Today was a ZOOM meeting and again there were about 40 of us on line. After 15 minutes of talking amongst ourselves with our Greeter being President Amir Famili, he opened the meeting at 7:45 A.M Ernie Boll gave a very nice invocation.
GUESTS ON LINE:
DGN Bob Hobaugh, Kutztown RC: Dr. Bryon Grigsby, President of Moravian College: James Gangaro, NWL H.S. Junior: and Nicholas Millward, Peace Scholar candidate.
Secretary John Scott began the meeting by having the members recite The Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Then he led us in reciting the Four Way Test.
Pres. Amir thanks all “first responders” and other Essential Workers for what they do and asks all to pray for them.
LOWHILL FOOD PANTRY:
This is one of our many hunger projects that needs our support regularly.
HELP OUR TEMPTING TASTES FRIENDS:;
Our leaders have agreed to publically ask members and friends to support the Restaurants and food suppliers that have supported us in the past. Using Facebook, our weekly A-W Bulletin, and by buying gift cards and food from them.
Restaurants and providers are now hungry for our support. Please consider ordering from them when you are looking for a break from your own cooking! You can also support them with the purchase of gift cards, for yourself or others. This week’s Featured Food Provider is Pinnacle Ridge Winery. See separate article.
MORNING MEETINGS;
President Amir Famili has suspended all AWRC face-to-face meetings until further notice. ZOOM meetings are now scheduled for each Wednesday at 7:30 A.M.
THURSDAY EVENING SCHEDULE:
TOMORROW, May 28th at 5:30 P.M. we will hold a ZOOM meeting. Just show up and smile with a drink in your hand optional. The program will be planning the October Purple Pinkie 5K race.
NEXT MORNING MEETING:
Wednesday June 3 starting at 7:30 a.m. We will use ZOOM to meet together with appropriate distancing. Our program will be
Carolyn Johnson. Yarmouth (Maine) Rotary discussing a Guatemala Literacy Project. DG Herb reco9mmends this.
HAPPY DOLLARS and MEMBER NEWS:
Pres. Amir conducted this part and kept score on who owes how much money. BTW it is $2 for ZOOM happiness.
Gary Englehardt thanks the Kistlers for the lovely 100th birthday card they sent to his Mother.
Jean Machamer extends all our thanks to Barbara Kistler for the great Scholarship interviews.
Sue Weber says she and Bill are very happy to be back in Hilton Head.
Amir Famili lost 5 lbs. over the recent fasting. He says it will be back soon.
Jeanne Shipe recently attended a Zoom meeting with a RC in Virginia.
Bill Weber said that the RC there in Hilton Head will resume face-to-face meetings next week.
Gail Micca is happy to have Y.E. student James on our call-in meeting today.
Gwenn Carr noted that this week we urge members to support Pinnacle Ridge Winery. Also the 29Cooks “Goin’ South” site is starting up.
PEACE SCHOLAR CANDIDATE:
DG Herb Klotz introduced Capt. Nick Millward who was on with us from Japan. Nick was a NWL H.S. Rotary Interact student 10 years ago. Herb and the committee just interviewed Nick and confirmed him as our D7430 candidate for a Rotary Peace Scholarship.
YOUTH EXCHANGHE STUDENT:
James Gangaro is this year’s outbound Youth Exchange student and was to go to Chile -- which was cancelled. James, a Junior at NWL H.S. has some money available and is looking for a way to multiply it to then be used to feed the hungry.
PROGRAM:
Pres. Amir introduced Dr. Bryon Grigsby, President of Moravian College to discuss The Economic impact of AICUP school and Moravian College. AICUP stands for Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Pennsylvania.
Bryon Grigsby, Ph.D. Class of 1990, is President of Moravian College and Moravian Theological Seminary. He was inaugurated President July, 2013.
One of President Grigsby’s first initiatives was to issue Mac laptops and iPads to incoming students and Faculty.
After graduating from Moravian College, President Grigsby completed a Ph.D. at Loyola University in Chicago and taught English at Centenary College.
Bryon thanked us for this invitation, and thanks Rotarians for carrying on during these troubled times. So many colleges closed classes and cancelled events. He said that this presentation was put together way before the virus struck.
Their website states: “We Were Founded on a Revolutionary Idea that learning should be eye opening, heart racing, game changing and--most important--fun. When John Amos Comenius, a Moravian bishop, came up with that little theory all the way back in the 1600s, he probably didn't expect to have such a big impact.
“Turns out, we still agree with his philosophy. And we believe our students, like Comenius, can be a little revolutionary. They, too, can turn something seemingly small into something amazing, unimaginable, and bigger than themselves.”
Using a series of slides Bryon explained how the AICUP is structured and how Moravian College fits in. There are 90 members, and there is no State or Federal control. Six of the 90 are in the Lehigh Valley. The sum of the students in those 6 schools equals those on Penn State’s main campus..
Moravian College has a North and a South campus. They were founded in 1742. They were the first to educate women by going Co-Ed in 1953. They are a Liberal Arts school that offers many special courses. About 67% of their graduates have been trained in an area that will provide a job.
N.Y. State is the only one with more independent colleges. The 90 PA Independent colleges add $24 Billion to the economy each year. This comes from the 300,000 students and their visitors. This is equivalent to a 142:1 r.o.i. Penn State is about 7:1.
43% of low income students attend independent colleges. 57% of students stay in PA to work. Bryon answered some questions too.
CLOSING:
Pres. Amir led us in the saying “One profits most who serves best.”
Photos by Marlene Heller
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