cline family; the Rieke family, The Fornelius family, Lauren Heller. Madelyn Cline (1^st place), Trey Fornelius (2^nd place) and Lauren Heller (3^rd place) each were winners of the 4-Way Test Essay contest recently held at Woodinville High School. In all, there were 55 entries. The three winners read aloud their essays to the applause of an appreciative audience.

Pass 4-Way Test Madelyn, Trey and Lauren

President Erv extended thanks to Alex Hopkins for taking a leadership position on this project and for promoting the vision of Rotary among our young citizens. In turn, Alex thanked all of the participants and judges and presented a desk plaque to each winner (albeit in Spanish). Vicki Puckett also thanked the Rotary Club for thinking about the students in our schools; stating that they are one of our “greatest treasures and assets”.

Matt Rieke then presented his experiences at FBLA and DECA. He is currently a senior at Woodinville High School and holds a national leadership position with FBLA, is involved in Boys Nation, Boys State and has attended an intensive wrestling camp. He feels that his DECA and FBLA experiences have shaped him as a person and is appreciative of the opportunity to participate at the national level – an opportunity that he earned through hard work and dedication. Matt related that one of the highlights of his time at Boys Nation in Washington D.C. was shaking the hand of President Obama and the time spent in the Senate session. When asked by a Rotarian member how these experiences shaped his life, Matt stated that the DECA and FBLA experiences helped him define his career path; he will be majoring in Business Administration with a focus in Finance.

Eric Greenwood reminded us that the DECA competition is March 4^th and over 600 volunteers are needed to help with the judging. He is fully supportive of this “super experience” and encouraged us all to consider signing up as a volunteer. You can find out more about the upcoming DECA competition and register for a judge position by visiting www.wadeca.org.

Being out of available minutes, the meeting was quickly wrapped up by the Marble Drawing (no Winner!), a few raffle prizes and a reminder that “Having Fun is Serious Business”!

Meeting adjourned. Sorry Evan

Next Reporter:

January 18 - Larry Leonardson