RB Rotary August 13, 2020 Virtual Meeting Minutes

ROTARY CLUB OF RANCHO BERNARDO

ZOOM MEETING 8/13/2020

President Alex Robertson opened the meeting following social time online.  He led the Four Way Test. Dave Brooks, with a show and tell, led the Pledge.  A photo of the original
“Old Glory” was accompanied by Dave’s reading of the first stanza of Francis Scott Key’s “Star Spangled Banner”, our National Anthem, which ends with a question.  He then read the fourth stanza which answers that question. He asked members to stand for the Pledge.  

Alan Turner, in giving the Inspirational Message, noted that the Pledge was most meaningful to him when he was saying it with a group of people from all over the world who, like him, were becoming new American Citizens. His message was about how our Rotary Club Members are an inspiration for him as we actively support the needs of our community, specifically recently volunteering to support children in nine of the Title 1 schools in the Poway School district needing help and funding for virtual learning during the pandemic.

While our Zoom guests were getting set up, Joel led the Welcome Song, and President Alex thanked today's Volunteers: Mike Fuqua for setting up the meeting, Rz Norris is Scribe today, and Bill Angus puts it all together for our newsletter.

Guest Chuck Pretto, District 5340 Governor Nominee, has been a Rotarian for 28 years. He grew up in Las Vegas, and came to San Diego to attend the University of San Diego. He credits hosting exchange students as a life changing experience for him and for his family. He is also the Rotoract Chair for the district.

Doug Dawson said the Club Committee for the International Foundation met prior to this meeting. They are preparing a list of recipients meeting foundation criteria for funds and grants to present to the Foundation. Anyone having specific ideas for grants are asked to submit them to Doug.

Dan Barrios said he will send email letters to the members stating the status of their contribution level to the Foundation. These will go out around August 15th and will show how much additional contribution is needed to attain the next level of giving.  Any monies should be mailed directly to Dan at his home address.

Family of Rotary chair, Arilla St Laurent, had nothing new to report regarding members.  However, Mike Stelman said that Benita Page had gall bladder surgery, and then broke her foot.  Arilla said she would send Benita a get well card. She then told a cute school boy joke.

Jim Sommer noted that Larry Sanders has joined the meeting from Nevada.

President Alex said that sometime in the future the search for our Club President Nominee will begin.  He is offering to council prospective applicants on what is required and what to expect as President of our Club.  He asks that anyone who might be interested in this position contact him.

John Goodrich introduced our speaker for today.  Dr. Jack Kahn, and his assistant Julie Bandy, are from Palomar College in San Marcos.  Dr. Kahn has a longtime association with the College in many capacities. In addition to his responsibilities at the College, Dr. Kahn is also an author and researcher.  Dr. Kahn presented a slide show, “Making It Possible”, outlining the Colleges response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the campus closed to students in early March a special COVID-19 website was set up.  By mid-March all teaching staff were off campus and working to establish guidelines for virtual classes. By the end of March classes resumed on line.

At the end of May classes for First Responders resumed on Campus. Commencement exercises for the graduating class were a virtual affair. Summer classes remained on line. In July Childhood studies returned to campus. Foundation funding for student grants and emergency relief were available, and transitional programs became available.  Palomar is recognized as one of the top 100 Associate Degree colleges in the state. A “Two plus Two'' program working with four year universities is evolving with schools such as SDSU (Rancho Bernardo), Arizona State and Redlands University, where bachelor degrees are available from those Universities while remaining on the Palomar Campus.  A program whereby members of the Marine Corp are able to take classes at Palomar for no tuition is in the works. The credits will apply toward a degree. New curriculums will also be available as well as free online classes for medical workers to advance their skills. Credit for prior learning will also be available. While Community Colleges have far less funding than other Universities in the California systems, they serve a greater number of diverse and disadvantaged students. It was suggested that Palomar College might align with our Rotary Club in the pursuit of additional grants and funding. It was also suggested that a Rotoract Club on campus could be beneficial to the college.

Terry Heck presented the speaker's book on behalf of Dr. Kahn to be given to Rancho Bernardo Middle School library.

Fine Mistress, Arilla, was virtually boo’d, but gave no fines, asking for, and receiving Happy Bucks.

Next week's speaker will be Cheri Pierre, CEO “Computer 2 Kids San Diego”. This should be another interesting educational presentation.

There will be a Membership Seminar this weekend, which is especially good for Red Badgers. President Alex said he was pleased and proud that our entire Club Membership Committee had signed up for this seminar. He thanked the Program Chair and Committee for arranging speakers for our virtual meetings, and said the entire membership contributed ideas for speakers.

The meeting was adjourned with a reminder of next weeks 11:00 virtual Zoom meeting.