Crow's Call for November 21, 2019 (Dec 01, 2019)

by: Priya Jhingan

Lady Grizzly called the meeting to order and introduced our greeter for the day, Steven Porschet (pronounced “Por-shay”). Steven’s thought of the day was something Dr. Bill definitely lives by: “Live your life with an exclamation, not explanation!” (We have yet to hear any explanation for all the activities of dubious nature Dr. Bill partakes in). The thought of the day was followed by “My country ‘tis of thee.”

Steven Porschet, 27 years old, graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2015. He recently became a licensed mechanical engineer, and works in the natural gas and utilities business for a company he elected not to name. He enjoys many sports, including dirt biking and cycling, and he has an older sister and a twin brother! (The twin is fraternal AND much bigger than Steven, so don’t get any crazy ideas for pranks, people). Steven’s older sister is married to a neurosurgeon and lives in Walnut Creek, and his dad is former Navy.

Guests & Announcements

We were lucky to see Joyce Castro, our honorary Rotarian from the San Ramon Valley Fire Department, at lunch. She’s on route to retire at the end of March and move to Sparks, Nevada, where she just bought a house. Congrats, Joyce!

We had a few announcements, including the sad reminder that Jay Tontz passed. The Tontz family had kindly requested that sympathies be transformed into donations to the Rotary Foundation. Ray Giles explained how to make memorial contributions to RI: by check, through your account, or online. If you’d like to make a memorial contribution in honor of Jay Tontz, please give a check to Ray or Geoff (by first week of December), or go online. If you’d like to make a contribution to our club as opposed to RI, please talk to Colette. Our deepest sympathies are with the Tontz Family.

Cal High Student of the Month - Paige McKindra

We were then introduced to the Cal High Student of the month, inspirational Paige McKindra. A Senior at Cal High who intends to major in Neuroscience or Cognitive Science, Paige is the President of the Cal High Girls in Tek Club. Her Computer Science teacher, Sean Raser, told us how Paige took his Computer Science Principles class her Sophomore year, and persevered through challenges, earning her way to As in that class and her following AP classes.

With a passion for getting more females involved in the heavily male-dominated field, Paige went on to become President of Girls in Tek and start an after-school coding club for middle schoolers. She also helped Freedom Elementary in Watsonville (shout out to Dr. Bill, who interrupted the presentation when hearing about his hometown) create a technology month that included coding activities and a field trip to Google.

Interact Update - Kimi Shirai

Kimi Shirai, co-District Governor and Communications Director for Interact, updated us on Interact’s recent and upcoming activities, including a Panera fundraiser, Area 11 roller skating fundraiser for the Environment Defense Fund, Interact district conference, ice skating club bonding event, and a Warriors game in February. To learn more, visit their events page or contact Gary Sloan!

Program - Incoming Board for 2019-2020

Chris Gallagher, a second-time President, read to us his speech from when he accepted his first presidential run over a decade ago. After several laughs over his outdated, yet almost foreshadowy speech, Chris introduced his board for the next year: Colette Lay, Garth Riopelle, Geoff Disch, Julie Fiedler, Karen McNamara, Gary Sloan, Chris Gayler, Vera Packard, Julie McKinney, and Norbert Walz. Chris also announced Vera Packard, Chris Gayler, and Terry Koehne as PE(E)(E)(E)s!

Hopefully all of the mistakes he made introducing his board aren’t indicative of how things are going down next year. Yikes! JK - we love you, Chris!

Recognitions & Raffle

Julie McKinney joined Colette at the podium to elicit an open forum of recognitions. Pat Paterson mentioned that a young man (aged 50) randomly helped pay shipping for his project of mailing retired American flags to Georgia to be used during cremation ceremonies. Chris Gallagher adopted another dog - a little rottweiler - who now can’t be separated from wife Renee and other dog Maverick. Dr. Bill noted that the annual dictionary distribution is finally complete. Terry Koehne’s daughter was homecoming queen at Cal High this year, and he’s getting the family back together for a week in Cabo for Thanksgiving. Julie McKinney mentioned that her daughter Sydney, whom some of us met at the Veterans Day lunch, just got accepted into Colorado State, and also recently qualified for a $10k/year award with her new ACT score. Julie also praised Colette Lay for her fantastic Thanksgiving-themed blouse. The President knows how to dress!

November birthdays mentioned included Karen McNamara, Ana Dominguez, Vera Packard, George Gayler, Gobind Anand, and Tom Port.

Guy Greco helped administer the raffle ritual. Terry Koehne won what was stated as a 2025 bottle of red wine, while Brent Tucker had a chance at the cumulative pot, but walked away with a measly 10 bucks.

Reminder - needless to say, we’re dark on Thanksgiving, so don’t show up. Enjoy your pie at home with your family!