June 11 - RISE EVENT - North Bay Rotaract Color Run - Perigot Park in Blue Lake - 10 am to 3 pm
June 18 - RISE EVENT - 26th Arcata Oyster Festival - providing beer to the thirsty
June 24 - We are dark - No Friday Meeting
June 26 - RISE EVENT - Lost Coast Rotaract's 3rd Annual Softball Tournament at Redwood Fields - 10 am
July 1 - We are dark - No Friday Meeting
July 4 - RISE EVENT - Independence Day on the Plaza - volunteer at the RCAS Family Comfort Station
July 9 - RISE EVENT - Friends of the Dunes' Sand Sculpture Festival
July 7 - President Susan seizes the gavel!
July 16 - Opening of the World War II Memorial at the California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport - 2 pm
RISE = Rotary Involvement Strengthens Everyone
As we do each year, last Friday, our Club honored the academic achievements of the top ten percent of the seniors graduating from Arcata High School.
After greeting the students and our other guests, President Howard told them about our Club. He told them that we have over sixty members, who are leaders in our community. "We are a very active club," he said, "doing a lot of service projects." He provided a list of some of the more recent ones, including:
- Our support for local History Day participants
- Sponsorship of the AHS Interact Club, along with the Arcata "Noon" Rotary Club
- Funding Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA)
- Sponsoring Rotary Youth Exchange Students - this year our "Inbound" Student is Sophia Waern-Bugge from Sweden, and our "Outbound" Student is Trula Rael, who is spending her Exchange Year in Italy
- Presenting "Kids, Crabs, and Rotary", which brings about 300 youth baseball players to the Humboldt Crabs' Opening Weekend
- Organizing the Arcata Sunrise Cross-Country Championships for students in kindergarten through eighth grade
- Sponsorship of the Jerry Paul Arcata Invitational Basketball Tournament (AIBT)
- Providing dictionaries for local third graders each year
- Working with Humboldt Live! to support Transitional Age Youth
- Supporting Food For People's "Backpacks For Kids" program
- Cleaning part of Samoa Boulevard as part of the Adopt-A-Highway program
- Working with the Arcata Rotary and local Rotaract Clubs to restore Rotary Park on South G Street
AHS Principal Dave Navarre told us that the 21 students in the top ten percent are "the best of the best", and he called their achievements "astounding", noting that their GPAs range from 4.158 to 4.683. "In fact," he said, "you have to go all the way down to number 37 in the senior class before they drop off the 4.0 list."
Dave introduced the students, listing their academic accomplishments individually, and telling us where each plans to attend college. Through Dave's introductions, most of the students thanked their parents and families, and a few even apologized to them for a few things, such as getting cranky for getting a B on a test, for "spending all their money", and for burying themselves in homework to get out of doing the dishes.
Sunrisers Jeff Stebbins and Bryan Plumley chair our Club's Scholarship and Competitions Committee, and they presented Arcata Sunrise Memorial Scholarships. The awards are presented in memory of late Sunrisers David Myers, Jim Hamby, Marilyn Fletcher, Hal Fitzpatrick, Marylee Bytheriver, Dick Giacolini, and Steve White.
The scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic achievement, athletic talents, community service, and their dedication to succeed. Caroline Gainer-Wolski received our Perpetual Scholarship, so she will receive $1,500 per year for the next four years. The following winners received $500 to $1,000 one-time awards:
- Chloe Pigg
- Keani Momoa-Hugo
- Blake Russell
- Patsy Fraga
- Kendall Boyett
- Cheyenne Keith
Our featured speaker was Patrick Cleary, who is the Executive Director of the Humboldt Area Foundation. Patrick came to the North Coast after 17 years on Wall Street, and he has managed several radio stations, and he has also served on the boards of several local nonprofits. He shared some wisdom with us and with the graduates, and his presentation can be seen in the video below:
Congratulations to all of the members of Arcata High School's Class of 2016! Follow your dreams!
