ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE OUTBOUND STUDENT – LEVI CROSS

Levi will be heading for Brazil in August as part of the Rotary Youth Exchange Program.  Over the past year, he has attended conferences with other exchange students in the District to prepare him for this cultural exchange representing Rotary and the United States.   In April, he found out he was going to a city about 6 ½ hours northwest of Rio de Janeiro.  Today, Levi gave the presentation he will be giving about himself while in Brazil.  The United States became a country in 1776 when it officially declared its independence from Great Britain.  The United States has a population of 313,778,000 which includes 50 states and 5 territories.  The capital is Washington DC.  Our current president is Barack Obama who has been in office since 2009 and is our 44^th president.  He represents the democratic party and is our first African American president.  The State of Wisconsin officially became a state in 1848.  Wisconsin is called the “Badger State” and has a population is 5,726,000.  The state bird is the robin, state flower is the violet and the state dance is the polka.  The two largest cities in Wisconsin are Madison and Milwaukee.  The capital of Wisconsin is Madison and is home to the largest university in the state – University of Wisconsin – Madison.  Wisconsin is very enthusiastic about sports-Green Bay Packers (football), Milwaukee Brewers (baseball) and Milwaukee Bucks (basketball).  Appleton became a city 1853 and is home to Lawrence University.  Appleton is known for its paper mills, Museum at the Castle (Houdini exhibit) and the Hearthstone Museum, the first hydroelectric power home.  Levi attends Appleton East High School with his favorite subjects being math, science and Spanish.  An interesting fact about Appleton East is that it was built as a fallout shelter during the Cold War.  Appleton East is also enthusiastic about its sports:  football, boy’s basketball and girl’s softball.  After school, many students go the Appleton Public Library because it is a quite place to study and participate in athletics or clubs.  In his spare time, Levi enjoys hanging out with his friends at restaurants, coffee shops, downtown or at football games.  Levi wanted to thank the Club for this opportunity. 

Rotarian(s) of the Year

The Rotarian(s) of the Year is presented to one or more members of our Club each year in recognition of outstanding contributions to our Club either in the current Rotary year or over a long period of time.  Today we will be recognizing two Rotarians.  The first Rotarian that we’re honoring today has dedicated a huge amount of time and expertise to the Club this year and the second Rotarian we are honoring is a legacy Rotarian who has provided distinguished service to our Club over a long period of time.

I am honored to present the Rotarian of the Year Award to a person who contributed several hours of her time and expertise to the Club this past year.  The honoree has been a member of our Club for almost 13 years and has always been committed and involved in committees such as the Programs, Family of Rotary and Arts and Arts Awards.  She was the Co-chair of Rotary Shines this year which involved several hours of planning, follow-up and effort to not only generate proceeds (almost $27,000) for our projects but to also make it a fun night for all Rotarians and guests.  She was successful.  This year’s Rotarian of the Year has and continues to live our motto of “Service Above Self”.  With the Recognition’s Committees endorsement, it gives me great pleasure to present Ruth Ann Heeter with the Rotarian of the Year plaque in sincere appreciation and recognition of distinguished service, loyalty, and devotion to the ideals of Rotary along with a Paul Harris Fellowship pin.

Our second honoree if our legacy Rotarian who has been a Rotarian for almost 40 years.  He was a member of the Menasha Rotary from 1972-1983 and then a member of our Club from 1983 to the present.  He is a Paul Harris Fellow along with being a Board of Director of the Appleton Rotary Foundation. He chaired and has been a member of the Investments Committee for several years. Without his expertise and guidance, our Foundation would not be as strong.  He chaired the Group Study Exchange Committee for the past 14 years and because of his leadership, we were given the opportunity to meet people from other countries and get a better understanding of their culture and lifestyle so that one day maybe the world will be accepting and understanding of all cultures.  He has contributed countless hours of service and devotion to our Club.  He represents true leadership.  It gives me great pleasure to present Jay Drzewiecki with the Rotarian of the Year plaque along with a Paul Harris Fellowship pin with one sapphire.

Food Drive for St. Joe's Food Pantry

The Rotary Ambassador Committee will host a food drive for St. Joe’s food pantry on June 11^th. A van will be onsite to collect the bags at the Radisson. Suggested items include:  cereal, canned meats, canned stews, canned fruit, canned tuna, condiments, boxed dinner mixes, peanut butter, pork and beans, dried beans and rice.

FAMILY OF ROTARY AT THE GARDENS OF THE FOX CITIES

Please join the Family of Rotary Committee at the Gardens of the Fox Cities next Wednesday, June 12^th, to promote goodwill and create better friendships among Rotarians.  Celebrate June Dairy Month at the Gardens with Cold Stone ice cream and live bluegrass music. Bring a blanket, or bring your dancing shoes, and enjoy the down to earth stylings of Burnt Toast & Jam while surrounded by summer blooms. Activities will include a hula hoop station and kite flying. $3 per person, ages 5 & under are free.  Registration Appreciated: randerson@gardensfoxcities.org

Date: June 12, 2013 (Wednesday)

Time: 6:00-8:00pm

Location: Gardens of the Fox Cities - 1313 Witzke Blvd, Appleton

Why Harry Houdini Still Matters

Tom Boldt explained that Harry Houdini came from a very impoverished family in Budapest, Hungary.  His dad, Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weiss, was a somewhat shady character who hustled people, possibly killed someone and fled Budapest from 1878.  He had some connection in the United States and somehow found his way to Appleton, Wisconsin.  Appleton was considered a classic American small town, a progressive expanding place of nearly 7,000 people that supported 3 newspapers, 2 fire companies, several hotels and banks and retail stores galore.  Mayer Weiss was hired on as the first Rabbi of the growing Jewish community in the Fox Cities.  His English was not so great but he quickly integrated into the community.  This job paid him way beyond what he ever experienced so he sent for his family which consisted of his wife Cecelia and their 5 children.  They arrived in New York on the S. S. Frisia on June 26, 1878 and it was not clear how they got to Appleton.  The Weiss family became very involved in the community.  As the Jewish community began to grow, they outgrew the meeting rooms on the second floor of the Gabriel Furniture building.  A capital campaign was started to build the Temple Zion Church.  The Weiss family never saw the completion of this project since Mayer Weiss was relieved from his duties.  With 6 children now, the Weiss family moved to Milwaukee then to New York.  Harry had to get a job in the garment industry making ties.  He then met a friend who introduced him to magic.  Harry thought that this was something he could make into a vocation.  Harry and his wife Bess performed throughout his career “The Metamorphosis” and became famous for his illusions.  Harry and Bess performed at Dime Museums then hooked up with the Welch Brothers Circus.  It was a hard life traveling from city to city not making much money.  Harry traveled to London and convinced Scotland Yard to put him in a jail cell where he escaped.  Harry became famous for the “Challenge Act”.  He challenged police departments that he could get out of any jail cell which generated attendance at his shows.  This made him very successful in England, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.  After spending 3 years in Europe, Harry came back to Appleton.  Through some of his friends, articles were fed to the local newspaper.  It was important for Harry to be associated with Appleton because of the promise of a better life it gave his family.  In many ways, Harry was a renaissance man - he was the first person to fly an airplane in Australia and his first film was “The Grim Game”.  Harry is still part of our vocabulary because his movies were seen by many, he was an author, filmmaker and pursued exposing fake mediums.  So why does Harry Houdini still matter?  Harry was a man that came from modest beginnings; had only a 7^th grade education; went on to become an international star; embodied the promise of America where there were boundless possibilities; there were no restrictions to race, class or religion; showed that hard work and perseverance paid off; was the highest paid entertainer in the world at one time; risk taker; had a holistic world view; continuously improved and reinvented his acts; and showed what was possible. 

Youth Recognition Awards - Outstanding Juniors

Today, the Youth Services and Education Awards Committee recognized 2 outstanding juniors from each of the five Appleton high schools.  The recipients of these awards were chosen by these schools to recognize students for their superior academic achievement, demonstrated leadership qualities, a striving for excellence, high ethical standards and service to others through involvement in school, church and community activities.  These students bring new meaning to the word “balance”.  They are athletes, musicians, writers, actors, leaders, community servants and of course students.   Congratulations to the following recipients:

Appleton East High School – Corey Otis

Nicole Kitten

Lauren Wanie

Appleton North High School – Terry Werner

Catherine Edmondson

Evan Polce

Appleton West High School – Mary Straumfjord

Joshua Shelley

Anna Young

Fox Valley Lutheran High School – Part Hartwig

Hannah Ihlenfeldt

Collin Wenzel

Xavier High School – Lori Schuh

Riley Chelsky

Katherine LeMere

Thanks to the Youth Services and Education Awards Committee for arranging the Youth Recognition Award programs: Ralph DeMarco (Co-Chair), Karen Dorn (Co-Chair), Bill Breider, Bret Buxton, Steve Gineris, Paul Hillmer, Kathleen Lhost, Mark McGinnis, Martin Rudd and Jeff Werner.  A special thank you to Fox Valley Technical College, and staff members Shana Farrell and Roxanne Fasel, for their donation of printing services and materials.  Special thanks to “friend of Rotary” Autumn Grimm for layout and design.

THE PHOSPHORUS PARADOX: GLOBAL CHANGE AND FRESHWATERS

Steve Carpenter, U.W. Madison Limnology, discussed how global change is drive by agriculture since it is the largest use of land, source of climate changing gases, consumer use of freshwater and polluter of freshwater.  Almost 40% of the land surface area has been converted for agriculture.  Agriculture is the key for solving problems posed by global environmental change.  Phosphorus links agriculture to water quality around the world.  The main concern about phosphorus pollution is algae blooms.  Around the world, there are several ways phosphorus gets into the lakes such as human sewage and animal manure.  In Wisconsin and other wealthier parts of the world it is caused by runoff driven by rain, fertilizer containing phosphorus and manure.  Freshwater is very sensitive to phosphorus.  Phosphorus is over applied in many regions especially the corn belt of the United States and China.  A planetary boundary is human developed boundary for how much of a pollutant an area is willing to tolerate.  There are global standards for how much phosphorus people are willing to accept in water.  We are out of the range of planetary boundaries in phosphorus.  Phosphorus is an essential nutrient and agriculture is the way we get phosphorus into people but we are using too much.  Phosphorus is highly localized in its availability on earth.  About 80-90% of the world’s phosphorus is in Morocco and Western Sahara.  Phosphorus demand is projected to rise. Human population is expected to increase to 9 billion so we will need to double our food production.  A global phosphorus shortage in 2007-2008 affected food supplies and started an era of steeply rising prices.  Since that time, prices have somewhat flattened out.  In the United States, watersheds have excessive phosphorus levels.  Phosphorus inputs are mineral phosphorus taken from mines, crop, livestock and industrial products.  The outputs are export accumulations in soil, bio-fuel, farm losses, processing losses and consumption in diets.  The exports exceed the imports mostly in exported food, 8% is consumed by people and more than half is added to the environment and is wasted.  For the past 80 years, Wisconsin has been the leader in managing the phosphorus cycle.  In the 1930’s, Charles Van Hise realized that phosphorus was essential for crops and that we were losing a lot.  He was an advocate on phosphorus conservation.   Phosphorus severity is an opportunity for phosphorus conservation that improves water quality.  Phosphorus conservation can occur by adjusting application of fertilizer to crop needs, recycle human waste more efficiently, recycle manure more efficiently, decrease food waste, and reallocate crops to human food instead of bio-fuel, livestock feed and other non-food applications.  In summary, phosphorus is essential for life; too much phosphorus causes toxic blooms, fish kills, loss of recreation value and high costs of water treatment; we know how to manage phosphorus better; we need to align phosphorus economics with needs for food production, human health and the environment; and growing demand for phosphorus is an opportunity.