Aptos High School Rainbow Club
Announcements from February 12th Meeting
The District 5170 Golf Tournament will be held at Coyote Creek Gold Club. Rachel has flyers or go to the district website
The District 5170 Tennis Tournament will be Tuesday April 14th in Morgan Hill. Again see Rachel or District Website to sign up.
Mexican Project Safari on March 11th. go to District Website to sign up.As of this weekend there only two openings left.
Rachel reminded us of the Chamber Showcase at Capitola Mall. Speak to Doug Deaver if interested in volunteering.
Sandra reminded u of the RYLA leadership camp August 2nd thru 7th. Sandra will take applications for Sophomore or Juniors.
Laura is chairing the committee which is gearing up for 50th celebration of Capitola Aptos Rotary. It will be held in the beginning of May . She needs volunteers for music and menu and publicity. This will be a Rotary Days event and we will invite the community.Anyone with highlights of last 50 years should give those to Laura
Rachel reported the Club accepted Rob Martin as new member. His induction ceremony will be next week.
Santa Cruz Sunrise Club Rotary Warriors night Version 2 will be Friday March 20th. There is a 7 pm tipoff . For more info contact jon winston at jon@winstonhome.com cell # 831 588-3452 . Cost is $25.00 ticket plus T shirt plus Free Beer!! They need to know if you plan to attend by March 9th, .However, to guarantee a T shirt get your order in by next week.
Story
This week our presentation was on LGBT issues among youth. It was facilitated by Stuart Rosenstein a leader in the gay community and Chair of the Queer Youth Task Force in Santa Cruz County. He has worked on LGBT youth issues for 15 years is a member of PFLAG and a UCSC alumnus. He began by thanking specific club members for their support and reminded us of the queer youth leadership awards to be held on May 9th at SLV high school . The remainder of the presentation was a report on the Community Grant our club gave to the safe schools project which is part of queer youth task force. The Aptos High School Gay Straight Alliance, now called the Rainbow Club, sent two members, Nicole and Karen Jimenez to report on their activities.
They reported that the funds went directly to youth leaders. Karen Jimenez (secretary) and Nicole Gzoetchman (president) of the rainbow Lions at Aptos High School spoke about their primary goals which were to revive the club this year and to set a foundation for the future. They are now trying to expand and increase awareness of gay straight issues. One specific project involves petitioning for gender neutral bathrooms. Only one high school in Oregon has done this.
Nicole related her own story about how GSA was very important to her as a freshman and how she became committed to reviving GSA again in her senior year. Karen explained how the club became the rainbow club and how using social media, they created an Instagram page and g-mail account and worked with the ROP graphic design program to make really cool posters. They now have 20-30 members coming to meetings every week , which is more than any other HS and half are straight allies. They also mentioned that 18 kids went to conference this year compared to 0 last year.
Nicole also said they ran for homecoming queens. Five couples were selected, but they came in 6th. Next year!!
The assistant principal, activities director and club advisor from Aptos High also came to our meeting. They mentioned that the rainbow club has created an alliance with the anti-bullying club and together they sponsor events where students practice kindness to one another. Each presenter also thanked the club for our involvement in this vital issue and reminded us of the leadership role that Rotary has in the community. If an issue is important enough for us to fund and support then the community will stop and take a look!
The presentation concluded with a question and answer period tackling the question of what is a straight ally?? The students said it meant to be respected and supported for who you are. They spoke about how people should treat queer individuals as individuals .. not ignoring the fact that of their LGBT status, but also not making it the focus of the relationship and acknowledging it as a real aspect of who that person is.
Stuart closed by saying if you want to do more or become more involved, contact Mary Wright at Aptos High School.