Volume XII, Issue 45: June 5, 2015 – AHS Top Ten Percent

On The Calendar
June 12-13SWOT Project!!! Painting the Night Shelter
June 20:  Oyster Festival Beer Booth
June 26: We are dark (no Friday Meeting)
July 3: We are dark (no Friday Meeting)
July 4RISE EVENT! – Arcata Plaza Fourth of July Celebration

Announcements
Last Friday, we welcomed the Academic Top Ten Percent of Arcata High School’s Class of 2015. President Barbara discussed Rotary in general and our Club specifically, mentioning some of our recent accomplishments. When she talked about the previous weekend’s “Kids, Crabs, and Rotary” event, Barbara also noted that Mozara threw out the first pitch of the game. 

Barbara also took a moment to thank Karen Burgesser for her work organizing the special meeting. Karen received the Rotary Angel award for taking the initiative to set things up when Barbara was called out of town unexpectedly. 

Barbara’s Opening Remarks

Presenting the Top 10%
Arcata High School Principal Dave Navarre introduced each member of this year’s academic top achievers, and he read a message from each of the 20 students. Click below to watch his presentation:

Dave Navarre presents the AHS Top Ten Percent

RCAS Scholarship Winners
President Barbara noted that we had many deserving scholarship applicants this year. So many, in fact, that we presented awards to seven students! Here is a list:

  • The $6,000 multi-year scholarship was awarded to Olivia Merrill, who is a member of the AHS Interact Club and who attended RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) in 2014. Olivia will attend Cal State East Bay in the fall. 
  • Morgan Johnson received a $1,000 scholarship, and she plans to attend UC Berkeley, majoring in Political Science.
  • Another $1,000 scholarship was given to Dylan Martin. She will be at Brown University next fall, with a multi-disciplinary major.
  • Mariah Lewis also received $1,000. She will be at San Diego State University in the fall, majoring in Liberal Studies.
  • The last of the $1,000 scholarships was presented to Kush Rawal, who will be attending Cucamonga Community College in San Diego in the fall.
  • Ryan Ghisetti was awarded a $500 scholarship, which he will help him attend UCLA in the fall, where he plans to major in Dance. 
  • Ruby Dickinson also received a $500 scholarship. She plans to major in Biochemistry at Your Editor’s alma mater – San Francisco State University.

The video link below shows the scholarship presentations, and it features Olivia discussing her RYLA and Interact experiences.

Scholarship Winners

Your Decisions Matter
Last week’s Featured Speaker was Dr. Peg Blake, HSU’s Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs. In the video below, she tells the students (and us) how each decision we make changes our lives from that point forward.

Peg Blake on the Importance of Decisions