Kollegiate 05/15/2007

KIWANIS KOLLEGIATE

SECRETARY KOLLEGIATE STAFF

Jack Rosano President Jeff Egeberg, Chair

P.O.Box323 Editorial Staff: V Carpenter, S. Hearn,

Berkeley, CA 94701 G. Maxe, J. Piercy, T. Paradis

www.berkeleykiwanis.org May 15, 2007 Printer/ Mailer, Duane Leonard

^{KIWANIS CLUB u A Most Outstanding Service Club u BERKELEY, CA}

Today was a day to celebrate The Kiwanis Club of Berkeley; a day to be so proud of being a Kiwanian. We celebrated with the students who were awarded a total of $40,000 in 2007 Berkeley Kiwanis Scholarships.

The only hic-cup in the festivities was the weather; our plans for lunch on the veranda were changed at the last minute to our former digs. Virginia greeted the guests with a cheery welcome and smiled at us Kiwanians as she collected lunch ticket money.

Although the Scholarship Chair had bright yellow agendas scattered on all the tables and at the head table, ReTread Jeff ignored most of the details (Jeff, using an early version of the agenda is not an accepted excuse). So if you kept an agenda, ignore it; the official ReTread Agenda is in this newsletter. ReTread opened and conducted an abbreviated meeting to allow time for the Scholarship Celebration. BobR lead us in GBA (it certainly was not his fault that we were so out of key), JohnP gave a powerful invocation, and George (I think; there was confusion, see above) was in charge of the fine box.

The key announcement: For a blissful K FAMILY DINNER, go to Roberta’s and Frank’s house this Friday night. Denise has the details.

ReTread then turned the gavel over to Scholarship Chair Tamara. We started with a “get to know what Kiwanis is all about” section. George talked about “What is Kiwanis” by relating why he chose Kiwanis and what it means to BE a Kiwanian--he “found a family to do community service with.” . JohnP gave a history of the Foundation, including where we get the $$ for the scholarship. Foundation dollars have grown over the years, thanks to generous bequeaths and donations from

Berkeley Kiwanians. A current balance of $651,000 allows us to give these generous scholarships. Next, other Kiwanis service projects were presented. VC talked about RIF. We all smiled as she described the looks on the kids’ faces when they realized they got to take home the book they had chosen! Jack proudly explained about our projects at Gualala and Cassedero.

Tamara talked about the Kiwanis scholarship program. But, first, Duane was recognized for his work as Foundation President.

So how do we choose the scholarship winners? We look at their academic transcript and two references. We also read three essays from the applicants: an essay about the applicant (much is learned in what they choose to write about and how they choose to write it); an essay about their activities and work; and an essay about one time they changed someone’s life. Why those three topics? Because those topics also describe a Kiwanian: we are active in our studies, our work, our retirement; we are enjoying our lives through activities like dancing or fishing or traveling; and, through Kiwanis, we actively make a difference in people’s, especially kids’, lives.

The counselors were then recognized (for the work they do with the students) and thanked (for promoting the scholarship program). Ilene Abrams (Berkeley HS), Leena Yee (El Cerrito HS) and Vicky Lilienthal (Albany HS) received loud and long Thank-You applauses. (Unfortunately Counselor Elizabeth Sandberg of Berkeley HS was unable to join us).

The scholarship committee was recognized and thanked for the hours upon hours they put in (planning the application criteria, reading 31

applications, ranking the applicants, meeting to decide on the winners, meeting to re-evaluate the process and plan for next year) to make this day possible. A huge THANK YOU to the scholarship committee: Art, Bill K’berg, Denise, George, Jack, Jeff, JohnP, Phuoc, and Ted Ono.

The scholarship recipients and their guests were “hosted” by the members of the scholarship committee. Each member introduced his/her recipient:

Bill K’berg--Leslie Ribvich (from El Cerrito HS) and her mother

Denise--Leelawan Kaewsawang from BerkeleyHS. George--Brian Mertens and his father

JohnP—Daniel Badel and his mother

Phuoc—Peter Angell and his mother and father

Ted—Nina Gordon-Kirsch and her mom and dad.

Unfortunately, scholarship winner, Rico Chenyek of Berkeley HS was unable to join us.

CircleK Gail gave a pep-talk about joining Circle K at their college; she even volunteered to help them set up a club if none existed.

President Jeff awarded the recipients certificates acknowledging their award. Each winner took the mike to tell us a bit about themselves.

Leslie loves theater and was co-editor of the school paper. Her college choice, Bernard College in New York.

Lee likes art and chose Mount Holyoke in Massachusetts.

Brian was editor of his school newspaper and student body president. He’s headed for the University of Pennsylvania.

Daniel enjoys working with youth through the Jewish Center of the East Bay. He’s planning on majoring in Psychology at Occidental College in LA.

Peter is the Past President of Berkeley Key Club, plays in the orchestra, is on the track team, and is

into ultimate Frisbee. He’s headed for Washington University in St. Louis.

Nina likes track, softball, soccer and working with the Prisoner Book Project. She’ll study Environmental Science at USC.

Tamara turned the meet back to ReTread, with time to insure the coffer grew.

Numerous Happy Six Dollars were tossed into the fine box in honor of our six scholarship recipients

present at the meeting. Even guests joined in the fray. Peter’s mom was happy Peter’s grandfather was an active Kiwanian. Nina’s mom noted her husband’s birthday and his birthday present of Nina’s scholarship. Ask Sandy about her grandchildren; she gave money to show us a picture. Debra mentioned meeting someone…no details though...and told tales of computer games.

In the midst of the frivolity, Lt Gov Frank dropped by to acknowledge the students.

Our own Gail was asked to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. With a thoughtful introduction, she then led us in The Pledge.

The Scholarship Chair would like to add a personal note. Thank you to all who made this luncheon possible: the scholarship committee, VC for the fantastic table decorations, Roberta for the leis in appropriate school colors, Jack for working with Berkeley City Club on the luncheon (which was yummy), JohnP for helping with the follow-up letters and organizing the “how to get the $” letters, George for fantastic “Introduction to Kiwanis; please come to a meeting” letters that each parent received, Art for assisting the scribe in taking fantastic notes because she couldn’t, and to those behind the scenes that quietly did stuff. I know I’ve missed folks…so a huge thank you to all.

We had a successful, fun, lively, enthusiastic luncheon!

(scribe: tjp)