Ken Futernick, Ph.D., is currently leading an effort in El Dorado County in northern California to bridge political and social divides within and across all major sectors of the community. For more information, see www.bridgingdivides-eldorado.org. For our Rotary Program, Ken will be joined by these three colleagues:
Brian Veerkamp - El Dorado Advisor, former county supervisor, current EID board member and current board member of the El Dorado Community Foundation (EDCF)
Paul Zappettini - Current EDCF board member
Kristina Vasquez - Bridging Divides - El Dorado Project coordinator
Ken Futernick is a life-long educator, writer, and educational consultant to schools, school districts, and policy makers across the United States. His interests include labor-management partnerships, educator recruitment and retention, school and district transformation, implementation science, and community depolarization.
He began his career as an elementary teacher near Sacramento and, after earning his MA and PhD in education at the University of California, Berkeley, served as a faculty member at California State University, Sacramento, for twenty-two years. As a professor of education, he taught courses to new and veteran teachers and conducted research on teacher retention, educational policy, and pre-service teacher education programs. He also served as chair of the Department of Teacher Education. In 2016 he founded and directed EduCorps, a system-wide teacher recruitment initiative for the California State University.
Laurie has been a Rotarian for 29 years. She began her Rotary path with the El Dorado Hills Rotary Club back in 1994, holding roles as club president and assistant governor in district 5180 before joining our Rotary Club in 2015. Photography became her passion after retiring in 2010. Laurie now freelances part-time as a photographer for The Mountain Democrat while generously volunteering her talents to Sierra Community Access Television.
Two years ago, Laurie embarked on an incredible adventure with her sister-in-law, Darla, to Lake Clark National Park, a remote and pristine oasis nestled about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage. At 4M acres, it is the 5th largest national park in the US (and 5th largest in Alaska). The park’s rugged coastline and abundant wildlife, including one of the largest brown bear populations in the world, provided the perfect backdrop for Laurie’s camera to capture breathtaking images of bears and the Alaskan frontier.
While at an Anchorage Hotel, Laurie was required to sign a release of liability waiver form emphasizing that we “could quite possibly die” on this dangerous trip. Laurie relayed to us the fun of accomplishing the last leg of the trip on a small plane -- from the embarassment of being weighed with her gear in front of everyone, to the thrill of experincing the landing on a soft, sloping sand beach. Upon arrival, they were taught the "Lake Clark Bear Rules 101" which were in some ways different from the rules at other parks which offer bear encounters. The hardest rule to observe was to "remain stationary when feeling threatened or charged by a bear."
Laurie told us the names of some of the bears they encountered: Scarface, Foster Mom, Cub Killer. She witnessed and photographed some of the scary interplay between Foster Mom and her three cubs and the notorious Cub Killer. The photographers had to leave before all the drama was concluded, but their guide Mark returned to see that all was OK for the bear family, at least on that day. Thank you Laurie for a fascinating virtual trip to the wilds of Alaska to see and hear Bear Stories!
Adam Marshall: 1) Re: For an effective way to donate for recovery from the Maui Wildfires -- Adam (Colonel in Hawaii Air National Guard) recommends giving via Hawaii's Rotary District 5000. at https://www.rotaryd5000.org/ scroll down a bit and click on the "Donate today!" button.
2) The Veterans Stand Down event has moved to the Veteran's Building at 130 Placerville Drive. Our Board recommended that we donate towards making our club a sponsor of this event at least at the $500 level. Mike Dugan became auctioneer, and the following members donated at the $100 level towards this: Bill Hughes, Mike Dugan, Ulla Petersen, Tom Elken, Dave Sargent, Gary Gall, Denise Leach, Marlyn Pino-Jones, and Joe Ryan; and at the $50 level, DeBorah Demander Reno, and Don Fuller. Thus, $1,000 was raised for the sponsorship instead of $500.
Dave Sargent: We received a thank you note from Brooke Morgan, a recent Rotary Scholarship recipient who will be attending Brigham Young University in the fall.
Dave also introduced a Rotary Scholarship recipient from Ponderosa High School, Devin Churning-Sibert who stood up and told us about his plans to become a Molecular and Cell Biology major at UCSD with eventual plans to have a career in regenerative medicine.
Don Fuller handed out awards to members of the club who provided Service above Self during his 2022-2023 term as President. They were: Anne Eckert, Bill Ettlich, Dave Sargent, Tom Elken, Marlyn Pino-Jones, Gary Gall, Joe Ryan, Laurie Edwards, Steve Long and Richard Grieco, and a Rotarian of the Month award to Greg Wood.
Guests:
Barbara Angle, Laurie's guest
Raymond Laloup, Ulla Petersen's cousin
Devin Churning-Sibert, CP Rotary Academic Scholarship winner and his mom, Kelly Sibert.
Happy (or Not) Bucks
Dave Sargent: $10 happy to make an announcement that the Christmas Party Committee will be starting it's work soon. Please email Dave at dwsarge@yahoo.com to indicate your interest on serving for that major fund-raiser of the year.
Marlyn Pino-Jones: $10 happy to join the Christmas Party committee.
Bill Ettlich: $65 happy for his wedding anniversary.
Birthdays in August
No member birthdays in August
-----Spouses-----
Dede Clarke
Linda Fuller
Brian Strand
Lacey Young
Anniversaries in August
Doug and Dottie Bisbee
Bill and Dianne Ettlich
Rich and Linda Grieco
Dennis and Michelle Hamilton
Kim and Brian Strand
Upcoming Words of Wisdom/Greeter/Front Desk Assignments
Ken Futernick, Ph.D., is currently leading an effort in El Dorado County in northern California to bridge political and social divides within and across all major sectors of the community. For more information, see www.bridgingdivides-eldorado.org. For our Rotary Program, Ken will be joined by these three colleagues:
. The photographers had to leave before all the drama was concluded, but their guide Mark returned to see that all was OK for the bear family, at least on that day. Thank you Laurie for a fascinating virtual trip to the wilds of Alaska to see and hear Bear Stories!.png)
