Minutes of Meeting May 23, 2024
Members in Attendance(10): Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Pat Bailey, Murray Forth, Terry Brewer, Phil Kellerman, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Andy Leyhane, Carole Heaney
Guests (9): East Greenbush Scholarship recipient Shea Fajen, Mrs. Fajen, Columbia HS Assistant Principal Beth Farnum;  Maple Hill Scholarship recipient Alyssa Gray, Carrie Earle (Alyssa’s mom), and MHHS Principal Rob Santaracangelo; Rensselaer High School Scholarship recipient Lydia Jyaw, Mrs. Jyaw (aunt), Brandy Cenci, High School Counselor
President Peter Brown called the meeting to order and welcomed our guests from the three High Schools in our community.  Each student introduced herself, her guest, and the representative from her school.
Theme for the year:  “Building Community”
PROGRAM NOTES:
 President Brown turned the meeting over to Terry Brewer, Chair of SRCR Scholarship program who reviewed the criteria and process for this signature project of our club.  
Each student gave a brief presentation about her activities at their respective schools, outlined their plans following graduation and thanked our club for this honor and for the scholarship award.  Below are summaries of each student’s remarks.
Maple Hill senior Alyssa Gray’s motto and guiding principle is “Do Good in the World” and she has demonstrated many times her commitment to this motto.  A Girl Scout and a National Honor Society member, she has initiated and organized several fundraising/awareness campaigns during her HS career.   She hopes to become a high school Math teacher and will attend HVCC in the fall and then continue her education at Siena College (accepted to both schools!).  
Columbia senior Shea Fajen has completed 17 advanced level courses as well as being a varsity level track “star” as a distance runner.  Her community service focuses on supporting underrepresented communities and she has enjoyed learning how to communicate with speakers of languages other than English.  She has particularly enjoyed her work at the West Hill Welcome Center providing support to those relocating to this country.  She has served on the EGCS Superintendent’s Advisory Committee and will attend Middlebury College to study Biology.
Rensselaer senior Lydia Johnson is a member of Key Club and National Honor Society and also an athlete in track, soccer, and dance.  She is a member of the Rensselaer City Citizens’ Advisory Committee, which Mayor Stammell mentioned in his program at our May 2^nd meeting.  Much of her community service focuses on food insecurity and homelessness.  She has been a volunteer at Capital Roots.  Lydia will attend Siena College in the fall and is enrolled in the 3/2 program with Albany Law School.
SRC Rotary congratulated all these outstanding young women who have demonstrated commitment to the goals of Rotary and to further education which will  make significant contributions to their communities.  As usual, members were very impressed with these young women and wished them well in their future endeavors.
MEETING NOTES:
Board meeting Monday May 20^th was largely spent on clarifying and refining the application for Grant funding for the Kenya Water project.  Major fundraising will be needed to meet our share of the cost of this project.  
Upcoming Programs:   
May 31^st: FRIDAY  Social event at S&S Brewery 
June 6^th; New Member Induction
June 13^th: St Paul’s   Tracy Pitcher
June 20^th Club Assembly, Brief presentation on Arts participation with Emma Leyhane and short video
June 27^th: Change over/Induction of officers at Brown’s  Details to follow