Today was a “Destination” meeting at the Lehigh Career & Technical Institute (LCTI). There were 26 Rotarians and guest present. Sgt-at-Arms Mitch Huston handled Registration.
President Amir Famili started at 7:30 A.M. and welcomed all. Then Rev. Jeffrey Kistler gave a very nice invocation including a special mention for Ronnee Klotz, Bill Weber and PDG Linda Young whose husband just passed away.
Secretary John Scott began the meeting having the members recite The Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Then he led us in reciting the Four Way Test. And John reviewed some of the upcoming events.
GUESTS:
Lisa McDonald, future member; Angela Roman, Mother of our Student of the Month: and Dr. Mark Covelle, LCTI.
THANK YOU FOR BEING A ROTARIAN:
TOMORROW, Thursday, November 14th the Membership team is sponsoring a “Thank you for being a Rotarian” event at Chris’s Family Restaurant on Tilghman Street. We will meet downstairs from 5:30-7PM. Admission is free, there will be lots of yummy appetizers and there will be a cash bar. Gwenn Carr said ”We’ve planned some fun activities and lots of prizes..
VETERANS DAY:
Pres. Amir asked our member veterans to stand and there was applause.
DICTIONARIES:
Pres. Amir thanked Lisa McDonald and Dennis Houser for helping to distribute the dictionaries.
LOWHILL FOOD PANTRY:
This great group still depends on cash donations from AW Rotarians. And volunteering for the produce pick-up and distribution on Saturday mornings is a very satisfying thing.
AWRC HOLIDAY PARTY:
There are flyers available with details about our Friday, December 6th annual Christmas Party at the Brookside Country Club in Macungie. A sign-up sheet is going around.
THURSDAY EVENING SCHEDULE:
TOMORROW, November 14 at 5:30 PM at Chris’s Family Restaurant is the next meeting. See “Thanks for Being a Rotarian.”
NEXT MORNING MEETING:
November 20 at Luther Crest with Dennis Houser as our Greeter. District Governor Herb Klotz will conduct a Rotary Foundation Conversation.
There were no drawings and no Happy Dollars this morning.
STUDENT OF THE MONTH:
Victor Riche-Romancame forward with Dr. Covelle. Jeff Kistler conducted our Student of the Month award ceremony. Dr. Covelle said many nice things about Victor. Victor has just been elected Class President -- for the second year. See separate article.
PROGRAM:
Our meeting at the LCTI (Lehigh Career & Technical Institute)was held in their restaurant. The Culinary Arts students and the Teaching Chef prepared a very nice breakfast buffet for us.
Barbara Kistler introduced Dr. Mark Covelle, Principal of the LCTI Academic Center. Mark holds two Masters degrees and a PhD in Education Management. For the last two years he has been the Principal of the 15 year old Academic Center.
The significance of this LCTI “Academic Center” is that instead of the “old days” with “Vo-Tech” schools where students were sent with the stigma of not being suited for college, now they can go to learn a trade and also learn English, Math, History, etc.
LCTI serves 9 School Districts with 12 High Schools. Before there was an Academic Center the students would be bused to LCTI for half a day, and then back to their High Schools. Now students come to LCTI and stay for the full school day. They currently have 325 students at the Academic Center, and can go to 400.
Dr. Covelle has made some significant changes involving the Academic Center. One “biggie” was the shutting down of the bell system announcing the class period changes. This added more trust to the students every day.
Mark is using some student free time each day and has brought in special teachers for personal finances, personal Taxes, etc. This is one reason why Dr. Covelle says “LCTI is a special place.”
LCTI also has an advantage of being on the campus of a college -- LCCC. Some students can take advanced courses by walking across the campus and earn college credits.
When asked about funding for LCTI, Dr. Covelle said that about 70% comes from the school districts that they serve. The students receive diplomas from those High Schools, not LCTI. The other 30% comes from state aid and grants.
Dr. Covelle emphasizes that LCTI leads to “College AND Career.” They try to make the “implicit” become “explicit.” And since they are only 15 years old, all of their facilities and equipment are up to date and modern.
CLOSING:
Pres. Amir closed our meeting by our reciting the saying “One profits most who serves best.”
Photos by Gary Heller
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