January 2, 2013 Newsletter

By John Hammer

 Shelburne Rotary

Wednesday, January 2, 2013, 7:15 a.m.

Trinity Episcopal Church Community Room

Welcome

President Adam Bartsch opened the meeting with the Pledge and called on Kris Engstrom to give the devotional.

Guests

Mary Catherine Jones

Caroline Jones – Miss Vermont Outstanding Teen 2012

Quote for the day: “We are high achievers in school and through the Miss Vermont program we work to ensure our current and future success in any endeavors (we might undertake).”  Spoken by the speaker, Caroline Jones.

The Word for the Day: - Appears below with definition.

Announcements

Subsequent to the meeting the Membership Committee Wishes to put forth the names of Steven and Shannon Leclair for embership.  Linda Barker has sponsored them.  They live on Hillside Terrace in Shelburne.  He works for the United Parcel Service. If there are any reservations to their membership, please contact Ric Flood.

Upcoming:

·      January 9 – Christine Newberry at Connect Youth

. January 10 - Board Meeting

·      January 16 – Club Assembly

·      January 23 – Michelle Parent, Vermont Interactive

·      January 30 – Vote the Slate for 2013-4 Officers (See List Below)

and Sam Akerson of the Shelburne Museum will discuss the new building.

·      June 6:  District Governor Change of Guard at Shelburne Farms Coach Barn. (Our club will play a key role in this event.)

Club Officers Nominees for 2013-4 Rotary Year (Repeat for info)

Vice - President Jonah reported that the Nominating Committee of himself, Kris Engstrom, and Adam Bartsch had met and selected the following persons for officers for the upcoming Rotary Year beginning on July 1, 2013:

Incoming President – Dave Jonah (Present Vice President)

Vice President – Richard Fox (President-Elect to be)

Treasurer – Russ Blodgett (Present Treasurer)

Secretary – John Beal (Present Secretary).

A vote will be taken at the meeting on January 30. In the meantime, anyone wishing to nominate any further persons for the above positions should see President Bartsch before that date.

Judy Christensen Presents Speech Contest Award

Judy Christensen, the Speech Contest Chair, stepped forward to present the Club’s speech contest award winner.  She noted that there were four ‘fabulous’ contestants this year, but that the winner this year was a standout. It turned out to be a CVU junior, who just happened to be today’s speaker, Caroline Jones. Caroline, from Shelburne,  is no stranger to awards, having garnered speaking awards from the Lions Club and VFW districts. The Club’s award is a check for $100. The next round is for thee Sub-District including ours and that to the south on the 15th in Vergennes.

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Our Holiday Turkey Program

Linda Gilbert noted she had helped make up 35 Christmas holiday baskets at Charlotte Food Shelf.  She was happy to identify the fact that our club had contributed turkeys for this program and wanted to identify Jim Spadaccini for all his wonderful and faithful work in coordinating this program.  Jim responded with the fact that funds are being well looked after in Shelburne and Hinesburg was well in Charlotte.  He also wanted to thank  Shelburne Supermarket who has looked after this program and our club over past years.  Now turkeys are delivered anonymously to the recipients to preserve their names in privacy.

Jim Spad’s Humor

A Mexican maid approached the lady of the house to request a pay raise.  The lady of the house asked, “Maria, why do you wish a pay increase?” To which Maria replied “I can iron better than you. “

Lady, “How do you know?” Maid, “Your husband says so and secondly, I can cook better than you.”

The Lady, “And why do you think that?” Maid, “Your husband says so. And I give much better sex than you.”

The Lady, “Well I must say. Did my husband say that as well?” Maid, “No señora, the gardener did.”

There was a long pause while several Rotarians took some time to absorb that one. Richard Fox notified us all that he would pause for five more minutes to allow for everyone  to catch up.

Sergeant at Arms

Fines

John Dupee – Happy to be back.

Denny Bowen – Happy to have had the grandkids here and happy to see them leave yesterday.

Kris Engstrom – Happy Brita is enjoying the summer in Columbia right now

John Hammer – Birthday last week and all this snow.

Judy Christensen – Happy Caroline Jones is here.

Trafton Crandall – Happy for the powder snow and a birthday three weeks ago.

Fritz Horton – Grandkids visit last week.

John Beal – Four days of tremendous skiing at Sugarbush.

There was a plethora* of wishes for a Happy New Year.

Richard Fox – “As Rutgers and Red Sox fans say, We’ll get ‘em next year.”

Tod Whitaker drew the King of Spades.  Rollover the $213 pot.

Speaker – Caroline Jones, Miss Vermont Outstanding Teen

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Caroline, from Shelburne,  is a four-time Junior Olympics Fencing medalist and High-School Honor Student.

She began her presentation by allaying the often-common impression that the Miss Vermont Outstanding Teen crown is just worn by some ‘air-headed or shallow girl.’

In todays world of glitz and quick judgment she sought to:

1.  Demystify the idea of scholarship pageants.

2.  Establish a link between teens and Rotary Clubs , and

3.  Share her platform of community service and how it dovetails with the Rotary Four-Way Test.

She felt that community service is a citizen’s responsibility, more than just something you put on your college application resume. Her role as Miss Vermont Outstanding Teen is to convince teens to develop and then use their talents to give back to their town and community.

She has lived out this role by helping with library programs and serving as a junior coach for the ‘Girls on the Run’ Program.

Now that she is a Miss Vermont Outstanding Teen, she can use her position to help implement community service for teens by helping coordinate volunteer efforts. Her increased access to a wider audience and a louder voice will help her demonstrate the impact that can be made on a community. She intends to make as much of a difference as she can.

By bringing relevance and credibility to the Miss Vermont Outstanding Teen program she can give back some of what she has gotten from the program

The Miss Vermont Outstanding Teen Program helps girls improve themselves by helping them commit to improving their interview skills, performance talents, personal and professional presentations, and their own dedicated abilities to their communities. She said that, “We are high achievers in school and through the Miss Vermont program we work to ensure our current and future success in any endeavors (we might undertake).”  The qualities of Scholarship, Service, Success, and Style represented by the four points in the crown are emblematic of the characteristics participants of the Miss Vermont and Miss Vermont Outstanding Teen exemplify.

Caroline felt that service is part of the fabric of her life and the best way she can carry out her work is to work with organizations such as Rotary to help with projects in whatever way she can.

She noted that one person can make a difference and that change can ripple throughout the community.  For instance she, as one person, began by organizing a group of girls to help in Waterbury with Hurricane Irene cleanup. Now she is travelling to Rotary Clubs to see if she can pair groups of teens with Rotary programs.  She will be asking the clubs to identify programs where they can use more help.  She will then try to help organize the teens to coordinate their ‘chaotic schedules’ to help.

For information: http://www.missvermont.org/

* Plethora (n.) – An excess of.