NOTE: in late 2024, our club contributed $500 through Rice Lake Rotary as part of District 5960 collective support of the GLP, the largest multi-district, multi-club Rotary project.
David Gehret got to tour Guatemala in February, seeing many parts of the country. Guatemala has a population of about 18 million people: 56% of Spanish descent, 41% indigenous. The country has a varied landscape, including several active volcanoes. The indigenous populations don’t see much benefit from the resources of the country.
The overall illiteracy is high – about 33%. Parents pull children out of school early because they can’t afford to keep them in. The country has seen high rates of migration to flee poverty and gangs.
David said that there are three pathways out of poverty: literacy, technology skills, and graduation from high school. The GLP’s literacy focus is in 3 parts: Spark for pre-K through 6th, access to textbooks for 7-9Th grade, then RISE scholars for 7th-12th grades. The GLP has a total enrollment of around 312,000 students at the 3 levels. Click READ MORE for the rest of the summary and to read about the speaker.
For those of us new to the club, Melissa mentioned her history with the RFRC. Yearsl ago she shared her accredited skills as an etiquette instructor to teach the club some manners (). Melissa also reminded us that she is a STRENGTHS coach, which is a program that – as it sounds – allows participants to identify their strengths. Click READ MORE to read the rest of the summary and to read about Melissa Wilson.
--MEETING CANCELLATION POLICY: the board decided to implement a policy to cancel meetings when the River Falls School District cancels school due to bad weather and poor road conditions. This resulted from the recent meeting where a speaker came from Roseville MN to speak to a small group of Rotarians because many stayed home. We can watch the news and RFSD website when weather conditions warrant, and we have made sure that we have ways to contact speakers and inform them and the Ezekiel food preparation team.
--RIVER FALLS ROTARY IS ON INSTAGRAM: Karla has established an account for our club on Instagram. The link is here; feel free to share it with (younger, we hope) friends and familiy who are on Instagram.
About the Presentation: Interim Chancellor John Chenoweth reviewed connections between UWRF and the River Falls community, and he will offered a perspective on strategic priorities and student success. A pdf of the slides containing lots of facts and figures is available but was beyond your newsletter writer's ability to paste into ClubRunner. If you'd like to see a copy, email rkerfwilson@gmail.com and we'll see if we can make it work. Click READ MORE for a brief bio of Interim Chancellor Chenoweth.
). Melissa also reminded us that she is a STRENGTHS coach, which is a program that – as it sounds – allows participants to identify their strengths. Click READ MORE to read the rest of the summary and to read about Melissa Wilson.
