Annual Youth Merit Awards
By: Bob Barber
    
                          
After the usual meeting opening activities, including Pender McElroy's stories from Madison County and a quite good rendition of "God Bless America," President John called upon Rotarian Fernando Ycaza, who introduced the principal of Garinger High School to recognize members of an engineering development program at the school that has the students fielding a car team just like a NASCAR team. Garinger's team has won all of their local and regional competitions and is heading to Daytona for national competition.
 
Also at today's meeting, 19 graduating seniors from Charlotte's public and private high schools were introduced for our annual Youth Merit Awards Program.
 
Each of the award recipients was introduced with a biographical sketch and was given a plaque and a $500 scholarship for college expenses. The award recipients for the private high schools were presented by Arch McIntosh, Charlotte Latin School, with Hugh Hattabaugh, COO of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, assisting. The recipients from the public high schools were presented by Hugh Hattabaugh with Arch McIntosh assisting.
A list of the recipients and a brief summary of their future plans is provided below:

Private Schools
Charlotte Catholic High School: Annemarie Weekly; will go to Clemson Univ. to major in Art and Psychology
Charlotte Christian School: William Green; will go to Liberty Univ. to major in Philosophy and Religion
Charlotte Country Day School: Lauren Geisel; will go to Bucknell Univ. to major in Biology
Charlotte Latin School: Lacy McAlister; will go to Washington and Lee Univ. to major in Psychology
Providence Day School: Molly Snyder; will go to Emory Univ. to major in Biology and Genetics

Public Schools
Ardrey Kell High School: Nicholas Bacheldor; will go to UNC-Charlotte to major in Computer Science
Butler High School: Gabrielle Jenkins; will go to NCSU to major in Architecture
East Mecklenburg High School: Olen Little; will go to Wingate Univ. to major in Education
Garinger High School: Cory Kameron Bennett; will go to UNC-Greensboro to major in Pre-Dentistry
Harding Univ. High School: Cayla Lowe; will go to Spelman College to major in Psychology
Hopewell High School: Michelle Burroughs; will go to Univ. of SC to major in Broadcast Journalism
Mallard Creek High School: Keith Long is undecided as to his choice of college
Myers Park High School: Michael Humphries; will go to UNC-Chapel Hill to major in Pre-Med and Spanish
North Mecklenburg High School: Akudo Abanukam; will go to East Carolina Univ. to major in Exercise Physiology
Providence High School: Anderson Sloan; will go to Clemson Univ. to major in Engineering
South Mecklenburg High School: Anna Sturkey; was not present
Vance High School: Kevin Praseuth; will go to UNC-Charlotte to major in Political Science
E. E. Waddell High School: Brittany Smith; will go to East Carolina Univ. to major in Criminal Justice
West Charlotte High School: Wendy Serrano; will go to Peace College to major in Environmental Science
West Mecklenburg High School: David Teno; will go to Lenoir-Rhyne Univ. to major in Entrepreneurship

As usual, this was an impressive group of young people. Each merit award recipient's introduction included a description of their academic achievements, their extra-curricular and leadership activities, and their volunteer service activities. Once again, this was a very, very active and high-achieving group and certainly served to remind us that there are some very good things going on in our high schools and that we can look to the future with optimism. The Rotary Club of Charlotte congratulates these outstanding students.
         
 
Head Table: Tom Templeton, George MacBain, John Snyder, Arch McIntosh, Hugh Hattabaugh, Sammy Black, Jerry Walters;
Invocation: Todd Owens;
Visitors & Guests: John Nicolay; Health & Happiness: Pender McElroy; Song & Piano: Thomas Moore

•  Family of Rotary: John Johnson continues down a long road and would like his fellow Rotarians to know he has not given up, and asks for your prayers and support; Sylvia Van Hoy (Phil's wife) was admitted to CMC last week with another blood infection. No word on the treatment plan at this time; Ellen Bailey (Richard's wife) has pneumonia and is being treated at home; Lee Tabor had surgery for a shoulder injury and is back at work part time.
     
• Terri DeBoo and Carol Hardison are graduates from Leadership Charlotte Class 31; Karen Calder has a new job with Charlotte Housing Authority. Updated contact info: 704-432-4997, kcalder@cha-nc.org
          
• HOST FAMILIES NEEDED! Plans are underway to host exchange students from Thailand (boy) and Germany (girl) this fall. The students will attend Charlotte Country Day and Myers Park and host families are needed. Please contact Matt Joyner for the details.

-Paul Harris (founder of Rotary) is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery on the South Side of Chicago in the Morgan Park community. His headstone is beside that of Silvester Schiele, his close friend, one of the first four Rotarians and the first president of the Rotary Club of Chicago. Twenty-seven months after Paul's burial, in April 1949, his casket was dug up and moved from one side of his tombstone to the other. The reason is not known.
 
-The first Rotary meeting was held in Room 711 of the Unity Building on Dearborn Street in downtown Chicago. The room, the office of mining engineer Gus Loehr, was restored to its original condition for RI's 75th anniversary in 1980. When the building was demolished in 1989, Rotarian members of the Paul Harris 711 Club removed and preserved the room's flooring, wood trim, office equipment, and furnishings. In 1994, the room was re-created at RI World Headquarters in Evanston. Hundreds of Rotarians visit the office each year.
 
-Although Rotary's early focus was on fellowship and business networking, members soon incorporated the elements of service. In 1906, Donald M. Carter proposed an amendment to the club bylaws: "An organization that is wholly selfish cannot last long. If we, as a Rotary Club, expect to survive and grow, we must do some things to justify our existence. We must perform a civic service."
 
-In 2002, The Rotary Foundation achieved a major milestone when the number of Major Donors reached 5,000. A Major Donor is an individual or couple who contributes $10,000 to the Foundation's Annual Programs Fund or Permanent Fund. The largest gift to date has been from Paul Elder of Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, USA, in the amount of $7 million.