Tonight we honored Sharon Thomas, a recently retired English Teacher at Hillside Middle School. Sharon (Mrs. Thomas to most) has been instrumental in changing the lives of so many children. She also helped facilitate in our Rotary District's Four Way Test Essay Contest. The goal of the contest is to encourage students to consider how “The 4-Way Test” (Rotary's ethical code of conduct) can be used in everyday decision-making. This is accomplished by expressing their thoughts in an essay that relates a case or story where they applied these principles in their everyday life. Winners are given a monetary award. Filling Sharon's shoes at the school and for our contest will be a hard task. She will definitely be missed. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK!!!!

 

For the past couple years, our club has enjoyed a Mystery Trip to a secret location planned by a member of the club. No one else knows where we are going and what we'll be doing. This year we were told to wear sports attire and meet at Simi High School parking lot. When we arrived, two vans were waiting for us and we were escorted off. Our excursion took us all the way out to Lancaster. You can imagine the anticipation in that long drive. Our first stop was Bravery Brewery where we enjoyed a couple beers, played some raffle games, and snacked. Then we all hopped in our vans and took another small trip to The Hangar -- The home stadium of the Lancaster JetHawks (a Minor League baseball team). We were given the VIP treatment with our own tables and BBQ and seats just behind home plate. The local team got smashed, but we all had a great time! A quick shout out to Cindy Belmonte... Thank you for planning this year's (and previous year's) Mystery Trip!!!

 

  

Our program for the evening was the group of students that attended RYLA recently. Each year, thousands of young people take part in the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program worldwide. Young people are chosen for their leadership potential to attend an all-expenses-paid camp to discuss leadership skills and to learn those skills through practice. Rotary clubs and districts select participants and facilitate the event’s curriculum. The attendees we sent talked about their time there and how much it changed their lives.

Every year, around this time, we get together, have some food and drinks, socialize, and stuff the Gator Run's Goodie Bags for a couple hours. Kids helped too!