Westport Sunrise December 22 at Sunrise maybe before

Westport Sunrise meets at the Westport Inn and does a lot.

Here's President Ron Holtz with the holiday basket of goodies being given away in the weekly raffle.  Ron is an experienced President and the club is very supportive.

And here's a view of the whole group, in the middle in the distance is President-Elect Eileen Flug who is taking care of some details on a project. 

The club did a survey of members to determine the status and areas for improvement. The survey is from RI and the club was very positive about most things. The club will now focus on areas for improvement and work on them. Clearly they are a vibrant club.(Mentioned by President Ron as a RI focus).

Comments on Fall 2017 RYLA

Here's Michael and some of the attendees at RYLA. We asked some of the attendees to comment on their RYLA experience and here are their unedited comments.

C

I had an amazing experience at RYLA and I learned a lot of things about myself and about being a leader. I learned that there are different types of leaders but all leaders share similar qualities such as passion, confidence, communication skills and determination. I was able to see myself as a leader and that I was valued and appreciated by others. All the participants and all the facilitators were very supportive and encouraging. Whenever I spoke about things I cared about, there were always people there listening who actually wanted to hear what I had to say. I plan to volunteer more at places like the Bridgeport Rescue Mission and Homes for the Brave where there are many people who need help and are just outside of my community. I also plan on getting my Interact Club to think about what we can do to make a positive impact on the Bridgeport community who do not have as many resources as we do, but are very close to our town.  

E

I had a positive experience at the RYLA conference and met a lot of new people, most of whom I am still in contact with. The activities that we did pushed me out of my comfort zone and encouraged me to think differently and see some different perspectives. I would like to become more involved with my school's Interact club and work on more projects. 

D

The RYLA event was amazing. What I learned from this event was one major thing for me, not speaking well in front of people, this had pushed my limits and made me speak. I had become so relaxed and knew many people, I was not afraid of speaking. One thing I learned was talk to someone, by that I mean just have a nice, simple conversation with the person, it could brighten up their day. Help others as much as you possibly can. Never judge anyone. My current plan is to get more involved in my Interact Club as much as I can to help others. Also I am really sorry this email is super late, Truly sorry.
Thank you.

R

My experience at Fall 2017 RYLA definitely changed my life and helped me grow as a person. RYLA truly opened my eyes to the hardships suffered in our community, and allowed me to become understanding of everyone, regardless of background or situation. RYLA touched my life and the lives of others forever and I will never forget the experience.

J

My experience at Fall 2017 RYLA was one I will never forget. First I learned of the qualities of a good leader and how to apply these skills to my community. As a result I am more confident, have a better understanding of others and of course more leadership skills. After RYLA I'm definitely a changed person and wouldn't give up this experience for anything.

Middletown Rotary Club-December 5, 2017

The Middletown Rotary Club meets for lunch at the First and Last Tavern. They had two students from RYLA and had a student of the month. In addition they had a speaker, a member of the club, who talked about the brain.

So here's the President of the club, Cheryl Duey with Maya and McKenzie who are members of the Notre Dame Interact Club. Maya is one of three student Directors at RYLA and McKenzie attended for the first time this Fall.

And here's the student of the month from Vinal Tech, Jacob Amendola with President Cheryl and his guidance counselor Sue Niman. Jacob want to start a family HVAC business with his brothers.

Breakfast with Santa-East Hampton Rotary Club serves pancakes and Santa every year

Every year the East Hampton Rotary Club serves over 1000 people breakfast and Santa. The East Hampton Interact Club makes sure that every child gets a picture with Santa and they have a raffle to raise money for their projects. There is an amber alert picture taking. And the East Hampton Rotary Club members enjoy getting together, working and helping so many of the people of East Hampton.
Also canned goods and non perishables are donated to the East Hampton and Marlborough food banks.

This is Kevin Reich making sure that everything is ok at the East Hampton High School where the Breakfast with Santa is held. We take over the kitchen in the cafeteria.

The East Hampton Interact Club also does face painting for those interested. 

Kevin Kuhr, Past President; Mark Cibula, President Elect and Kevin Reich, current President of East Hampton Rotary Club. The members are doing the work.

Here's Santa the star of the day with two young children, getting their picture taken

And here's more members of the Interact Club working the picture making apparatus.

Norwich Rotary Club-Donald MacRae award given to Dr. Jerry Lowney November 28

At a meeting of the Norwich Rotary club on November 28 Dr. Jerry Lowney was given the Donald MacRae award.  District 7980 is a part of Rotary Zone 32 which consists of many zones across northern US and Canada. The Don MacRae award is given each year to a Rotarian who has done something astounding Internationally. Dr. Jerry Lowney of the Norwich Rotary Club received this award for his work in creating and growing the Haitian Health Foundation which has transformed the health and educational infrastructure in a part of Haiti.
Haitian Health Foundation

Here is Dr. Lowney before receiving the award.

Also at this meeting Governor Trish represented a proclamation which was made concerning the club. Here is the President Elect-James Daly receiving the proclamation and Gov. Trish reading it.

And Bonnie Hong gave the Boots on the Ground presentation for the Rotary Foundation

Waterford Rotary club November 20

The Waterford Rotary club inducted a new member today. Here is her sponsor putting the pin on.

 They sent a student to RYLA and are hoping to start an Interact Club at the local high school. Lots of other projects are just completed and in the work. Below are the co Presidents of Waterford RC Cathy Newlin and Anne Ogden.

Colchester Rotary Club had an Open House-November 15

Colchester Rotary club had an open house at the Polish Club in Colchester. It was a fun evening and lots of people met each other.

Below are pictures of members and guests. The fellow with the yellow cap is Evan Evans the President of the Colchester Rotary club.

Here is John Bedford the Treasurer of the club. Each member described why he joined Rotary and the overall effect was striking.

A Speaking Technique from Michael Angelo Caruso (PDG)

Here's a speaking technique from Michael Angelo Caruso who was a District Governor in Michigan a few years ago. He also teaches people how to improve their public speaking skills. Here's his "Yell at the Dog" technique

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCjdlZzpLGs

Our District Interact Board attended the Assistant Governors Meeting

High school Interact students cover our District much like the Assistant Governors do.  Their job is to help the Interact clubs in our District and do some projects to promote Service and Interact.  There was great sharing of ideas and thoughts at the AG meeting on Nov 14.

Here are the Interact District leaders Matt and Pauline discussing how to enhance our Interact program. Each of the Interact Area leaders then talked about his/her area and thoughts. In the foreground is District Governor Elect Larry Gardner on the right and Colin, the Interact events coordinator.

Here's Mike from the Hopkins School near New Haven. Last year he was also a student director at RYLA

And here's Jason who always has interesting comments

And here's Jessica who has three of our AG areas to cover.

Meeting of Orange Rotary club-November 10

At a meeting of the Orange Rotary Club on November 10 there was lots of Rotary activities.
Lynda Hammond talked about the projects she is working on.

 The President, Robert Sigler, talked about some of the activities the club is planning.

 Orange is Governor Trish's home club and although she was not there because of other District obligations, her Governors flag was.

 The speaker was Mike Papale, who at the age of 17, almost died due to cardiac arrest. He has started a nonprofit to help install Automated External Defibrillators and to provide training and help in their use.

East Hampton Rotary Club 11/8 Rotary Foundation Boots

On Wednesday, November 8 the East Hampton/Marlborough Rotary Club had a Rotary Foundation Boots on the ground event. But first Red McKinney gave a Paul Harris plus one to President Kevin Reich

 Tari Marshall Day gave a fine presentation on the Rotary Foundation, its good works and the East Hampton's clubs participation. However a key enabler was Mark Morgano's AV contribution.

RYLA-What's 109!(that's factorial) Its the Hugs at the end

RYLA is a leadership training event for high school students. District 7980 holds one in the Fall and one in the Spring each year. One was held October 27 to 29 at Camp Hazen in Chester, Connecticut.
The students come in on Friday knowing no one and after a short period the facilitators get the whole group dancing together.


Here are the facilitators dancing and getting the students to start dancing

and here's the facilitators talking about the next activity

After spending about 60 hours together the group has bonded and really cares about each other. The last thing the group does is hug each other. There were 109 people at Camp Hazen(86 students, plus all the facilitators, student directors and RYLA chairs) on Sunday and they all hugged each other. Let's see 109 people and each wants to hug the other 108. That's 109! hugs(109*108*107*106.....) That's a lot of hugs. Of course during this hugging process the parents who are picking up their students are trying to put 100 cars in a parking lot which can handle 50 cars.

In any case the students became leaders and created a support system of students and facilitators.

Hugs at end of RYLA

The students prepare a proposal for a service project. On Sunday we heard 12 proposals for projects which were judged by a panel of Rotarians. They were very interesting. Here's one team. Below that is the team of Rotary Judges including Mark Cibula(East Hampton), Cathy Mauritz(Naugatuck), John Coleman(Trumbull), Kevin Guptill(New Haven) and Trish Pearson(Governor and Orange)

RYLA Challenge Judges

Presidents Council in District 7980

Presidents Council on October 28. Membership, What Presidents would like to have known and Youth were discussed. A great Rotary Scholarship recipient from Yale talked about his journey.

Here's Larry Gardner, Governor Elect listening to Presidents discussing what they would have liked to know about being President

And here's Governor Trish listening and talking about what's coming up.

And here's our speaker who was a Doctor in England and decided he wanted to be involved in public health. He got a Rotary Foundation Scholarship to help achieve his dream. He wants to have a bigger impact than a single doctor can have.

And there was an afternoon conversation about our Communication, etc effort led by Bob Friend. This is the proposed Mission of that effort.

Milford Rotary club-October 26, 2017

Milford rotary club meets on Thursdays for lunch at the Gusto Trattoria in Milford.
Their Sargent did a great job bringing out the fun for the day.

Here's the President Winthrop Smith Jr. discussing with the Sargent at Arms. He ran a great meeting we had a good lunch and they discussed their future activities.
Then the President of Southern Connecticut State University, Joe Bertolino, talked about his school. Which all agreed has grown and is now first class. The President and I discussed starting a Rotaract club and using their facilities and he wants to help with both.

Rotary Zones-Hartford October 17 to 21, 2017

Rotary Zones was a great learning experience.

Above are pictures of Larry Gardner and his wife for the marching in of the governor Elects. Below is Rick Benson receiving our award for the largest District gift to the Rotary Foundation. Some of the things I learned are below.

Governor

            Leave District administratively sound

            Motivate members

Do not do

            me,my, I

            language barrier

            too many e-mails

            not react to  Pres problems

            failure to delegate

            publicly embarass people

Do do/Good

            ask questions

            acknowledge others achievements

            be energetic

            good listener

            tell stories

            newletter

            have courage to do things differently

            get PDG to help and support

            brief report after club visit

            personalize speech for each club

            catch somebody doing something good

            fun

Friend Facebook page for every club in District

Sit with AGs 1 on 1

Talk about Foundation

Every year start a new club or satellite club

Go to other population groups, different demographic

North Branford Rotary Club October 4

At a meeting of the North Branford Rotary Club on October 4. They discussed their Spooktacular event on October 28 which is a dinner, auction and other events all in one.

There is a picture of Paul Burns PDG . In the picture of the club at the table is PDG Mukund Nori.

RYLA Planning Sept 23-24

Before each RYLA the Chair(Kristen Foster) the student directors and the facilitators get together and put together the final plans for the RYLA. They did this on Laurel Island Sept 23 and 24 for the RYLA at Camp Hazen on October 27 to 29.

Above is a view of the whole group 16 facilitators, 3 student directors and 3 RYLA chairs and cochairs.
Below is the three student directors Maya, Nick and Lili all seniors at schools in our District.