GALLIPOLIS ROTARY CLUB BLOG

This brief installment for our weekly Gallipolitan will have to suffice, as your intrepid club secretary was out of town, missed the meeting, but thanks to Resty Alonzo and Margaret Evans, has been brought up to date on our club activities.

Our club gave several contributions to community and outreach organizations last week. President Deb Rhodes is show here presenting a recently received check to PDG Mel Simon for Operation We Care Medical Mission to the Philippines.  Mel and his group of volunteers will be marking their 26th annual mission this year, which conducts surgical procedures, nutritional programs, and fresh water well projects.

There is more below, so click the link to read the entire article.

The Gallipolis Rotary Club also support our local Gallia Senior Resource Center which provides activity, transportation, and meals on wheels to senior citizens of Gallia county. Last year our club helped the center obtain a new public address system for the dining room.  This year Gallipolis Rotary is supporting the center’s food pantry which is used heavily for the daily meals program.  Here, Center Director Shirley Doss receives a check from Rotary President Deb Rhodes for this project.  A big club ‘thank you’ goes to Resty Alonzo who serves on the Center’s board.

Our club has agreed to support the Gallia County Snack Pack Program which is a unique non-profit group which organized to fill a need in the county.  A number of our elementary school youth we discovered going hungry over long weekends.  This Snack Pack Program will provide a small quantity of nutritious foods to these children on an anonymous basis through the schools.  Snack Pack organizer, Nancy Smith is pictured here with President Deb Rhodes receiving a check for funding from Gallipolis Rotary.  Our club heard from Nancy who was a speaker for a meeting in October and outlined the plans the Snack Pack group has for aiding children in our county.  Nancy assures us the funds will be put to good use for the needy kids in Gallia county.

The annual Christmas party date has not been set yet but we will again do the ornament exchange.  More details shortly.

Final total on profit from the BEF: $11,777.35!  Probably our best day ever.  Thanks to all club members who helped.

Reminder: please get your centennial pledge in to Katrinka soon so she can get the money out by the end of the year.  Since Katrinka’s job is requiring her to miss meetings, you can pay your bill by giving the checks to Deb or Chuck or drop them off at any OVB office with Katrinka’s name on the envelope.

Split-The-Pot–Brett Booth won an $8.00 pot in split the pot and missed the big pot by drawing the five of hearts.  Although Brett’s ticket number was 666, he assured us all that he is not evil.  Couldn’t prove it by his fine: anyone NOT wearing a white shirt.  Several of our members paid happy bucks: Resty Alonzo for being proud of the club for the donation to the Senior Center.  Greg Sojka crowed about the PBS documentary about Bevo and the Bevo Francis Tournament taking place at URG this weekend. Margaret Evans bragged about the URG women’s team who beat a top twenty team last week.  All very worth happy bucks!  Finally, Shirley Doss paid a dollar for the whole club to sing Happy Birthday to her.  She got her money’s worth - especially since Chuck was absent.  (Editor’s note–’Huh?’)

Club Elections were held for Rotary Year 2009-2010 and the following members will be on the ballot for officer positions and board of director positions:  Brett Boothe, Tammi Brabham, Shirley Doss, Jenny Evans, Paul Koch, Kevin Petrie, Debbie Saunders, David Smith, Greg Sojka, and Lou Ellen Werry.

Program–PDG Mel Simon introduced the program which was provided by our own Greg Sojka talking about URG’s China initative.  Greg was able to visit China in an effort to establish ties and recruit students for URG.  He gave us some interesting comparison stats:

US population: approx. 305 million;  college students: approx.  16 million; colleges/univ: 2500-4000

China population: approx. 1.3 billion; college students: approx. 15 million; colleges/univ: 4000

There is a terrific growth in colleges and universities in China.  However, US college campuses are more attractive to Chinese students due to the comforts of the modern dorms.  In the US, students at least have a bathroom on their floor, if not in their suites.  That is not the case with Chinese dorms.

The Chinese and US systems of higher education differ in several respects.  One is that the government funds higher ed in China whereas in the US, the cost is borne by the student.  In the US, students often take a liberal arts foundation of courses in addition to their field of specialty.  In China, the students only take classes in their specialization area.  In the US, students are encouraged to participate in class by asking questions and sharing.  Chinese colleges do not encourage or permit such participation.

China is currently the second most represented country in college students in the US, with India being the first. The China connection with URG began with faculty member Dr. Jian Sun visiting his native area in China and wanting to improve the deplorable conditions of the education system there.  He led a school supply collection drive at URG and took the gathered supplies back with him.  Dr. Sun connected with his undergraduate school in China and began a partnership with sending some Chinese graduate students to URG for participation in the masters program. Dr. Sun’s college sent a contingent of faculty members to participate in URG’s master’s program.  There are now twelve Chinese undergraduate students at URG.

This partnership allows international students to experience URG and URG students to experience “abroad” study by bring a bit of China here in form of its student. 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 17:57 and is filed under Club Newsletter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.