Rotary year in review – 2014-15

 
The 2014-15 Rotary year was another active year for Yerington Rotary.  Club President Ted Rudolph kept the Club busy with a variety of activities and community support projects.  Projects varied from planting trees to cemetery cleanup to selling food at local events and, of course, supporting local youth with scholarships and awards.  Many of our projects require help from local businesses as well as effort from Rotary members.  We appreciate the support we receive from the local community.
 
One of our favorite programs is the Student of the Month program for YHS students.  This program was expanded to include students from ROP this year.  Each month two YHS students from a specified department and one ROP student are selected by school staff members for “deserving recognition for their efforts”.  The honored students and their parents are invited to dinner with the Rotary Club where the staff who selected them describe why they were selected.  The students also receive a certificate and a small monetary award. 
 
Our scholarship program was also expanded slightly.  The number of Rountree Scholarships for students majoring in Science, Techonolgy, Engineering or Mathematics was increased to two and the award was increased from $4,000 to $5,000.  We continue to award two four-year $4,000 scholarships with no restriction on what the student majors in as well as two two-year $1,000 scholarships.  This was the second year we awarded the Michael Hardesty Memorial Scholarship of $1,000 per year for training in a technology field.  It was the first year we awarded the Manuel Barcellos Memorial Scholarship of $500.
 
The Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program continues to impress the high school juniors who attend.  They all agree it is a life changing experience.  This year we sent six students to this one week camp.  We also sent five eighth graders to the Rotary Eighth Grade Leadership (REGL) program.  Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) is another great experience that affects many students.  Two local students were sent to foreign countries to live for a year and one foreign student was brought in to live here for the year.  The student living here, from Italy, gives all local students a chance to interact with someone from a different culture.  Rotary thinks this is an important experience for high school students.
 
Rotary members spent one day in Fall of 2014 adding to the trees they planted the Spring before at Mountain View Park.  We also participated in the major cemetery cleanup organized  by County employees.  Rotary helped with the cleanup work and also provided food for the workers. 
 
A decision was made early in the year to forego our Teacher Appreciation dinner in favor of awarding grants to teachers for class room projects.  As a result eight awards of $200 each were given out to teachers.  All teachers can apply for these grants.  This program is expected to continue.
 
Rotary continues to support many local groups and activities.  We contributed over $5,800 to the local Food Bank, the Jeanne Dini Cultural Center, the local library, 4th of July fire works, Hoops for Heros, Lyon County Museum, youth baseball, YHS 20/30 track meet and other organizations.
 
Yerington Rotary is proud of its contributions to our community and expects to continue to support local groups and projects as well as the international efforts of Rotary International.  One of the interesting and helpful programs Rotary sponsors is our weekly meeting presentations.  They help keep Rotarians informed.  This year they included presentations about Brazil, wine tasting, a local cheese maker, dealing with guns, home safety for seniors, mental health, auto reposition, a tour of our fire department and “What is a locavore”.