Granite Chips (Dec 26, 2017)

A Flurry of Fines and A Deluge of Dollars

Twelve Rotarians and three guests sat down to sandwiches, salad, and strangely soggy cookies. Karl was quickly fined one-and-nine (amended successfully to one-and-nineteen) for disrespecting former Rotarian Karen Lane by wearing her name badge in lieu of his own. He argued that his was not readily found in the box, but the fine passed (and the badge was, indeed, later found). Susan attempted to fine everyone present for incorrectly singing the lyrics to our opening song: it is indeed “purple mountain majesties”, not “purple mountains’ majesty”. A worthy correction, but in the face of overwhelming opposition the fine did not carry. The coffers continued to fill, nevertheless. Doug put in twenty happy dollars for the early Christmas present he and his family received: negative cancer test results for his daughter. Liane then offered five happy dollars in appreciation for finishing her year as Mrs. Vermont International. She presented the club with a nice thank you card for all its support during her reign. Liane also pounced on the opportunity to fine everyone present who was not wearing Christmas colors - a definite money-maker with our drably dressed bunch. Kudos to George's festive Christmas tie and Liane's fabulous blazer.

Bob broke precedent with two apology dollars for having been misleading or uncommunicative about his schedule (or possibly both?), as he’d been told that he was not going to be present today yet clearly was. Karl followed Bob’s lead and offered an apology dollar of his own: he was to blame for the soggy cookies after spilling some water on the platter accidentally.

A hat was then passed around for our annual tips for the hardworking wait staff of the Quarry.

Wanted: Rotary Leaders

Caroline was next to be fined: one-and-nine for neglecting to appoint a note taker for the Chips. With yours truly now scribing, she presented the current slate of officers for election at the changeover banquet:

President - Liane Martinelli

President-elect - TBD

Vice President - TBD

Secretary - Sarah Costa

Treasurer - Caroline Earle

Past-president - Caroline Earle

Membership Coordinator - Scott Funk

If you are interested in serving in the open positions of Vice President or President-elect, please let Caroline know ASAP! The President-Elect would begin serving as president in 2019. The TBD Vice President's presidential year would begin in 2020.

Secretary’s Report

Susan reminded everyone that there will not be a meeting next week on 12/27. She also presented the second official reading of Chandra Pollard’s membership application.

President's Report

Caroline reminded everyone that Rotary International will be held very close to us in Toronto this year. She’s registered, and Doug is also considering going. Liane, Caroline, Scott, and Karl are also all scheduled to go to the Washington Summit.

Caroline reported that after the meeting last week, Eric Denu approached her about serving as Assistant District Governor for the coming term. She enthusiastically accepted and looks forward to being an accessible representative for the Central Vermont clubs. She also reported back that she’d talked with the District, and the feeling at that level is that clubs are discouraged from merging for a variety of reasons. Central Vermont Rotary is still interested in the possibility, but they are also considering the Montpelier Rotary Club as a natural fit for a merger as well. They cited the Quarry’s limited physical accessibility as a concern for their older members.

Membership Moment

During all of this interesting and important imparting of information, one end of the “big kids” table was being very disruptive. It turned out the source of the discord was M&Ms, and Bob finally fined Scott one-and-nine for disrupting the meeting by bringing M&Ms to Rotary. The fine passed, but Sarah then immediately fined Bob, Tony, and Karl for not being able to control themselves in the face of such small temptation and thus disrupting the meeting with their M&M skirmish. Despite an impassioned defense, the fines did carry. Scott took this as a teaching opportunity and reminded us that if we'd just go out and start recruiting more members, he'd stop bringing M&Ms and might even switch to Snickers.

Full STEAM Ahead @ The Library

Sarah then introduced our speakers: Aldrich Children’s Librarian Ian Gauthier and Young Adult and New Technology Librarian Gayle Belcher. Ian graduated from Spaulding High School, earned his Masters in Library Science from Syracuse University, and has served as the Aldrich Children’s Librarian since 2014. Gayle earned her Masters in Library Science from the University of North Texas and has been with Aldrich for a year and a half. This Spring, they finished year two of Full STEAM Ahead @ The Library, a series of fun after-school programs for 4th and 5th graders. These programs aim to reignite the curiosity and love of learning in kids who may struggle in a traditional classroom setting. Full STEAM Ahead involves team problem-solving challenges in STEAM subjects: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. This year, the topics covered included Astronomy, Food Science, Rocketry and Flight, Granite Sculpting and 3D Printing, Coding and Robotics, and Physics using hydraulic and pneumatic power. Attendance was evenly split between the City and the Town, with a few home-schoolers and Washington and Orange residents when there was space available. They had over forty participants this year, and a waiting list for nearly every session.

Kids practicing with modeling clay while learning about sculpting and 3D printing Funding for the first year of Full STEAM Ahead came from the National Life Foundation and the Barre Kiwanis, and in the second year Aldrich received a generous grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, Merchants Bank, and continued support from Kiwanis. This funding made it possible to purchase some permanent additions to the library’s collection, including a telescope, a microscope, and a 3D printer that is now available for anyone to use. Funding also ensures that kids are fed dinner at each program (a popular part of every session, to be sure) and that every child gets to take home a fun and interesting book on the topic covered so that they can continue learning and experimenting at home. Ian reports that there is nothing more rewarding than having a past participant come in and say that they’ve worked through the entire coding and robotics book and are now teaching themselves a brand new programming language.

Aldrich is currently looking for grants and donations to continue the program for a third year, starting in February 2018. Topics for the new year include circuitry, sewing, and e-origami; water science; wind science; archaeology; chemistry; and optics and light. They welcome any and all funding leads to see this popular, successful, educational and fun program continue!