Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show February 18 2010

Thanks to our greeters who seemed to be heartily enjoying their duties: SAM HARDING, DICK DUHRING, ROLAND PAYNE, and KAREN GREGURAS.  Thanks again to our Sergeants-at-Arms and Cashier PP WYATT ALLEN.  What would we do without their willing hands?
 
One would have to say that DAN HOLDEN was the "star" of today’s meeting, as he scored a triple: Thought, Song, and Speaker of the day. His most valuable thought for this writer was "Education bears a cost, but ignorance also has a cost!"  When he donned a marching band leader’s plumed hat and baton, we realized that his "song" was to be a march. However the computer music didn't cooperate, so we just marched around our dining tables and snickered.  Notes on his important and interesting speaking program follow.
 
While awaiting the music, President TRACIE regaled us with a joke, something about her "mother" who told the cop who had stopped her that there were  two dead bodies in her car trunk, then denied it to the second cop who checked the trunk with "That lying cop probably would probably also tell you that I was speeding." Good for TRACIE, always prepared!
 
President Elect DENNIS YOUNG opened the floor for introductions, and there were many.   DAN HOLDEN's guests were Connie Hernandez Robbins, Head of Connect Motivate, Educate (CME Society) at San Jose State University and Tom Reese, a commercial developer.

JOHN SYLVESTER introduced a guest of the Club, Karla Lacey of Cisco Systems and John King, a realtor from Keller Williams in Palo Alto.  LARRY CHU's guest was his sophomore mentee from the Waldorf School, David Janac.  STEVE SHEPHERD's guest was Eileen Savin of Northern Trust. DAVID BERGMAN's guest was Greg Hartwell, employed in senior home health care.  VAL CARPENTER's guest was her mother, Lorie Cook.

PE DENNIS announced next week's speaker: Sharon Williams, Director of Job Train (formerly OICW). This should be an interesting presentation, in view of today’s tough economy. 

Membership Director JOHN CARDOZA continued his monumental growth year by inducting two new LARC members. ANNE ARJANI, a realtor with Keller Williams, Palo Alto, and formerly of Johnson & Johnson, Cooper Laser Sonics and Coherent Medical Lasers.  ANNE is sponsored by BOB ADAMS.

New member CAMMIE BRODIE, sponsored by BAIDRA MURPHY, is a mortgage loan consultant with Met Life.  JOHN cited the many benefits of Rotary membership, including service, fellowship, and access to Rotarians in 33,000 Rotary clubs worldwide.

• Past President SAM PESNER warning us to be cautious when using "big pictures" in Power Point because they load slowly (the explanation of why DAN's marching music failed to materialize on time).  Mic in hand, he reminded us to do some service by helping at the Los Altos Rotary Fine Art in the Park Show.
• JOHN SYLVESTER reiterated that the LARC Wine Party is Feb. 26, 6 pm, at PP STEVE and Kathy ANDERSON'S home, but sign-ups are now closed.
• PP SAM HARDING gave us the good news that former LARC member HARDY JONES is now home after his heart attack and "doing fine" with no cognitive loss.
• BEVERLY TUCKER has inherited KAREN GESSERT's job as Sunshine Chair, so she passed around a get well card for HARDY JONES.
• KAILAS CHIDAMBARAM brought a "Humanity in Motion" book to President TRACIE from the District Governor in Australia where he has spent 6 weeks until January 26th, Australia Day.  And, by the way, his son is now married and also employed there, so that would have been worth a fine for KAILAS, thinks this writer.
• BILL PALMER is making a continued effort to get PEG organized and moving.  So please contact him if you'd like to help Partners for Elder Generations.
• BONNIE BURDETT did a fine job as auctioneer selling her tickets for Laura Bush speaking at the Celebrity Forum and bringing in $100 to benefit PNG.
• President TRACIE reminded us that the March 12th Cioppino fundraiser seeks sponsors so that all tickets can be tax-deductible.  Money paid for the cioppino & lasagne dinner plus the silent auction will be credited towards a Paul Harris Fellowship and will be donated to RI's End Polio Now campaign.  More than a few chuckles were heard when TRACIE announced with a straight face that the cioppino is based on "a fine Italian recipe that goes back to Los Altos Garbage Company Days."

PROGRAM: COLLEGE ADMISSIONS
DAN HOLDEN had very practical information on assisting students to successfully apply to “select” colleges (like UCB and UCLA) as well as “very select” colleges such as Stanford and Cal Tech. In order to secure registration, today’s students apply to an average of 11 colleges, which is quite a change from the “good ol’ days” when most of us were applying for college. The result is that California has 2.4 million college students in public institutions of higher education, which is more than the entire population in 21 states. Why are students applying to so many colleges? Because this is the peak in population of baby boomers’ children combined with our state’s financial mess, causing many colleges to reduce admissions.

DAN reviewed the high school testing process which includes IQ tests such as the Pre-SAT and the SAT and other tests like ACT that measure what students have learned in their coursework. Community service is important to note in college applications, and Eagle Scout or Golden Girl Scouts are top attention-getters. In personal statements or essays, it is important for students to describe any personal difficulties they have overcome, as well as leadership.

Letters of recommendation should include special circumstances such as alumni status, ethnicity, first generation to attend college, learning differences, and special talents. Application screening boards seem to prefer students who commit themselves to four years of one activity vs. a great variety of activities. Though internships are difficult to find in today’s economy, community college classes, online enrichment and summer programs should be explored.