Highlights of September 10 Meeting

President Dan Coons opened the Zoom meeting platform at 11:15 so members who wanted to engage in informal conversation could do so.  Since Allan and Polly Cady had recently returned from a fishing trip to Minnesota, there were a few fish stories to be shared.  Warren Williamson had a new twist on an old saw, "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.  If you teach a man to fish you can get him out of your hair for weeks at a time." 

 

Wendell Jones had a story to share about two brothers who went ice fishing.  There were two holes to fish through in their hut.  The first brother was pulling in one fish after another but brother #2 was having no luck at all.  Finally, frustrated, the luckless brother dropped his line through first brother's hole, but still had no luck while first brother continued to be lucky.  Out of frustration brother #2 asked brother #1 what he was doing wrong.  He got a mumbled response and asked again.  Brother #1 spit something from his mouth into his hand, and with much more clarity responded, "You have to warm your worms." Wendell said they had taken their youngsters fishing many times over the years, but his best fishing trip was when he went to Alaska where they caught more and much larger fish.  They caught one halibut which weighed over 200#.  That's when he learned his mistake had been that he'd been fishing for the helluvit instead of for halibut. 

 

On a more somber note, Wendell asked for members to pray for his wife Carolyn who is also a member.  Since our last meeting she suffered a stroke and is now completely bedridden and cannot speak.  

 

Dan thanked the members who had already logged into the meeting for making his experience as club president year-to-date a lot of fun.  

 

At Noon, President Dan called the meeting to order.  He introduced himself and recited the Rotary Vision Statement.

 

 

 

Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. 

Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever,

even if your whole world seems upset

 

The life of inner peace,

being harmonious and without stress,

is the easiest type of existence.

 

Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.

 

Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.

 

If you are depressed, you are living in the past.

If you are anxious, you are living in the future.

If you are at peace, you are living in the present.

 

When things change inside you, things change around you.

 

Peace can become a lens through which you see the world.

Be it.  Live it.  Radiate it out.  Peace is an inside job.

 

If you don't know the guy on the other side of the world,

love him anyway because he's just like you.  

He has the same dreams the same hopes and fears.

It's one world, pal.  We're all neighbors.

 

Peace cannot be kept by force.

It can only be achieved by understanding.

 

Past District Governor Chuck Fitzgerald had a takeaway

from a message at church a few years ago.

He had to ask himself, "Am I a peace lover, or a peace-maker?"

 

Let There be Peace on Earth and Let It Begin With Me

 

Following the theme of peace, President Dan encouraged members to attend the Persuing Peace Conference being hosted by our Rotary District 5495 on Thursday, September 18 at Rio Vista in Peoria, Arizona from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.  The conference will also be Livestreamed.  The conference will feature six keynote speakers, and will have a focus of "Is Your Organization a Platform for Peace?"  CLICK HERE to reach the registration/information site.

 

Another district event is being held virtually - at no cost to attendees - Saturday, September 19 from 9:00 AM to Noon.  Club Leadership Academy Part 2 will feature breakout sessions to appeal to all Rotarians.  Don't let the name deter you from attending it is for all Rotarians - not just club leaders!  CLICK HERE to reach the registration/information site.

 

 

 

President Dan introduced Kiana Sears, a member of the Governing Board of Mesa Public Schools.  One of Dan's first memories of our speaker was when she was working with the United Way and was instrumental in planning a fun fundraising event - a scavenger hunt in downtown Phoenix.  Kiana was a member of a Rotary Group Study Exchange (GSE) team that traveled to Switzerland in 2009.  At one time, Kiana was a member of Mesa West Rotary Club.  She was invited to speak at our Mesa West Rotary Club meeting about the impact of COVID on the school system.

 

Kiana first told how her involvement in GSE changed her life.  She said the global experience of international travel and the opportunity to interact with others in similar professions provided a profound influence on the lives of the young people who had the opportunity to participate.  While in Switzerland, Kiana learned that in 1984 (during Kiana's own lifetime) women in Liechtenstein finally were given the right to vote.  Two years later, women held 86% of the seats in their parliament.

 

Kiana came from a family in New Orleans who believed in working hard and Kiana had prided herself on being a good, productive worker.  Following her GSE experience and her new knowledge about women in leadership positions, she began to take a look at policies, budgets, laws with a new perspective.

 

Kiana informed the club that the Mesa school district is the largest minority-majority district in the state.  English is a second language for many of the students.  For the highest number of those students, Spanish is their primary language, with Farsi being second, Hindu third, followed by as many as sixty languages in all.  Many are "new Americans," refugees who have been settled into the Mesa community.

 

With COVID, there are many dimensions.  She stated there seems to be four camps of how people feel about the impact.  She said there are many dimensions.  She said school is open.  Some students started in-person learning in August.  In September, modified in-person learning will begin, with two-days-a-week in person and two-days-a-week online.  She said that for 1,000's of high school students the systems are not set up to have quality individual counselling.  High School is a hybrid system of online and modified in-person learning.  There is an additional challenge of trying to match-up families so that all the children in one family are on the same modified in-person schedule.  It is a logistical nightmare.  

 

A critical problem in Arizona is that there is a 900 to 1 student to counselor ratio.  One-on-one time with a counselor is rare.  This is a problem for less sophisticated students who are hoping to prepare for college.

 

Kiana shared that one area where Mesa has excelled is in the area of serving students with learning disabilities.  Each student is served through their Individual Education Plan (IEP), which allowed them to be identified and continue to be served even through the summer with speech services, etc.

 

The school system continues to work with community partners like Executive Director Reed with United Way, especially through their Vello program providing intervention for students which allows students to go on to higher levels than they could have achieved without that intervention.

 

The most challenging aspect of dealing with COVID is that when out of school, there are some things which cannot be done remotely.  Some of the special needs students had an earlier start back because of their needs.

 

Mesa Public Schools has worked collaboratively with MCC to have COVID testing available.  It is available and open to the community at six high schools.  They utilize a saliva test.  It is easier, and results are more rapid, usually within twelve hours.

 

The Mesa City Council voted to make a major investment in the city's children by providing funding for laptops so that the gap between those who have and those who have not could be bridged.  There is a push to be the first digital city where WIFE access would be available for everyone.

 

When asked what Rotary might do to help, she said care packages for staff would be awesome - especially for teachers and bus drivers.  She said it breaks her heart when she hears about how much money teachers spend out of their own pockets to enhance their ability to provide a quality learning experience for their students.  She encouraged Rotarians to look at donating to local school system tax credit opportunities.

 

One of Kiana's final remarks was that a caring adult who connects with a child can change that child's life.  

 

Dan invited Kiana to come back to Rotary.