May 29-June 1 - RI Conference in Seoul, South Korea
June 5 - RISE EVENT - Kids, Crabs, and Rotary at Arcata Ballpark - 11 am
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 26 - RISE EVENT - Lost Coast Rotaract's 3rd Annual Softball Tournament at Redwood Fields - 10 am
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 16 - Opening of the World War II Memorial at the California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport - 2 pm
RISE = Rotary Involvement Strengthens Everyone
- A few days ago, we lost an important member of the Arcata Sunrise family. Carolyn Johnson has helped our Club in many ways, including working with her husband Don with many of our auctions over the past two decades. Her son Dan was our Club President in 2002-2003. Please keep the Johnson family in your thoughts and prayers.
- Terri Clark is now officially retired. "I've decided only to wear yoga pants for the foreseeable future," she told us. "I'm getting rid of all my blazers."
- President Howard noted that we were well represented at the recent District Conference. And we won some awards, as well! We were recognized for excellence in Vocational Service and Leadership, and we won the Governor's Award and a Presidential Citation! The Conference featured several dynamic speakers, including our own Jessica McKnight, who discussed Vocational Service. And our own "Sonny and the Sunrisers" put in an appearance, serenading District Governor Erin with a revised version of the "Dunn, Dunn, Dunn" song that we originally performed during her official Club Visit in October.
- Exchange Student Sophia Waern-Bugge provided an extra breakfast treat to all of us - we thank her for that!
- President-Elect Susan Jansson appreciated the great turnout for our recent Fireside Meetings. She said that "it really felt like everybody was part of the planning, part of the vision, part of our future year, so I'm looking forward to it". A special thanks went out to the Sunrisers who hosted the meetings - Charlie Jordan, Romi Hitchcock-Tinseth, and Julie Vaissade-Elcock.
- We had a good turnout for the Letter Carriers Food Drive on Saturday, May 14th. Our members helped the Postal Workers unload and sort the donations received, which will go to Food For People.
- The Club received thank you letters from the Rising Stars Foundation for donating $2,000 to support outstanding students who were traveling to state events to showcase their talents in science, history, music, and other areas.
- We also received thank you notes from quite a few third graders from Jacoby Creek School and Pacific Union School. They were expressing their appreciation for the dictionaries we distributed earlier this year.
- George Cavinta returned to get us fired up for this year's edition of Kids, Crabs, and Rotary. Once again, we will invite 500 Little Leaguers from around the County to participate. After Sophia throws out the first pitch, we will feed the kids hot dogs, chips, and watermelon, and they will run the bases and mingle with the Crabs after the game.
- President Howard announced that the Lost Coast Rotaract Club will hold its 3rd Annual Softball Tournament on Sunday, June 26th. (Are we going to field a team this year?) All proceeds will benefit the Backpacks for Kids program.
- We did not meet in the first full week of May, so Mary and Rebecca Crow worked with a group of Girl Scouts to package the Backpacks for Kids bundles and deliver them to two schools. Thank you very much!!
- Tom Tellez received a special pin from President Howard - the New Member Sponsor Award! This was given because Tom brought A.J. Gonzales into the Club. Thanks!
Exchange Student Sophia told us that she is raising funds to pay for the Western Safari Trip this summer. She will be selling cinnamon rolls and other pastries, and you are also welcome to donate to the cause at any time.
Sophia was awarded the Seal of Biliteracy by the Humboldt County Office of Education earlier this month. The award is given to select students who demonstrate a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing in at least two languages. Alia Ajina, the daughter of Sunriser Claire Ajina (and Haider, too!), also received this honor at the ceremony.
Sophia had a lot of fun at the District Conference, but it was a bit sad, as well, since it would be the last time she would get together with many of her fellow Exchange Students. But she did perform as part of "Sonny and the Sunrisers". She is a very talented musician, as you can see in the video below:
The History Day Adventurers Return!
We provided support for a group of local students who attended the State History Day Competition in Rocklin on May 6th and 7th. They were among 1,200 county champions who presented their projects. Each category had three judges assessing the students' efforts.
Greta Bishop from Arcata High School presented a Senior Historical Paper - "Manned Exploration of space: A Push Towards the Moon" - at the event. The paper discussed the Space Race of the 1960's, specifically how the first manned space flight with Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin led to the United States sending men to the moon before the end of the decade. She also discussed how this led to the Apollo-Soyuz mission of 1975, and she also talked about the effect of space exploration on society. Greta said that the experience at the competition helped her hone her skills in writing, research, and interviewing.
Jackson Homen and Garrett Kitchen are also from Arcata High, and they developed a website as their project. Their topic was "Howard Hughes: The Great Aviator's Impact and Decline". Although they discussed his influence on aviation and film, they also explored the mental illness that plagued him at the end of his life, and how that tainted his memory. Jackson and Garrett showed us the path taken by Hughes in his historic flight around the world, and they incorporated copies of newspaper articles and other media into their website.
Arcata High was also represented by Phoenix Spoor, whose project "Progression of Rights for People With Disabilities" competed in the Senior Individual Exhibit category. Phoenix told us that the subject is personal to her, and she also knows many people who are disabled. She noted that the Civil Rights Movement began to bring disabled people into the mainstream. She said that it was a period of difficult changes for people, and that the disabled often encountered hostility borne of fear. Phoenix told us that the fight for basic rights and opportunities continues to this day. She explained that she is partially paralyzed on her left side, and she has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, so these issues are indeed personal. "Knowing all these rights," she said, "helps me understand what jobs I can and can't get, but also the accommodations I will need for driving, for my employment offices, my schooling."
Talia Mueller and Yurou Hudson of Six Rivers Charter High School created a website titled "Angel of Death", which dealt with the Nazi doctors who experimented on Holocaust prisoners during World War II. One of the individuals they focused on Josef Mengele. He attempted to create a method for dyeing eyes blue, and he also performed cruel experiments on identical twins and dwarfs. They also profiled Sigmund Rauscher, who subjected prisoners to hypothermia and to simulated high-altitude conditions. The experiments conducted by these men were condemned at the Nuremberg Trials and led to the development of the Nuremberg Code, a set of ethical principles governing human experimentation.
