Posted by Jackie Maxwell on Jan 31, 2018
 
 
January 31, 2018
Scribe, Queen Jackie
 
We had the pleasure of having Past President, Craig Holland leading our meeting today, while President Dynamo Denise vacations in Hawaii.  Craig noted that he was BBRC President (1987-88) before several in the room where born.  Looking over to fairly new member, Breann Goodmon, I do believe that Craig is  right.
 
BBRCers were welcomed by Mike “The Stepmaster” Stepanovich. His greeting partner, Shaun Kelly, was MIA.
 
Denise McCombs gave a lovely invocation to get the meeting rolling.
The flag salute was led by Michele McClure.
Songster, Bill Black, led our membership in song this morning. "My Country, ‘Tis of Thee" didn’t sound half bad!
 
Jeff Bell announced that we didn’t have any visiting Rotarians; however, West Rotary’s Jacque Jans snuck in a little later.
 
It was nice to see a few guests having breakfast with us this morning.  Dr. Zorn, CSUB Provost and today’s speaker, was claimed as a guest by Kay Pitts.  Past-First Laddie, Brian Pitts, was interested enough in today’s program to get out of bed early and join his lovely wife.  Cheryl Scott introduced us to her guest, John Stark, who is the Associate Dean of CSUB School of Business and Public Administration.  It seems worth a mention that John arrived to the meeting BEFORE Cheryl.
 
Mike Turnipseed made an early announcement about the Ethics Conference being held Tuesday, March 13.  He was looking for 9 members to participate in this great program (really if you haven’t done it before, give it a go. You will be glad you did).  After passing around the sign-up sheet, only one spot remained to be filled.  Please contact Mike at michael@kerntaxpayers.org if you are interested.
 
Club anniversaries were being celebrated by Jackie Maxwell and Cherryl Biggar.  Both have happily served BBRC for 21 years.
 
This week’s birthday boys were club Treasurer, Will Duerksen and still MIA, Shaun Kelly.  We all sang HappyBirthday to Will, but I’m sure he missed the good old days when Bart the Monkey sang for us!
 
We had a couple of Happy Spots this morning.  Both Michele McClure and President Elect, Ron Nelms were $10 happy to talk about our Dictionary Program.  Tuesday, they distributed wonderful picture dictionaries to the 3rd graders at Fremont Elementary School.
 
Kay Pitts had the honor of introducing our speaker, Dr. Jenny Zorn, CSUB Provost.  Kay was wise to outline what the job of a Provost entails:  1.  responsible for the creation and implementation of the academic priorities for the university; and 2.  allocation of resources to support those priorities.  Dr. Zorn joined CSUB in July, 2015 and has focused on diversity and inclusion with several initiatives, such as:  cultural affinity groups for faculty and staff; a retired faculty association;  a chapter of Phi Beta Delta honor society for international scholars; expanding the Veterans Center; sending a delegation of students to the national Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities conference; sponsoring faculty at theAmerican Association of Hispanics in Higher Education; and launching a First Generation Initiative recognizing the Administrators, faculty, and staff who were first generation students themselves, including the entire CSUB cabinet.
 
 
 
Dr. Zorn began by praising our club for having the Dictionary Project, stating that just one book can do amazing things for a child’s educational development.
 
Dr. Zorn then moved on to her subject, international outreach at California State University Bakersfield.  One of the goals of CSUB is to have their graduates stay and put their new education to work in the Bakersfield community.  Since Kern County has many international companies, CSUB works on enlightening students on other cultures. There are programs for students to travel abroad to study and the university also recruits international students to attend CSUB.  Students that are unable to travel still get the experience of interacting with the students recruited from other countries.  There are currently 500 international students from 49 different countries attending CSUB, setting the stage for great diversity at CSUB.  International students also pay more to attend the school so those funds allow all the students to receive extra educational benefits.
 
Another aid to the student’s cultural experience comes from the diverse international faculty that teaches at CSUB.
 
CSUB is also involved with a Sister City in South Korea.  The Sister City program within the colleges hosts visiting scholars. 
 
Dr. Zorn remembers one special international trip to Thailand.  Student musicians and dancers traveled to Thailand and performed.  The jazz music and modern dance performance was so well received by the Thai students that the CSUB group became “rock stars” in their eyes.
 
The 4 primary ways that international students find out about CSUB are:
1.  When recruiting, "CSUB" isn’t used; instead California State University is the key to draw students interested in the California lifestyle.
2.  CSUB maintains a high ranking in the state university system for quality education.
3.  A safe campus and community is an important draw to international students.
4.  Of course, cost of the education is also a big factor in students deciding where to attend college.
Dr. Zorn said that it is CSUB’s goal to treat all students well so that the good word spreads.  Building trust and relationships with students is a key to the success of the University.
 
Next up on the agenda was Jacque Jans, Assistant Governor during District Governor Nick Frankel’s year.  She presented PP Kay Pitts the trifecta of Awards!  During 2016-17 our club earned the following honors:
               
100% Foundation Giving Club (average of $100 in per capita giving)
Every Rotarian, Every Year Club (RI Annual Fund contribution of $100 per capita and each paying member contribute at least $25 to the Annual Fund)
Certificate of appreciation for financial support of End Polio Now: Make History Today Campaign.
 
Thank you Past President Kay Pitts for the great leadership that lead BBRC to these great achievements.
 
Our vocational moment was presented by Brenda Nakanishi.  Brenda is a floating branch manager for Bank of the Sierra.  She steps in when other branch managers are absent, so her schedule is always an interesting one.  Bank of Sierra is a full service bank with an Ag Credit Center, Real Estate Credit Center and a Small Business Center.  The Bank of Sierra is here to make the community better.  Brenda is doing just that in her work and now through her Rotary membership.  Thanks Brenda.
                                 

Announcements:
 
Tom Burke reminded us that Kern Yes (a one day RYLA type event for local high school students) is coming up fast.  Please contact him immediately if you are interested in participating.  Tburke5@att.net
 
Mark your calendars for February 24th when BBRC celebrates its 35th year at Charter Night.  This event is free to members and one guest.  Invitations will be arriving by email soon. 
 
Bring a few extra bucks next week for when the Past Presidents will begin selling tickets for the 50/50 drawing that will take place at the Charter Night Celebration.
 
Mary Jo announced that Bakersfield College is opening a new satellite campus in the southwest near the River Walk.
 
Ron Nelms made a brief announcement about our Club considering using 1,000 Flags as a fundraiser since Wine, Place, and Show was a bit shorter on fundraising than last year.  Heather Ward added that it will be a good idea since our community is a very patriotically-based one.
            

We can all look forward to PP Neil Walker leading next week’s meeting.  It will be a real treat for new members who will see how Neil made it through his year as BBRC president having never made a mistake. 
 
Cheryl Scott walked away with the $38 dollars from the 50/50 drawing.
And 200 PHF points went to Sandy Magley after both Ryan Rozell and Denise Haynes (yes that is PRESIDENT Denise) missed out by being absent. 
 
That meeting is a wrap!  Look forward to seeing you all next week.