Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Future Dates
3/27 Thurs. Business After Hours at Warsaw High School Performing Arts Center (PAC)
4/2 Wed. English Learner Tutoring – Phil Call
4/9 Wed. Big Brother Big Sister – Trina Hoy
4/16 Wed. WPD DARE / Corporal Doug Light & Ptl Officer Jeff Tickner
4/17 Thur. Big Brothers Big Sisters Dinner.
4/23 Wed. Nate Bosch / Center for Lakes & Streams
4/25 & 26 Fri. & Sat. District Meeting in Marion
4/26 Sat. District Oratorical Contest in Marion at District Meeting
4/30 Wed. Josh Wildman CEO of Wildman Business Group
5/7 Wed. Splash Pad / Erin Porter
5/14 Wed. Sheriff’s Office / Aaron Rovenstine
5/18 Sun. City of Lakes Cruise-In
5/21 Wed. Optimist Singers / Memorial Day
5/28 Wed. Warsaw Community Schools / Dr. Craig Hintz
6/4 Wed. FWA Airport Authority – Jessica Miller
6/11 Wed. Mudlove Kyle Garberson
6/16 Mon. Boomerang Backpack Golf Outing
6/18 Wed. Guy Fisher / Goodwill Career Center
6/19 Thur. Optimist Golf Outing
6/25 Wed. Registration Packets for Triathlon
6/28 Sat. Triathlon
7/2 Wed. Rebecca Bazzoni / Jacobs Ladder
7/9 Wed. Christon Clark / Habitat for Humanity
7/16 Wed. Mayor Dr. Joe Thallemer / State of the City
7/23 Wed. Warsaw Area Career Center / Ronna Kawsky
7/23 Wed. Cheerleaders
8/1 Fri. Penguin Point and Optimist Big Wheel Race
8/6 Wed. Boys Soccer
8/8 & 9 Fri. & Sat. Indiana North District Convention at Warsaw
8/13 Wed. Boys Cross Country
8/20 Wed. Boys Tennis
9/3 Wed. Girls Soccer
9/10 Wed. Girls Golf
9/10 Wed. WCHS Athletics / Dave Anson
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
President Everett Nifong led our meeting.
>>>>OPENING
87 Optimists & 4 guests attended our meeting. Tony Elliott was the guest of Art Gakstatter, Ralph Turner was the guest of Mitch Goon, Riley Betz was the guest of Trina Hoy, & Frank Grose was the guest of Coach Doug Ogle.
Door Greeters: Ed Nordstrom & Trace Hansen.
Prayer: Jim Nesbitt led us in prayer.
Pledge was given to the American flag.
Promise yourself was said in unison.
Gina Voelz led us in singing Hail to Optimism.
Birthday Honorees: None of them came.
>>>> INFORMATION
Prayer Requests:
Larry Bishop’s recovery from his 2nd ankle surgery. He will be working on his recovery for awhile.
Ron Chambers’ recovery from surgery.
Max Mock’s recovery from surgery.
Nick King, Dan & Carol King at the loss of their home.
Membership: Past President Jeff Owens inducted Mickey Smethers& Adam Heckaman. Membership Chair Kellie Malcolm read Rusty &Tammy Meiers’, Ralph Turner’s, Ricardo Scarlett’s, Tony Elliott’s, &Riley Betz’s applications. Mickey, Adam, Rusty, Tammy, Ralph,Ricardo, Tony, & Riley are sponsored by Don Kenipe, Art Gakstatter & Lyle Enyeart, David Meier, Mitch Goon, Greg Binkerd, Art Gakstatter, & Trina Hoy.
We voted today to raise our dues to $85 per quarter. This will be effective April 1st. Our by-laws say our dues and the money we pay from our membership needs to cover the costs of our membership. This enables us to use all the money we raise for the kid’s programs we support. Our costs have risen over time. Our new dues will be lower than similar clubs in our area. Rotarians pay $125 per quarter,Noon Optimists pay $115 per quarter, and Kiwanians pay $109 per quarter. We have Cadillac type fun at Studebaker type dues.
Past Gov. Ron Donkers & Lt. Gov. John Sullivan reminded us ofOptimist International Foundation’s Dime-A-Day fundraising program. Some of the overhead for things like the Oratorical and Essay contests at the district and higher levels are in need of funding. The higher level Oratorical Contest winner receives $2,500 and the higher level Essay Contest winner receives $500. As a larger club, we need to cover a large part of these costs. The Dime-A Day program is a great way to do this. Please send your $36.50 to Optimist International Foundation, Dime-A-Day Campaign, P.O. Box 952126, St. Louis, MO 63195. Make sure you put “club # 04555” in the memo section of your check. An even better way to do this is to use a form Ron has to have your card charged $3.05 per month on an ongoing basis. The forms are by the badge box.
Chaplain Fred Nieter is passing around a sign-up sheet for those who will do our invocations.
Trina Hoy reported our Suggestion Box needs suggestions. It is a great way to get ideas to our leadership.
Visitation Chairman Ron Chambers reported we will visit ourRochester Club on Monday, April 7. We are meeting at Marsh Supermarket at 6 a.m.
Trace Hansen reported our Spring Break Skate is April 7 through 11. Eastlake Skate provides free admission and we provide the skate rental. Volunteers are needed to take the tickets to the schools the week before Spring Break. Thanks to Ann Sweet for printing 8,000 tickets.
May 18th City of Lakes Cruise-In to Downtown Warsaw. Co-Chair Past President John Elliott announced a sign-up sheet will be coming next week. Remember to give your sponsorship money to John Teevan, the guy with the money tie. On Sunday, April 13 we are visiting the Michiana PT Cruiser show. The Duesenberg Cord Auburn Museum will feature one or two cars. Special invitations have been extended to the Michiana PT Cruiser Car Club, the Fort Wayne Corvette Club and the Hoosier A Ford Club to host their car clubs at our Cruise In. Working with Owens Supermarket, we’ve also invited the Oscar Meyer “Hot-Dog” Mobile to our show. Purdue PresidentMitch Daniels has been personally invited to ride his motorcycle and be the Grand Marshall of our escorted Cruise to the Village of Winona Lake.
Our goal is to host 250 cars, trucks, and motorcycles; have some fun; and make $15,000 to support the youth activities of our Club.
As a Club member, we are asking you to commit to three things to help make this event successful:
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Clear May 18 on your schedule so you can help with the event
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Be a $25 Trophy Sponsor or upgrade to the Bronze, Silver or Gold level.
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Secure one additional sponsor of the event at the $500 … $200 … $100 level.
Enclosed in the action packets are a yellow Trophy Sponsor or higher form for members of our club. The white Sponsor form is for others who we are asking to support at the $100, $200, or $500 levels. John Teevan will be monitoring our support. Please turn your sponsorship forms along with your check to “the guy with the money tie.”
Mike Cusick reported additional volunteers are needed to plan ourGolf Outing fundraiser. He has taken on a leadership position with the Fat & Skinny Tire Festival that is the same weekend as our Car Show. Our Golf Outing will be Thursday, June 19 at 1 p.m. at Stonehenge. Please consider golfing, becoming a Tee Sponsor, donating a door prize or goody bag items.
Past Gov. and Triathlon Chairman Ron Donkers reported ourTriathlon is open. Save Saturday, June 28 on your calendar.
Past Lt. Gov. Dr. David Haines provided our first post to our Year in Review series. It is featured on the front page of our website. Here is a direct link https://warsawoptimist.org/
President Everett Nifong reported we need to be more proactive when it comes to paying our dues.
Merl Heckaman thanked everyone who rang the bell for Salvation Army. With the inspiration of Merl’s Salvation Army song, $66,913.99 was raised this year.
Dave Meier announced our 34th Annual Big Wheel Race is Friday, August 1 at Center Lake Park. Registration starts at 5:45 p.m. Race is at 7 p.m. Thanks to Penguin Point for sponsoring the bicycles, trophies, and gift certificates.
Past Governor Ron Donkers asked those who are going to theIndiana North District Conference in Marion on Friday, April 25 and Saturday, April 26 see him to be sure you have the revised schedule. Please let Secretary Michele Bickel know if you are going. TheDistrict Oratorical Contest is at the conference on Saturday.
Lt. Gov. John Sullivan reported our Indiana North District Convention will be in Warsaw August 8th and 9th.
Big Brothers Big Sisters Community Development Director for Kosciusko County Trina Hoy thanked everyone who participated inBBBS’s Bowl for Kids’ Sake.
Laurie Schotz invited us to see our Warsaw Community High School Performing Arts Center (PAC) at a Chamber After Hours between 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 27.
Team of the Week: Girls Track coach Scott Erba introduced us to: Alethia Burritt, Courtney Farling, Jackie Ferguson, Brooklyn Harrison,Ann Harvuot, Claire Hickerson, Madeline Hooks, & Rachelle Whitaker. He is proud of them. They placed 24th in the State and more importantly have set several WCHS records.
Student of the Week: Tracy Horrell introduced us to our own Troy Akers who introduced us to Warsaw High School students: Alyssa Miller, Callie Green, Colton Andrews, Courtney Thompson, Trevor Hampton, Jennifer Crim, Mateah Brown, Matt Pelo, & Zach Schori. Tracy recognized Jim Hayes for all the work does behind the scenes to support our Student of the Week program.
President Everett Nifong announced with all the background thingsJim Hayes does for us, we need someone to assist him with ourdatabase.
Sergeants-at-Arms: Luke Becknell & Trace Hansen entertained us.
Coach Jim Kessler was congratulated for hosting a great tournament.
Since several of our members are or are about to be recovering from surgery, our surgeons were recognized: Drs. Kt Kishan, Pam Galloway, Steve “Rade” Hollar, & Charles Hollar.
Luke was on Optimist Quiz Bowl team 1. He noticed that Optimist Quiz Bowl team 2 broke with tradition when they outscored team 1.
Those who were not on one of our Optimist teams at the Quiz Bowl were recognized.
Troy Tom is a trustee of his church. They had flooded. He said Rob Edling did a great job restoring their carpet.
Program:
Warsaw Community Schools Chief Academic Officer and Assistant Superintendent David Hoffert gave us a curriculum update.
Dave told how WCS’s Mission Statement inspires educators and students alike. WCS Teacher Teresa Jordan is an example of the mission in action as she was instrumental in enabling 3,000 students and 3,000 community members to hear Holocaust survivor Eva Kortalk about Surviving the Holocaust and the Power of Forgiveness.
In the 2012 – 13 school year 2651 dual credit / advanced placement credits were earned by 517 students. This equals $596,000 in college credits earned.
At this time it is a challenge to land a JROTC program. WCS worked hard and was able to get our program. We have 115 students registered for next year.
This coming year there will be 33 new courses, including AP Physics with a Calculus base. This will prepare students going into engineering.
Each 6th grader will have an iPad Mini. Each year the new 6thgraders will also receive iPads. Eventually all students above 5thgrade will use an iPad Mini.
In the World Languages department, new offerings include: German I, Mandarin IV, & AP French V.
Our Career Center has Project Lead the Way classes including Engineering Design & Development.
Our Middle Schools will now offer Project Lead the Way classes in Digital Citizenship and Biology for High School credit.
Many great things are happening in WCS. Next year we will have a Mobile STEM Laboratory with help from OrthoWorx. The students will use the touch screens for inquiry based learning.
Dave told how our Curriculum Council has grown. If you are interested in serving on it contact him at dhoffert@warsaw.k12.in.us.
