Tess Petago from Centennial High School was honored as the student of the month.  Tess is very supportive of her classmates and has become a significant leader in strengthening the Centennial team.  Tess is also very active in community service.  Congratulations Tess on a job well done!   

The Community Service team presented Alicia Duran with a $2,500.00 check this morning.  Alicia represents Wellington Middle School and is driving their efforts in leveraging the STEM program that Preston Middle School has made so successful.  In addition to the four corner stones of the STEM program (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Wellington will add Arts to their program naming it STEAM.   The grant money we gave will be used in two areas:

1)      Installing and connecting software applications to the wind turbine the school previous installed. This will allow students to access and apply environmental readings from the turbine to analyze weather and environmental conditions

2)      Create a wider footprint in the existing Lego robotics program which is committed to encouraging students to explore their environment.  Alicia shared interesting data from a study that researched children behavior.  On average, in the 1920’s most children were motivated to venture at least 6 miles from home when exploring their environment on their own.  That boundary of curiosity has dwindled from 6 miles to 300 feet today.  

Congratulations to Wellington Middle School!  

Upcoming Events: In true Clint Eastwood tradition the fundraising committee is asking the famous question “So tell me, do you feel lucky…well do ya?”  You can be a part of a hold up without the worry of looking down the barrel of that handgun!  This year’s club fundraising event is The Hold Up!! so mark your calendar for Saturday, April 21 from 5:00 to 9:00 pm at Innosphere, 320 East Vine Drive.  Watch your inbox for more information.  J   

Megan Maiolo-Heath the Marketing & Communication Director for Trees, Water and People spoke to our club members about their community based development model which encourages community involvement in creating positive environmental change.  Through their belief that appropriate technology, used sustainably, creates positive change that ripple out from the smallest community to the whole planet, they help people in developing countries and people in our own country to have access to clean energy.  Clean cook stoves and clean heating options help not only reduce deforestation it also helps reduce environmental pollution that significantly impacts the health of people who are dependent on wood burning cooking and heat.  Through education, reforestation and environmentally positive business Trees, Water and People is driving long term positive change that ripple out from the smallest community to the whole world. If you want to know more about this organization visit their website at www.treeswaterpeople.org  

Nancy Tippin spoke to us about the Stop Kenya 37 which is part of STOP (Stop Transmission Of Polio) the global effort to eradicate Polio which is the larger worldwide health imitative.  Polio usually strikes children under the age of 5.  Significant strides have been made in the imitative, currently there are only four countries in the world reporting Polio cases, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria.  It’s been just over a year since India has reported a new case. 

The first Thursday of the month is our opportunityto recognize an outstanding student and teacher from the Poudre School District. 

Student of the month Kayden Strant, senior at Fort  Collins High School.  Kayden has  successfully participated in six Advanced Placement sections and is a member ofthe tennis team. Outside of Fort Collins High, Kayden is active in community service  activities, volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club and coordinating  fundraising events to benefit Shared Journeys Brain Injuries Organization.  Congratulations Kayden!  

Teacher of the month Karen Seaton has taughtfor eight years at Fossil Ridge High School. Karen is the Business Education department head and teaches International  Business, Finance and Accounting.  She  also serves as the FBLA sponsor and the director of the Student Advisory  Group.  Congratulations Karen!   

Keeping with the theme of club administration  activities Christian Lasher, Vocational Services chairperson, presented a  summary of the projects and activities the vocational team is managing.  Some examples Christian shared are; The 4 WayTest, Teacher of the Month Award, Student of the Month Award and the Ed  Gillette Vocational Service Award. Contact Christian if you are interested in getting involved with this  team!   

Dr Ryan Pilsner of Heart - Hand Chiropractic spoke to our club about health and wellness.  In his program titled "The Secrets to Living a Wellness Lifestyle" Dr. Pilsner talked about taking one step at time in changing your mind set to be healthy.  Making a decision to take small steps can lead to long term positive health improvements!   

Tanaka unveiled the RI theme during the opening plenary session of the 2012 International Assembly, a training event for incoming Rotary district governors. 

"Peace, in all of the ways that we can understand it, is a real goal and a realistic goal for Rotary," he said. "Peace is not something that can only be achieved through agreements, by governments, or through heroic struggles. It is something that we can find and that we can achieve, every day and in many simple ways."

Rotarians and state government leaders in Jaipur, Rajasthan,India, vaccinate children against polio during a National Immunization Day in2011. Photo courtesy of the India PolioPlus Committee

India’s last reported case was a two-year-old girl in WestBengal State on 13 January 2011. The country recorded 42 cases in 2010, and 741in 2009.

A chief factor in India’s success has been the widespreaduse of the bivalent oral polio vaccine, which is effective against bothremaining types of the poliovirus. Another has been rigorous monitoring, whichhas helped reduce the number of children missed by health workers duringNational Immunization Days to less than 1 percent, according to the WorldHealth Organization (WHO).

Rotary has been a spearheading partner in the Global PolioEradication Initiative since 1988, along with WHO, UNICEF, and theU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Bill & Melinda GatesFoundation is also a key supporter of the initiative. 

Coach Time Miles spoke to our club about Colorado State men's basketball program.  Coach Miles, in his fifth year, and the Ram team continue to show year over year improvement.  In his first year coaching the Rams finished 9th in the conference, the next year finishing 8th, then 5th, last year ending in 4th place.  Currently the Rams are leading the conference.  Coach Miles talked about leadership for success and the desire to win.  

Welcome New Year of 2012!   Breakfast Rotarians start the new year in a new meeting location at the Midtown Arts Center, 3750 S Mason Street.  Come join us!  

In our first "off sight" meeting since September we visited the new CrossRoads Safe House location.  Our members toured the new facility seeing the new library, meeting room and other locations.  The library and boutique are opportunities for Rotarians and our Partners to donate clothes, books and our time to help others start again.   

Every year, Intel honors US schools demonstratingexcellence in math and science education through innovative teaching andlearning environments. Preston Assistant Principal John Howe and Principal ScottNielson presented the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) School curriculumthat helped Preston exceed benchmarks put forth by national mathematics andscience content standards leading to the Intel Award. 

 Next Preston’s sixth grade all girls robotics team demonstrated the technology they used to create their competition robot and discussed what was required for them to win first place.    

District Governor Mary McCambridge announced the newly elected District Governor Nominee Designate for 2014-2015 is our own Phil Murphy!. A Rotarian for 22 years, he joined three months after the Breakfast Club was chartered and is still a member. He was President in 2006-2007 and has served as Assistant Governor from 2008-2011. Phil has facilitated the first RLI sessions, club visioning and continues to do training and support since he currently serves as the District Co-Trainer. Phil will be a wonderful leader for District 5440, please congratulate our new DGND Phil Murphy!

District Governor Mary McCambridge and past District Governor Diane Knight spoke to our club members during the November 17th meeting about supporting the Rotary Foundation.  They shared their experiences of participating in International service projects in Asia and South America.  They also shared their passion to continue supporting International projects because the need for well equipped hospitals, clean water and staffed schools and many other basic life sustaining needs continues grow.  We are all encouraged during the holiday season and throughout the year to find ways to donate to the Rotary Foundation and engage in International Rotary projects.