We are giving away $5,000 in scholarships this year. A few of the students were able to join us for our weekly meeting to discuss their future plans. 

 

Patrick Spearman on behalf of son, Miles Spearman — Miles is graduating from Boardman High School. He was active in both the marching and jazz bands. Miles has always been a go-getter and determined. Currently he’s at a Summer Bridge program at University of Cincinnati to prepare him for his engineering program. He’ll be there until August. Miles will join us July 9th.

 

Emma Arduin - Emma is a graduate from Boardman High School. She was involved in RYLA, Emerging Leaders and Interact Club. She will be attending Miami University, majoring in Kinesiology. Her goal is to become an Occupational Therapist. Back in 2013, she went on trip to China with family, and volunteered at a special needs orphanage. This introduced her to giving back, and is the reason she chose to go into Occupational Therapy.

 

Brianna Griffin - Brianna is a graduate of South Range High School. She was involved in KeyClub and Camp Fitch. Brianna plans to attend University of Mount Union to major in pre-physician assistant and minor in Spanish. 

 

Jessica Lanham - Jessica is a graduate of MCCTC and Jackson Milton High School. Kept herself busy with track, drama team, Camp Fitch, and others. Jessica is hoping to go to the Columbus College of Art and Design to major in animation. She wants to become an independent artist and animator in the coming years.

 

Dana Safarek, advisor at the Boardman High School, and Interact students joined us for the June 18th meeting. The group has helped with Oktoberfestival, Pancake Breakfast, and volunteer at various Boardman Rotary functions over the years.

 

Dana illustrated the ways students spent their time helping the community this past year. They spent the day cleaning up at the United Way Day of Caring, helped Special Olympics, assisted Boardman Park with various events, spoke at Poland Seminary High School to help them create their own Interact Club, and more. They’ve been very busy all year, and are grateful of the support of Boardman Rotary.

 

Kimani Boyd and Michael Flood spoke about their experiences as an Interact Club member. Both attended RYLA 2019. Being chosen meant a lot to them, giving them an opportunity to be a leader. Both stressed the importance of being able to make lifelong friends throughout the journey — they still keep in touch through group message and Snapchat with those they met at RYLA. During the time they learned about communication skills — “one minute can turn into 10, and 10 minutes can turn into an hour of great conversation.” 

 

Last week we introduced new member, Muhannad Kassawatt, MD. He was pinned by sponsor, John Burgan.

 

Mark your calendars for June 28, 2019, as the President’s Party will be held that day at the Tyler History Center. To the new Rotarians, this is a great event that is free to you and your spouse/partner as it is covered in your dues! Sign up sheets will be passed around soon. Dress is business casual!

There will be an Oktoberfestival meeting after our regularly scheduled meeting next Tuesday, June 25th. 

Betty Bannon spoke to the club about something near and dear to her heart — raising awareness and fighting ALS. Her son, Chuckie, passed away from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Her son, Breen, and daughter, Lisa, have ridden bikes in the 270-mile Tri-State Trek from Boston to New York City to raise money and awareness about the disease in honor of their brother. Over the past 10 years, they have raised more than $1 million. 

 

Team Bannon/Crush ALS has grown from three riders to 22 over the years. In a letter to donors, Breen said: “With your help, we have raised over $1 million dollars for ALS-TDI, the Boston-based research lab, which is dedicated to finding a cure or treatment for ALS. The money has helped fund a robot that measures ALS patients’ mobility and helped develop a new drug known as AK1501, which entered clinical trials earlier this year.”

 

We thank Betty for sharing this cause with us, and wish her family all the best as they continue to ride for a cure!

 

You can read the full article in The Vindicator.

There will be a joint board meeting Thursday, June 20th, at 5:30 pm at Aqua Pazzo. Details will be emailed out.

Second reading and approval:

 

$5,000 for five scholarships (MCCTC, Springfield, South Range and two from Boardman). 

Thanks to the following volunteers at the  meeting:

 

Door: Diana Nolder & Jill Cox

Invocation: Howard Mettee

Song: Pam Traino

Fellowship: Brian Governor