Two club guests today were our speaker Greg Garland from Apache Trail High School in Apache Junction and Lois Weihauch, also from ATHS. We welcomed back former club member Judd Williams, retired from the Arizona Water Co. Visiting Rotarians were: Jake Bruinewald (Ladysmith, BC), Doug Sloan (Grand Prairie, AB), Van Van Jepmond (Lacey, WA), Ray Lange (Lake Havasu, AZ). Jared Gibbs, who would like to join the club, was present for the second time. Brandon Johnson was a visitor.
Sandy Campbell resigned from the club due to a move to Denver, CO.
Earl Zumwalt transferred membership to our club from his Canadian Rotary club.
Jay Jones has the opportunity to be the Rotary District 5510 Vice-Governor. Club members unanimously voted to recommend him for this position for the 2015/16 Rotary year.
Volunteer shirts will be available next week for those who have signed up to help with the Lost Dutchman Marathon. If anyone else would like to help out, please contact Bob Benjamin.
Our club is donating to the Cactus Canyon Junior High Parent Teacher Organization to help purchase Smart Projectors for the school. The donation includes tickets for the upcoming wine tasting fundraiser event, “Uncorked,” on Feb. 28, from 6-10pm at Dolce Vita on Goldfield Rd. in Apache Junction. If anyone is interested in purchasing tickets at the Rotary-sponsored table, Contact Aaron McDermid. Tickets are $40 each.
Ben Fellows won the drawing and $10, but he drew the King of Hearts, so the pot continues to grow. The pot was worth $292 today.
Greg Garland, School Leader at Apache Trail High School in Apache Junction was our speaker. Apache Trail is labeled an alternative school. Although they accept all students, they cater to students who are at high risk academically, behaviorally, or situationally, such as young parents who are continuing high school while taking care of their family. The school’s #1 goal is to provide an opportunity for all students to be successful so they can be productive members of society.
Apache Trail High School works well with the Apache Junction High School, joined in the mutual goal to provide the best opportunity for kids. Apache Trail serves grades 9-12, but has only 175 students (capacity for 220). As a result, they can serve the students who tend to get lost on larger campuses, but can progress in the smaller alternative environment.
As with AJUSD, Apache Trail has integrated technology into the curriculum with Chromebook laptop computers and a computer lab as a means to keep kids engaged and to prepare them for the working world. Recently, Apache Trail teamed up with the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT) to offer career and technical education opportunities to their students. They currently transport kids to EVIT for cosmetology and auto mechanics, but hope to add welding and culinary next year.
The school also offers some extracurricular programs, which vary depending on student interest. Greg is currently looking for opportunities for student involvement in the community and would love to see Rotary support in the form of volunteer mentors.
Last year, our club awarded a $500 scholarship to Apache Trail student Grace [Swafford?]. She is currently attending CAC, working toward her paramedic certification. She plans to continue her education in the medical field after she graduates from CAC. Garland explained that, “Most of our kids don’t go on to four year colleges. Many go into the military or take two year degree programs, thanks to the ‘Promise for the Future’ scholarship offered at CAC.”
Charter schools are publically funded. The original intent behind charter schools was to set up a level of competition and choice, driving performance for all schools, but the state funds charters at a per pupil rate in excess of the amount funded to public schools. The rationale is that public schools can go to the public to request bonds and overrides to supplement funding, while the charter schools cannot; however, when public schools cannot pass bonds and overrides, they have to make do with less. As far as Governor Ducey’s proposal to provide additional funding to “highly performing” charter schools with waiting lists, Greg declined to engage in political comment; however, schools like Apache Trail that focus on helping students who are at-risk to become productive members of the community would never qualify for the additional funding.
Greg encourages members to stop by for tours if they would like to know more about Apache Trail High School.
Our speaker next week will be Dirk van Leenen. Dirk owns and operates an airport taxi service, My Chauffeur Taxi Service. He is also an accomplished horticulturalist and he has won numerous awards for his floral arrangements. Additionally, Dirk is an author. He was born in the Netherlands in 1940 and is a holocaust survivor. His family sheltered and aided Jews during the Second World War.
“Before the war in Holland there were 150,000 Jews; after the war there were 40,000. All these people had to be hidden, fed, and often transported to other locations. The Nazis could not win the war so they decided to starve the citizens of Holland, by doing so, root out the Jews hiding there. The world did not find out that Jews were being killed in the concentration camps until two years into the war and after more than two million Jews had been killed. The author's parents were hiding an average of 20 Jews under the floor of their home in the city of The Hague. At the same time the author's father distributed food stamps and Fake IDs to the Jews in the hiding places all over the country at great risk of being shot. The author, then a 4 year-old boy, was riding with his father and acted as a decoy for the Nazis and was packed with the counterfeit papers, IDs, and food stamps.”1
Dirk has written two books on these wartime experiences; Resistance on a Bicycle and The American are Coming. Dirk will be speaking on these books and his experiences as a young child during World War II
