The Rotary Club of Kirkland held a meeting on January 24, 2022 at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel.

President Dave DeBois rang the bell at 6:30 p.m., calling the club meeting to order.

Scott Becker and Shelli Gehring “co-led” led the membership in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Attending were George Anderson, Pete Anderson, David Aubry, Scott Becker, Rich Bergdahl, Matthew Colpitts, David DeBois, Donald Dicks*, Shellie Gehring, Margie Glenn*, Brandon Honcoop, Michael Hunter, Jim Meniketti, Rick Ostrander, Joanne Primavera, Steve Shinstrom, Patti Smith, John Storbeck, Bill Taylor*, Brian Tucker*, and Rick Walter. *Attended the meeting online.

Rotarians, it’s time to get the 2021-22 scholarship program launched.  Our vocational service committee needs your help with scholarship funds, and with scholarship applicant interviews!

Last year, individual Rotarians improved the club’s $7,000 scholarship allocation (plus the carryover funds) by $10,500 to boost our scholarship program to $24,000.  The club’s allocation for 2021-22 is again $7,000, and we have less carryover.  We need to gather a few more individual donations if we are to meet or exceed last year’s program.  If you’re willing to sponsor a scholarship this year, or you can corral a scholarship donation from someone in our community, please get in touch with Gary Cohn as soon as practical.

Hi Kirkland Rotary! I hope you are all safe and well. I am now a second-year student at the University of Washington, and I recently was accepted into my first-choice major, Chemical Engineering. Although I’ve been taking some stressful classes, I have also had some incredible experiences.
 
First, I have continued to stay with the Nance Lab in the department of Chemical Engineering, where I conduct research on super tiny nanoparticles that can act as a therapeutic treatment to severe brain injury in newborns. I am currently trying to optimize a formulation method that will be the most effective. In addition, I also taught a class of 25 first-year engineering students this past fall quarter as an Engineering Peer Educator (EPE), helping them transition into UW and introducing them to all the different engineering majors. It has been super rewarding to be able to support students directly and learn how to teach a class, and I have been so grateful for the opportunity.

Hello Kirkland Rotary! First of all, I just wanted to thank you all again for your support and the scholarship--thanks to you all, I am able to be attending my dream school with less financial stress. I just finished my first semester at Berkeley, and it has been an amazing time! Although I have had to suffer the disadvantages of subpar dining hall food, doing and paying for my OWN laundry, and spending too many sleepless nights studying, I am overall enjoying my Berkeley experience a lot :)
 
Exercising my inner PNW, I still get to swim and hike many days a week--there's an outdoor pool a 2-minute walk from my dorm, and many hiking trails within a 10-minute walking distance. Being so close to hikes and the pool certainly keeps me sane with how busy I have been!

The club’s board of directors met on Thursday, January 20, using the Zoom platform. Highlights include another healthy discussion of the meeting location, and the level of attendance by club members.

 

Board members discussed ways to improve club members' awareness of the club's accessibility to current and new members through using Zoom in addition to the in-person meetings.  President Dave DeBois agreed to include additional notes in his email messages to members.  Club members will still see the Zoom notice and link that has been provided in the Spokesman for the past two years, the Zoom information on the club's home page, and the Zoom information in the club's Calendar.