A Delightful Meeting with Scholars at Cantine
by President Nelson Crandall
This week your club will present scholarship awards to 13 graduating seniors from Aptos and Soquel High Schools. A requirement of our scholarships is that the recipient attend one of our meetings. Yesterday, May 15, we were visited by two Aptos High recipients, Kaden and Zia. More about them below.
Notable among those in attendance were prospective member Soon-Young ("Apple") Apple and returning member Lynette Cleland! What a delight for me to meet Lynette for the first time!
After a short introduction by Immediate Past President Lowry, Kaden told us that he will be attending Cal (Go Bears!) and will be studying Aviation Engineering. Only about 3% of the applicants are admitted to the aviation engineering program, so congratulations Kaden! Kaden's mother lived in Berkeley for a while, so he is already familiar with the territory, and guess what! Freshman housing is now guaranteed at both Cal and UCLA! What a relief to have that settled at the start of this phase of life. Kaden had just come to us from practice as centerfielder for the Aptos High baseball team. He does not think he will have time for team sports at Cal.
Zia told us that she will be attending UCLA and studying the physical sciences with an emphasis in mathematics. Zia founded the Aptos High Key Club (the Kiwanis analog to Interact), but we won't hold that against her. She also works as a math tutor at a national tutoring center. She hopes to continue that work in LA.
Before the introductions, Kaden mentioned that he wanted to learn more about Rotary, so the rest of us gave a short introduction about our professions and a personal Rotary highlight. I learned a few things I didn't know previously about our club's members.
- Becky learned about Rotary while visiting Africa and watching an African Rotarian use her skills and Rotary connections to start a new school for local children who could not pay for education.
- Lowry spoke about his visit to the English-speaking Rotary Club in Budapest, where one of the Rotarians was delivering a generator to Ukraine.
- Bill Witmer spoke of visiting two East Coast Rotary Clubs, each claiming (with some merit) to meet in the birthplace of the US Navy. (Bill didn't say anything about his notorious high school classmate. You have to be around Rita to get that story.)
- Apple related what attracted her to our club and why she is applying for membership.
- Julie encouraged our young scholars to keep in touch with their colleges' and Greeks' alumni associations as sources of additional scholarships.
- Lynette spoke about how her Rotary connections helped her in her fundraising profession and how enthusiastic she is about returning to our club.
- Craig told how the late John Fisher introduced him to Rotary when Craig was opening his own architecture business and how he enjoys getting his hands dirty in local service.
- Both Laura and Sandie emphasized the fellowship they enjoy with Rotary and the satisfaction they get from our service projects.
- Finally, Jack revealed how, as a newcomer to Aptos, he explored Rotary at the suggestion of his psychiatrist and how much he enjoys being around people like himself.
Afterward, informal conversation centered around our scholars. I was one of those speaking with Zia, who shared how much she enjoys reading classic literature by Virginia Woolfe and Jane Austin. Several of us suggested Barbara Kingsolver as a great contemporary novelist. I gave my standard pitch about Salman Rushdie, including how he offended the Muslim world with The Satanic Verses, lived for decades under a religious fatwa (death sentence), and then, after the fatwa was lifted, survived a brutal knife attack.
In response to my question, Zia also said that she learned about John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry in high school. I had asked because I know Rotarians and others who did not learn about John Brown's raid as part of their education.
Two other nuggets.
- I learned Tuesday that the nonprofit Sandie founded, For Kids Foundation Monterey, will be the primary beneficiary of Santa Cruz Sunrise Rotary's major fundraiser, the July 4th Santa Cruz Firecracker fun run! THAT's her excuse for not helping out at our July 4 beer booth fundraiser!
- As the meeting was breaking up, Sandie told the story of how her post-children temporary secretary position at San Lorenzo Valley Junior High School led to a 20-year career as the person running the school. What a hoot!
There will be more scholars at our lunch meeting next week, May 22. See you then!
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