Rotary Youth Exchange Alumni Making a Difference
This Meeting’s HighlightsProgram: Rotary Youth Exchange Alumni Making a DifferenceSpeaker: Diane Fisher, Rotary Program Alumni & RotarianMeeting for the week of March 6, 2017 to March 12, 2017
Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page. Each Monday our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time.Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you; read it while on public transit, waiting in line for coffee, or even at the park! Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!
Welcome to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley!
Message from President Mitty
Rotary is Global!
New to our meetings? Then I want to welcome you to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley's online meeting! Every week we curate inspiring and educational content in an online format like the one you're seeing here. As you continue reading, watching, and scrolling, our hope is that you'll leave feeling a little bit more inspired. As an online Rotary club, we have these asynchronous meetings online, but we also meet in-person in the Silicon Valley / San Francisco bay area for service projects and for social events. Keep reading on, and feel free to also join us for one of our in-person events if you can make it!As time flies and we approach mid-March, I want to start by reminding everyone that Daylight Savings Time switches our clocks this Sunday, March 12th. (Assuming you're in an area that observes daylight savings.) Don't forget to "spring forward" your clocks!This week we have a special program featuring a speaker video from the Rotary International Assembly this past January. After having positive feedback from our special program a little over a month ago with Peace Fellow Anne's video speech, one of our members suggested that it's nice to have a special program periodically to switch things up. This week, our program at the end of our meeting will feature the story of one of the first Rotary Youth Exchange alumni, Diane Fisher. Diane's story is inspirational, yet important in revealing the need for Rotary Youth Exchange. I believe you will each enjoy her video speech in the program.As with our previous special meetings, there is no questions and answers session in the program video itself, but you are each welcome to leave questions for Diane in the meeting comments.I'm also excited to announce that our club has an incredible committee of members working on putting together our club's first major club charity fundraiser. The fundraiser is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, August 6, 2017 at Retzlaff Winery in Livermore, California. (The second Napa Valley.) There are some incredible things coming up for this fundraiser, so stay tuned. Members interested in getting involved (regardless of where you live!), please reach out to committee chair Andrew Taw or even leave a comment in this meeting directed to Andrew.While our club has lost a few members this year, I'm happy to report we've had a net growth of 7 members since July, and that we are expecting to add a few more members before this Rotary year is over.To our Members: Thank you for being with our club! As President-elect Stephen and his leadership team are working on preparing for the next Rotary year, I challenge each of you to think about what ways our club can improve during the next Rotary year and let President-elect Stephen know that. You can also communicate that directly to me, and I'll be happy to pass that along or see if we can make some changes to directly tackle your concern(s). This club exists to serve the community by helping our members. If you need something, please don't hesitate to reach out. And even if you don't need something, but would like to just share something positive that's happened in your life, feel free to reach out! Good stories are well-received!On a very happy note, I want to congratulate member Raquel for recently graduating Magna Cum Laude Probatus with a Masters of Science in Project Management from the Universidad Latinoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnología (ULACIT) in San José, Costa Rica. Raquel was also given a "Leadership Scholarship," which was awarded to her by the College Scholarship Committee to students with an outstanding record of social interest and community service. Congratulations, Raquel! I love sharing great news about our members! Graduation photo of Raquel included to the right.
Yours in service,
Mitty Chang,
President
Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
president@siliconvalleyrotary.com
Weekly Inspiration: Wearable Weather
Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change. This week we are featuring a video from Great Big Story on wearable weather!
Be it the gentle patter of a misty morning drizzle or the din of a deluging downpour, we all know the sight, the sound, even the smell, of rain. Dutch artist Aliki van der Kruijis felt the beauty behind rain should be celebrated and documented, so she developed a method of "pluviography" -- drawing with rain -- to imprint raindrops onto wearable textiles. Her hope is that people will begin to see rain's beauty via her artwork.
Super cool! Have you ever used the weather to make something? Tell us in the comments!
Laughing Out Loud (L.O.L.) with our Lady of LOLs
We believe that laughing a little every day keeps you healthier. Every week we try to share with you something that will make you smile! This section is curated by Rotarian Yvonne Kwan, our club’s “Lady of LOLs.”
From Yvonne: "March 12 is the start of Daylight Saving Time! (Spring forward one hour!) Here are some time-ly curated jokes for you."
Why didn’t the clock work?
It needed a hand.
At what time does a duck wake up?
At the quack of dawn.
Why did the girl sit on a clock?
To be on time!
Coffee with a Rotarian
A natural part of Rotary is the networking and the fellowship you get out of meeting other Rotarians. Coffee with a Rotarian is a program of our club where we match our members with other Rotarians that they haven't had a chance to really get to talk to. This program is organized by member Tzviatko Chiderov.
In this week's Coffee with a Rotarian, we are featuring three stories in a 3-way Coffee with a Rotarian pairing between members Kristi Govertsen, Andrew Taw, and Monique Ziesenhenne.
Here's what Kristi had to say:
Here's what Monique had to say:
"I had coffee on a Sunday morning with Kristi and Andrew. What a treat! Drinking coffee and sharing our experiences in Rotary, as well as talking about the weather (cold for Kristi in Montana, dry and bright for me and Andrew in the East Bay), was a nice change of pace and gave us a chance to learn more about each other. Kristi has been in Rotary for 12 years and is going to her first conference this summer! She’s into membership as an area of service in Rotary, so we talked about ways to welcome guests and new members in an online environment, and ways to perhaps have virtual red and blue badges (ways of ensuring that new members complete certain tasks to learn more about their club). Andrew’s experience in founding this Club gave us some insight into discussions and ideas about membership. Then, we all talked about the upcoming fundraising event/auction and ways to get the members who live away from the Bay Area involved. The most surprising thing I learned? Kristi made up 22 meetings in one week in 2015 to gain 100% attendance! She is an excellent resource re e-clubs as a result. And, she does not recommend trying this at home."
Here's what Andrew had to say:
"So Kristi Govertsen, Monique Ziesenhenne, and I got the good fortune of having a group of three for our coffee! They're both so genuine and so much fun. Kristi was half-buried in Montana snow while Monique and I sat in California, sunny but still shimmering with recent rain. Monique is on the last week of writing her dissertation and we're very excited for her on this last leg of what must have been a long journey. Kristi plans to go to go to the Rotary International Convention in a party bus so if you're going to Atlanta this year and generally enjoy having a good time, let her know!"
World of Rotary: From the Silicon Valley to South Africa
Rotary is a 1.2 million member organization, with clubs in over 170 different countries. In the Silicon Valley alone, there are over 50 Rotary clubs. Our club is one of many Rotary clubs out there, and this segment is dedicated to sharing stories about what's going on in the world of Rotary.
This week we are featuring a letter written by one of our remote members, Richard Knaggs. Richard is based in South Africa and works as an educator there. Several months ago, Laura Doan, a former Interactor from our Silicon Valley district reached out to President Mitty to ask if he had any Rotary connections to South Africa. Laura, now a medical doctor, was planning on traveling to South Africa for a multi-week medical mission, and wanted to reconnect with her Rotary family roots.Naturally, President Mitty connected Laura with our own eClub member who is based in South Africa, Richard Knaggs. Richard helped Laura connect with a local Rotary club, and also was able to meet up with them for that Rotary meeting.Here's a letter from club member Richard Knaggs in South Africa about the experience:
"Thank you for introducing me to Laura Doan and Elisa Chu. It was such a pleasure to be introduced to two such dedicated and caring ladies. They spent time with the Blouberg Rotary Club and thanks to Helene they:
• visited the Dr. Christiaan (Chris) Barnard museum at Groote Schuur Hospital where he performed world's first human to human heart transplant
• met with with Dr Ronald van Toorn at Tygerberg Children's Hospital. This hospital school caters for children who are hospitalised for long periods. It also specialises in children who suffer from speech delays (dyspraxia)
• visited Zusake a creche in an informal settlement in Du Noon, which looks after AIDS affected children
It was wonderful to hear them both recount and share their experiences with the club at the meeting of 23rd February 2017. They really made a difference.
This experience has led me to believe that every Rotary club should have a member who actively engages with e-clubs to develop international relationships by actively seeking out international Rotarians who share a common interest. We are of course Rotary "International" and as we know technology truly enables globalisation
.
Thank you once again for the privilege of being part of this club and for introducing these two amazing ladies to us."
Richard, we're thrilled you were able to connect with Laura and Elisa, and introduce them to one of the local Rotary clubs in South Africa! Rotary has an amazing power to connect people from all around the world.
Rotary is all about the global connections we can make, not just for ourselves, but our for our friends and our families as well.Did you know there are global Rotary travel fellowships and groups you can join if you're looking to connect with Rotarians worldwide?
For Members: Updates
This segment of the meeting is dedicated to our club members. This section includes announcements and new initiatives. Guests, you are welcome to read this section or just skip it.
Club Jam Session on April 2
Members, regardless of where you are, mark 11 AM to 2 PM Pacific Time on Sunday, April 2, 2017. We're having a club jam session to create more content for the club meetings. You can play a part in creating this content, and also in turn taking a bigger role with the club! If you can make it in-person, we'll be in San Jose, CA. If you can't make it in-person but can make it online, we'll be also keeping an online Zoom video call going for folks to join us! It'll be a great opportunity to be productive, do service to the club, and also get to know your fellow members!
Challenge Coins for Donations to The Rotary Foundation
From our Club Foundation Chair Andrew Taw: "To celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Rotary Foundation, District 5170 is currently offering beautiful challenge coins for donations to TRF during the 2016-2017 Rotary Year (which is from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017)! These coins have the 100th anniversary logo on one side and the 4-Way Test on the other."
Members who donate the following amounts will receive the following coins:
$1000 - Gold$500 - Silver$200 - Bronze
Donated enough to The Rotary Foundation since July 1, 2016 to qualify for a challenge coin already? Go ahead and request your Challenge Coin via the online form here then!Haven't donated enough to qualify for a coin yet? Then consider making those donations over the next few weeks!
Members, didn't see your service report in the blotter? Then fill out the service survey!
Members, want to get your service update into the next service blotter? Please share what you’ve been up to, as it allows us to get to know each other better in the process! Just click on the link below to let us know!For Members Only: Click here to fill out The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey
Our Events & Projects
We hold our meetings online, but we hold regular service projects and social events in the Silicon Valley every month! This section is updated every week with our upcoming events. We welcome guests to all of our events and service projects listed here.
Also be sure to join our Meetup Group for automatic calendar updates and to RSVP for our events! These are open to all guests as well!
https://www.meetup.com/siliconvalleyrotary/
Upcoming Events:
All times are Pacific Time! (San Francisco time)February to April events coming soon! Here are some of the major May and June events to look forward to!
Club Jam Session in San Jose - Sunday, April 2, 2017 from 11 AM to 2 PM
Members! We are putting together a club content jam session in San Jose. Join your fellow members and club leaders as we have a work party creating some of the content for the upcoming club meetings. Snacks, lunch, drinks, and fun times included! Location will be sent to members.
Charity Chili Cook Off for Justin's House - Sunday, April 23, 2017
For the past two years, our club has been volunteering at Justin's House. The mission of Justin’s House is to provide a variety of services that inspire youth to live beyond abuse and addiction. Our club is looking for members and guests who are interested in volunteering this year on Sunday, April 23, 2017 for their annual Chili Cookoff in Santa Clara, California. Interested members or guests, please contact our event chair, Rushton Hurley at rushton@gmail.com - thank you!
Our club's event chair: Rushton Hurley
Rotary District 5170 Conference - May 5-7, 2017 in Santa Cruz, California
Join hundreds of Rotarians from throughout our Rotary district for our annual Rotary District Conference! This year's conference will take place in Santa Cruz, California at the Boardwalk! This family-friendly event will be open to all guests and family members to attend. We hope to see more of our eClub members join us this year!
Our club's event chair: Yvonne Kwan
Rotary International Convention - June 10-14, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Join over 35,000 Rotarians from around the world at the annual Rotary convention! This year's convention will take place in Atlanta, Georgia, USA and features the centennial celebration of The Rotary Foundation! The Rotary International Convention is the largest regular gathering of Rotarians, and is also one of the best networking opportunities anyone can ever experience. Our Rotary eClub will have member events and experiences in Atlanta! Come join us in Atlanta!
Our club's event chair: Mitty Chang
Happy Dollars: Do Good by Sharing Something Good
Each week we ask our members to share stories with the club and toss in a few dollars to support our efforts. The primary goal of this section is to provide a fun way of getting to know each fellow members and guests, while giving back to a good cause.
Happy dollars is an opportunity to share something positive that has happened in your life whether it is personal or business. Think of it as your opportunity to brag a little, but also put a little bit into a karma jar. The money donated through happy dollars is put to charitable use, and the message that you leave for happy dollars will be posted in our online meeting the following week for the entire week for folks to see! (Pending that it's appropriate!)
Last week's happy dollars went towards our club's general fund. Here were the happy dollars donations from last week:
Thank you to member Rory Olsen for his $15 donation, to be donated to The Rotary Foundation's PolioPlus Fund! Rory had this to say:"I am high on life today! Please apply my gift to Polio Plus!"
Thank you to member Monique Ziesenhenne for her generous $20 donation! Monique had this to say:"Annual Fund!"
Thank you all for your donations last week!
This week's donations will go towards supporting club operations!
Happy dollars is also a great opportunity to share with the group about something good that has happened to you.
So what are you happy about? Share with us below, and help support one of our future leaders!
Selected Six
Every week at the bottom of our meetings, there is a comments section for members and guests to tell us what they enjoyed about the meeting or to ask questions to the speaker. We select six comments every week from last week’s meeting to be featured during this week’s meeting.
Here are six comments selected from last week's meeting about “I Did Not Choose My Profession, It Chose Me”:
Guest Rebecca Weragoda (Sydney, Australia) had this to say:"Another incredible meeting! Thank you Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley. Quote of the week for me came from Marilyn sharing her PWR experience: 'Life is too short not to be yourself!'. Awesome to see the impact the PWR program is having on young leaders. Would also like to echo Mitty's comments around connecting with Rotary Clubs while travelling. On a recent trip to Hawaii, I was fortunate enough that my schedule coincided with the meeting time of the Rotary Club Of Volcano. The club meets inside the Volcano National Park! An amazing opportunity to connect with locals and understand the environmental challenges they are facing with their native Ohia Tree. Look forward to connecting with more international Rotary clubs in the future."
Guest Jayprakash Deshpande (India) had this to say:"Mitty, your experience about great friendship n fellowship through Rotary has been mine too since I am visiting USA 7th time in last 10 years and attending meetings around here. A few years back, I was traveling in Hawaii n had a chance to visit local Club there. Jeff, nice talk! Yes we all come into profession accidentally. I after doing science n law graduation by chance entered Insurance industry in India n could do well. Great club, great topics discussed Mitty. Congrats"
Member Tzviatko Chiderov (South Africa) had this to say:"So much good stuff in this week's meeting. Amazing to see Ken Butler turning trash into beautiful instruments, wow! So good to hear Marilyn's story about her experience at PWR and the impact it's had on her daily life and confidence. Finally, Jeff, it was great to learn about you and your work. It's so cool that you can identify the exact time in your past that gave you so much clarity about your goals and the impact you wanted to see through your work. Also I love the examples you gave on how you are motivating your students - the art, videos, the talk about the line of bare minimum and why they should always strive to be above it. Great work, we need more people like you."
Member Monique Ziesenhenne (California, USA) had this to say:"Wonderful program this week! So great to hear about Jeff's experience and congratulations for the impact you've had in so many lives. I have to say that while you had a "moment" that defined the career, I had to learn to listen to the others around me (recognizing the moment), many of whom were asking questions and directing me in ways that would be helpful to moving my career path forward. Sometimes, we are hearing it and just not recognizing what IT is. Thanks!"
Member Mahmood Khan (California, USA) had this to say:"What a great personal story. I can relate to not knowing what I wanted to do while growing up. It takes a great teacher to create awareness and to push one in the right direction. Unfortunately it does n't happen to so many. Thank you Jeff for sharing and your good work. cheers"
Member Rushton Hurley (California, USA) had this to say:"It was inspiring to hear from Marilyn - she speaks courageously of her experiences and feelings, and I think she's taught us all something important in the pair of videos she made for us. Brian, I hope we'll see that video you mentioned in the next meeting. Jeff, it was awesome to have you visit our club. Thanks for that, and for all you've done for so many students! We'll get Ryan's video in the coming week's meeting - sorry! Kristi, here's another Instagram post I put up over the last week. (Nate, I loved the one you posted from the shrine.)"
Be sure to leave a comment at the end of this week’s meeting after you watch the program below, and perhaps you’ll see your comment featured next week!Tip: If you participate in the monthly photo contest via the comments, you're much more likely to be featured in the next week's meeting! Guests can participate too! Read our Members segment of our meeting to learn more about the theme for this month.
Program: Rotary Youth Exchange Alumni Making a Difference
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, education, technology, and humanitarian service. This week we have a special program featuring special guest and Rotary Youth Exchange alumnus Diane Fisher of Australia. This program is from the 2017 Rotary International Assembly speech Diane delivered this past January.
More on Diane & Youth Exchange
Diane Fisher is currently a member of the Rotary Club of Templestowe in Victoria, Australia. She began her journey in Rotary as a Rotary Youth Exchange student 40 years ago. Diane shares her story about the impact Rotary Youth Exchange had on her life, as well as the good she sees Youth Exchange having in our future.Rotary Youth Exchange builds peace one young person at a time. Students learn a new language, discover another culture, and truly become global citizens. Exchanges for students 15 to 19 years old are sponsored by Rotary clubs in more than 100 countries. Exchange students unlock their true potential to: develop lifelong leadership skills, learn a new language and culture, build lasting friendships with young people from around the world, and become a global citizen.
Members and guests, please join us in welcoming Diane!
Related Links
Ask a question. Leave a comment!
Have a question for Diane? Leave a comment or a question in the comments below! Or just tell us how your week has been!
Upcoming Program Schedule
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 to 45 minutes long and are subject to change without notice. (Sometimes speakers cancel on us!)
Upcoming Recordings:
On Tuesday, March 7, 2017 at 6 PM U.S. Pacific time, Kristen Swanson will tell us about an innovative and fun approach to professional development - the "edcamp."
On Thursday, March 9, 2017 at 4 PM U.S. Pacific time, Susie Rivera of the FLY (Fresh Lifelines for Youth) will tell the story of that amazing organization.
Want to be one of our upcoming program speakers? Email president@siliconvalleyrotary.com with information about what you would like to speak about!
If you would like to join us for any of the live recordings, please email president@siliconvalleyrotary.com with your request. Requests will be checked up until 5 minutes prior to the recording time. Please note the timezone is all California, USA time.
You’re Almost Done! One last thing: The Attendance Survey...
Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done. First, we have a very short attendance survey below for you to fill out to record your attendance.
Visiting Rotarians, this is how you can get an email receipt to pass along to your club’s secretary as proof that you’ve attended our meeting if you need it for makeups.Non-Rotarian Guests, we would love to see who is dropping by our meetings! This part is optional for you. If you think you may want to join our eClub at some point in the future, we would strongly recommend you fill out the attendance form as it will improve your chances of success for your membership application.More importantly, for all members and guests — we strongly recommend and ask that you leave a comment below in our comments area below. Tell us how you enjoyed the program. Ask this week’s speaker any questions you might have. Or just stop by and say hello and tell us where you’re from!
