Opening and Welcome - President Colleen Coons
President Colleen thanked
- Dick Myren for offering the invocation
- Steve Ross for leading the Pledge of Allegiance
- Warren Williamson, Steve Ross, and Harry Grossman for serving as a team of greeters
- Dick Myren for handling the raffle
- Jeanie Morgan for handling sign-in
- Ron Thompson for serving as Sgt at Arms
- Pam Cohen for filling in as Chief Technology Officer
- John Pennypacker for handling room setup
Introduction of Guests
- Geoff White was welcomed back after a long absence due to business commitments.
- Don LaBarge introduced his granddaughter Renee Allen who was visiting from New Jersey.
- Chris Gilmore - Westwood High School Principal would be introduced as our speaker later in the meeting.
- Frank Rosenberg introduced Andy Bradford - a neighbor and friend of Jack Rosenberg.
- Visiting Rotarians Harry Grossman and Harry Short were welcomed.
- Justin Failner introduced himself as being in the payment processing business. He also has an active avocation of referring high school and some college football and wrestling.
- Polly Cady introduced our youth exchange students Thilde and Olivia saying they are both excited to be heading for RYLA at Camp Pinerock near Prescott over the weekend.
- Carla Rowe-Malcolm, a member of the Gilbert Rotary Club was introduced as Olivia's host mom.
- Eric Silverberg introduced himself. He has recently moved to the Phoenix metro area from Tucson where he had been in Rotary since 2012l He was first in the Tucson Sunrise Rotary Club, and more recently a member of Tucson Sunset Rotary. He has served as an Assistant Governor in District 5500.
- Attending via Zoom were Pai Bethea, Melodie Jackson, Bob Jensen and Debbie Koeneman.
Ace of Clubs Raffle - Dick Myron
Dick explained that the raffle ticket sales are split three ways. One third goes to the club operating account, another third is the small daily pot which will be given to the person whose raffle ticket is drawn. That same person will also win the right to try to draw the Ace of Clubs from the cards remaining in the deck. Should they be so lucky, they will win the large accumulating pot where the final third of the raffle ticket sales proceeds goes. Dick said the small pot would be $30, and the large pot was up to $126. He asked visitor Eric Silverberg to draw the winning ticket. The ticket drawn belonged to John Pennypacker. Dick delivered the small pot to John and gave him the cards to shuffle. John's attempt to draw the Ace of Clubs failed. He instead drew the Three of Spades,
Happy Bucks - Sgt at Arms - Ron Thompson
- Dick Myren contributed his traditional $2 - happy that he and Honorary Member Rod Daniels are associated with the Ace of Clubs.
- Ted Williams contributed to celebrate his recent 78th birthday. He also contributed sad dollars. He recently learned that the husband of our club's first inbound youth exchange student has recently learned that his cancer is back.
- Steve Ross asked to be billed $77 to celebrate his recent 77th birthday.
- Pam Cohen was happy about the great turnout for the January 6 YE dinner. She also provided a brief update on Chuck Flint saying he was happy to have a shave after two-and-a-half weeks without shaving. He is no longer in the hospital. He is now in a rehab facility in Mesa.
- John Pennypacker donated the $30 he won to support the Youth Exchange Summer Train Tour fundraising effort. He really enjoyed their dinner.
- Warren Williamson told of an old retired banker who was known as a real skinflint and was in his final stages of life. He was determined to make a joke of the maxim "You can't take it with you." He arranged to have all his savings and investments converted to cash which he had stuffed into pillow cases which he had stowed in the attic so that as he ascended to Heaven he could grab them and take them with him. After he passed, the bags of cash were still in the attic. His wife said, I could have told him, if he wanted to take it with him, he should have stowed it in the basement.
- Ed Koeneman was happy Principal Gilmore was at our meeting. He was also happy about the delicious food enjoyed at the January 6 YE event. He was sad about the recent passing of John Wntersteen.
- Shane White was happy it was Thursday.
- Allan Cady contributed sad bucks because the Washington Huskies had lost their game on Monday. He contributed more sad bucks because they were stomped!
- Polly Cady contributed admiring Sgt Ron's fancy new scrubs - his dental "uniform." She was happy Shane and Geoff were able to get away from their offices and be at our meeting. She was happy to have so many guests at the meeting. She was also happy that Bert and Kelli Millet opened their kitchen for the Youth Exchange cooking party to prepare for the evening so many enjoyed.
- Thilde was happy. She thanked Pam for hosting the successful event. She is on the varsity soccer team at her school and happy to say it looks like they are headed for state.
- Olivia was happy for the successful dinner.
- Jeanie Morgan fined herself $20 and apologized to Colleen who had gotten in trouble with our AG (Dan Coons) for Jeanie's failure to have a bit of humor in the January 10 Messenger.
- Harry Grossman contributed his final $6 for the season - $1 for each Cardinal football team win. He was happy they would not lose any more games this year. Harry also enjoyed the wonderful event January 6. He was happy not to be in his home town of Galesburg, Illinois. The weather channel said their high would be minus sixteen degrees with a windchill to make it seem even colder.
- Jim McGown said he would again be driving in the Mecham Auto Auction. If anyone else is interested in doing likewise, he can tell them how to get in the running. You need to know how to drive - even better if you know how to drive a stick shift.
- Sgt Ron had planned to fine John Benedict for eating two desserts until he saw John give his coat to someone who was cold. Ron asked to be billed $50 for the YE Train Tour fundraising effort. He was sorry to have missed their dinner. Ron was happy Polo Santiago was able to be at the meeting.
- Don LaBarge conributed $5. He was happy to bring Renee with him to the meeting. Don said John Wintersteen's accidental death would be a huge blow for his family and for Rotary - especially District youth programs. Don went on to make a brief report about the Mesa West 2023 Salvation Army bell ringing project at Bass Pro. The total intake was $23,603 - $400 more than last year. He thanked everyone for the great job especially those who took multiple shifts.
- Colleen Coons contributed $10 remembering John Wintersteen who was involved in the interview process when Colleen's son was applying to be an outbound youth exchange student. John had told Colleen she was a "helicopter mom." Colleen said she probably owed a fine for her failure to wear the Cardinals hat Harry Grossman had given to her. She was happy that Chuck Flint took her call after he was told she was calling about her dog Bagel. After hearing what was going on with Bagel (she was paralyzed and unable to move) Chuck told Colleen what to give Bagel. It worked, Bagel the Beagle is back to normal because of Chuck's advice.
Announcements
- Some glasses were found on the bus that transported the Gift of Hearing volunteers to Guaymas. No one claimed them at the meeting. If anyone knows whose they might be, let Colleen know.
- Mesa West Rotary members are invited to travel to Hermasillo Mexico to meet borrowers and learn about the Micro Credit program we are involved with. There are limited spaces available on four all-expense-paid trips: January 26-28, February 23-25, March 22-24, and April 26-28. If anyone is interested, they can get more information from Shelly Romine.
- The Rotary License Plate has been approved. Rotarians who are creative are urged to submit designs for a plate that will be brand-compliant and uniquely Arizonan.
- On the fifth Thursday in February - February 29, we will be touring Helen's Hope Chest.
- The vote to determine which charitable cause we heard about in the fall quarter will receive our quarterly budgeted charitable donation is very close. Mesa PD charities and Pearl at the Mail Box were running neck to neck. At the time of the meeting Mesa PD was one vote ahead.
- Monday, January 15, Mesa West Rotary will have an information booth at the MLK Parade and Celebration.
- The annual Mesa West Rotary Post-Holiday Celebration will be held Saturday, January 20 at the home of Ron and Toni Thompson. There is no cost for members and a $25 charge for guests. Those who attend need to take either a dessert or appetizer to share. Please let Shelly Romine.know what you plan to bring.
Program - Chris Gilmore - Principal at Westwood High School
Ed Koeneman introduced Principal Chris Gilmore, who is in his 6th year at Westwood High School. He worked 1 year as principal at Coronado High School in Scottsdale, and 19 years (9 as a principal) at Winslow High School in Winslow Arizona. He is currently finishing his doctorate at ASU in Educational Leadership/Innovation. He is married to Whitney who is a school counselor at an Elementary School in Mesa. They have two kids who attend the University of Arizona. One is studying Agriculture Technology Management and the other studying Architecture.
Westwood High School has been a Legacy School since 1962. He feels blessed to be there. Education needs to work for the success of all kids - not just honor kids. In a community, our educational system should ensure workforce development. Students need to be hirable. In his area of study for his doctorate at ASU, he is not just focused on theory but on best practices. Innovative approaches are needed along with more educator autonomy. Standardized testing has taken creativity away and is a major reason for teacher shortages.
A lot of coaching is required - take something you love and use it to teach something challenging. He related by talking about fly fishing and how it might brought in to discussion and used to make science more fun.
One of the innovative approaches they are using at Westwood is wall-to-wall teams - teams of 150 kids - with each team having their own team of teachers. This allows the ability of showing the relationship of different subjects and the teachers using their unique abilities and skills to help those students who can best benefit from their skillset.
The Delta Hotel in Downtown Mesa is working with students in all skill areas.
When asked about ESL students, Principal Gilmore said they have languages from all over the world. Those students have two hours of English daily.
A challenge is that education is under attack.
At Westwood - with their innovative team approach - they hope to get those students who have been "socially promoted" to where they truly are ready for the workforce.
This was one of our best, most dynamic programs, and this newsletter editor apologizes for failing to capture anything more than the highlights in my notes. I can honestly say, the students at Westwood High School are in very good hands under the leadership of this man who is obviously passionate about what he does and determined to enable his staff and his students to succeed.