President John Belisle began our noon meeting with the Pledge of Allegience. President John was then joined by Mac MacPeake to lead us in singing God Bless America. Stu Price delivered the invocation before our meal.
Today's guests were Maine Senate President Libby Mitchell and her guest Allison Beal from Portland. They were touring the area today and wanted to come listen to our program speaker Selma Botman, President of USM.
Bill Denehey was our lucky winner in the 50/50 drawing. Congratulations, Bill!
HAPPY DOLLARS
Bill Denehey was happy to have won today's drawing.
Don Grant was happy to be starting a vacation visiting his son and his family in California.
Nancy Richard was happy as she was on vacation and able to make up at a Rotary meeting in Virginia Beach.
Roy Farnsworth was happy as his granddaughter is graduating from Mount Holyoke College!
Kathy Becvar was just happy to be able to make a meeting!
Guest Libby Mitchell also gave a happy dollar for being at our luncheon.
Jen Hogan announced that we are still gathering auction items for our annual auction on May 27. We have 22 items already but need more! Please see Terri Cook if you have not already given her your auction item.
We also had a FINE assessed at today's meeting. Mac felt that Ed Plourde's pastel color-block shirt was too flashy for our Rotary meeting. Fred Holler stepped in and paid Ed's fine becasue he LIKES the shirt!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Pres. John announced a new fundraiser...HANGING PLANT BASKETS. All materials were available at the back table and will also be emailed to all members by Phil Nadeau, chair of this project.
Dennis B announced that we are very close to our goal for EREY...Every Rotarian Every Year. If you haven't met your personal goal, please see Dennis if you can help us reach our goal by the District Conferece.
DG Sylvia reminded us once again that our District Conference is being hosted by our club and is the weekend of May 21-23 in Lewiston. Registration forms are available at our weekly meetings and also on our website. Let's show our support of the great job Sylvia has done as District Governor by attending at least one of the events if you cannot make the entire weekend.
Bill Denehey reminded us of next week's meeting...our annual Awards Dinner on Wednesday, May 12, at 6 p.m. Come see our future Rotarians who will be showcasing their SERVICE ABOVE SELF activities of their high school careers. Bill also reminded us that because of the evening meeting, there will be no luncheon meeting on Thursday.
Today's guests were Maine Senate President Libby Mitchell and her guest Allison Beal from Portland. They were touring the area today and wanted to come listen to our program speaker Selma Botman, President of USM.
Bill Denehey was our lucky winner in the 50/50 drawing. Congratulations, Bill!
HAPPY DOLLARS
Bill Denehey was happy to have won today's drawing.
Don Grant was happy to be starting a vacation visiting his son and his family in California.
Nancy Richard was happy as she was on vacation and able to make up at a Rotary meeting in Virginia Beach.
Roy Farnsworth was happy as his granddaughter is graduating from Mount Holyoke College!
Kathy Becvar was just happy to be able to make a meeting!
Guest Libby Mitchell also gave a happy dollar for being at our luncheon.
Jen Hogan announced that we are still gathering auction items for our annual auction on May 27. We have 22 items already but need more! Please see Terri Cook if you have not already given her your auction item.
We also had a FINE assessed at today's meeting. Mac felt that Ed Plourde's pastel color-block shirt was too flashy for our Rotary meeting. Fred Holler stepped in and paid Ed's fine becasue he LIKES the shirt!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Pres. John announced a new fundraiser...HANGING PLANT BASKETS. All materials were available at the back table and will also be emailed to all members by Phil Nadeau, chair of this project.
Dennis B announced that we are very close to our goal for EREY...Every Rotarian Every Year. If you haven't met your personal goal, please see Dennis if you can help us reach our goal by the District Conferece.
DG Sylvia reminded us once again that our District Conference is being hosted by our club and is the weekend of May 21-23 in Lewiston. Registration forms are available at our weekly meetings and also on our website. Let's show our support of the great job Sylvia has done as District Governor by attending at least one of the events if you cannot make the entire weekend.
Bill Denehey reminded us of next week's meeting...our annual Awards Dinner on Wednesday, May 12, at 6 p.m. Come see our future Rotarians who will be showcasing their SERVICE ABOVE SELF activities of their high school careers. Bill also reminded us that because of the evening meeting, there will be no luncheon meeting on Thursday.
Stephanie Gelinas introduced our speaker today, Selma Botman, President of the University of Southern Maine.
President Botman spoke of the Stategic Plan which is in place for academic years 2009-2014 with the focus on Student Success. USM offers the very best education and wants all students to earn a degree...Bachelor or Graduate degree.
USM offers opportunities to not only transform the students' lives but also those of their families and whole communities.
USM students perform an average of 4000 community service hours in any academic year and also have the opportunity to work closely with their professors on many projects.
Selma went on to tell about a few of the success stories of last year's graduates working in the local and global communities to improve services from using the local library to new video games to therapeutic horseback riding.
With educational budget cuts, USM is updating, revising, re-thinking and redesigning a sustaining business plan, academic structure and organizational structure from the ground up. They will invest more on some programs while de-investing in other programs that no longer interest the student population. Despite all the challenges, USM is moving foward.
Commencement is a Grand Celebration for students and their families as many of the studnents are first generation college graduates. The only thing that USM asks of their students is to Work Hard and Dream Big!
John Belisle thanked our speaker today.