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Publication Date July 28, 2009
Volume 60, Issue 10

 

Recent Programs 

• June 30– Lisa Miller, Executive Director of the Women’s Resources Center talked about her organization and its programs. The Center assists women with many types of problems including employment, housing, emotional, legal and divorce and separation. It served a total of 1300 people last year including 700 women, 200 children 3-5 years old and 350 older children. It receives no state or federal funding but depends on individuals, churches, grants and a Spring Gala to raise the $130,000 needed for its budget.
   
   

• July 7– A number of Kiwanians attended a Crawdads baseball game (which the Crawdads lost).
   

• July 14– Lamar Mitchell, Executive Director of the Catawba County Champions of Education, and Allan Jackson of the Jackson Group spoke about the Graduation Project requirements, which differ in the three separate school systems. Newton-Conover requires the project as originally specified by the state including a mentor for each student’s project. Hickory High School will require the project but without a mentor, while the county system is not yet requiring the project. The project includes research, product, portfolio and an oral presentation. Where the mentors are needed they will have to spend a minimum of 15 hours per student. With the high number of seniors each year in the county, this means that a large recruiting effort for mentors is necessary. Champions of Education has a website that explains the process of becoming a mentor. In addition to this effort, Champions of Education emphasizes dropout prevention, teacher retention and attraction, education advocacy, preschool advancement and family involvement. Dropout prevention is one of the most important topics for several reasons including the fact that a high percentage of inmates are dropouts and that dropouts are more likely to need welfare assistance than high school graduates.
  
   

• July 21– Dr. Ric Vandett, the retiring Superintendent of the Hickory School System, gave a talk reflecting on his 34 years as an educator including time as an athletic coach, English teacher, principal, and superintendent. Overcoming many obstacles—oldest of five children of a single-parent family on welfare in a housing project, being told he was not college material, saddled with a less than exemplary high school record—he enlisted in the military, went to Vietnam and then returned to start his higher education at a community college and ended with a doctorate from Columbia University. He commented that Hickory High School is now 48% white, 23% black, 16% Hispanic, 6 % Asian and 6% multi-racial.
   

• Danny Seaver reported at the July 21 meeting that the HHS Key Club had raised about $1200 by manning a race water stop and $250 at the movie event.
  He also announced that free tickets were available to a Crawdads game on Saturday, August 8.
   

Miscellaneous

A recent visitor was Marvin Peterson who attended the Crawdads game on July 7. He was on his way back to Sun City Center Florida from the Kiwanis Convention in Nashville. In Florida, he is the president of the local club.

The Vidalia onion fund-raiser sale is well under way. It is important that everyone tries to complete sales as soon as possible before the onions start to deteriorate.

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The above was taken from the Charlotte Observer of July 19.
 

Who is this Kiwanian?

Last month’s Baltimore Cathedral High School picture was of Tom Devlin.

Below is another high school senior’s photo from a few years back.

 

The Quote: 

"Wit is educated insolence."

Aristotle