Dennis Kaan, a member of our club helped write the winning proposal and will discuss the Air Force requirements for a new tanker, the decision process, compare the two company offerings, and discuss Boeing’s current protest.

According to the announcement, Northrop Grumman and EADS would build a fleet of 179 planes based on the existing Airbus 330. While final assembly of the craft would take place at an Airbus plant near Mobile, Alabama, parts would come from suppliers across the globe.

The KC-45 Tanker shown refueling a fighter jet.

Boeing has supplied aerial tankers to the Air Force for 50 years. In 2004 amid allegations of improper collusion with the company, the previous tanker contract was canceled. Subsequently a former Air Force procurement officer and a Boeing employee were sent to prison, and investigations showed manipulation of other large Air Force contracts to benefit military contractors.

Dennis joined our club in 2003 while he was the Air Force ROTC Detachment Commander at Colorado State University. Dennis retired from the Air force in Jun 2006 after over 28 years of service. Dennis was a command pilot having flown the T-37, and T-41 trainers; and KC-135 and KC-10 tanker aircraft. According to Dennis, he also spent “time” at the Pentagon working legislative issues and served as the executive assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force.

Upon retirement from the Air Force, Dennis took a position as Business Development Director for EADS North America in Washington DC (while his family stayed in Fort Collins) to work on the NGC/EADS tanker project. He returned to Fort Collins in December 2007 and rejoined our Rotary Club in January 2008.

Scholarship winners were selected after review of application forms including information about need, scholarship, community activities and leadership. Applicants also met with committee members for a personal interview. Each interviewed applicant also prepared a written paper in which they commented on the Rotary 4-Way Test.

These students are outstanding representatives of our youth, and we feel they will perform well at their school, and graduate to serve the community.

One-half of each award will be deposited at the beginning of the school year in a student account in the recipient’s name at the respective institution. The second half of the award will be made if the recipient has a 3.0 GPA at the end of the semester and if the recipient has made a brief presentation to the Rotary Club of Fort Collins.

Rotary Scholarships: Bob Meroney, chair of the Scholarship Committee, announced the following scholarship recipients.

Max Bauer;	Fossil Ridge High School	Mathematics/Athletics
Rachel Bessel	Fort Collins High School	Psychology/Spanish
Jason A. Crenshaw	Front Range Community College	Health Care
Jennifer Goodrich	Poudre High School	Psychology
Ashley Greathouse	Rocky Mountain High School	Science Education/Music
Teague Greer	Centennial High School	Dental Hygiene
Gabriel Perez	Front Range Community College	Automotive Technology
Levi Stockton	Poudre High School	Environmental Engineering
Diane Vo-Ba	Rossil Ridge High School	Biomedical Science

James Morrison Memorial Scholarship. Established by Mrs. June Ogden in memory of her father, James Morrison, a Rotarian. James Morrison served as Director of Cooperative Extension at Colorado A & M (now Colorado State University). Recipient must have graduated from Fort Collins High School and must attend Colorado State University.

The Mountain West Conference announced that Colorado State senior Emily Pearson has earned a share of its Women's Outdoor Track and Field Athlete of the Week honor. Pearson set both the Colorado State and Jack Christiansen Track heptathlon records by scoring 5,439 points at Friday's Glenn Morris Invitational in Fort Collins. A product of La Junta, Colo., Pearson won four of the seven events, including scoring 730 points after running the 800-meter dash with a time of 2 minutes, 27.09 seconds. Her heptathlon score is currently the 11th best in the nation, according to TrackShark.com, and was just 81 points shy of the NCAA automatic mark. It ranks first in the league so far this season and fifth all-time in the MWC.

The Mountain West Conference also announced that Colorado State senior Drew Morano has earned a share of its Men's Outdoor Track and Field Athlete of the Week honor. Morano, a native of Paola, Kan., broke his own, three-week-old 400-meter school record Friday at the Arkansas Twilight meet in Fayetteville, Ark., with a regional-qualifying time of 45.65. Morano, part of a small group of Rams competing at the meet, initially broke his own Colorado State record at the Sun Angel Classic in Arizona on April 12 with a time of 45.91. In program history, he now owns the top three times in that event. Morano's time currently ranks first in the league this season, improves on his No. 2 ranking in the MWC all-time record book and is eighth nationally, according to TrackShark.com.

"The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it." -- Pearl Budk

Ester told us of her growing up in Kenya and the images she had of US high school girls and her wish to come to America. She and her family later moved to England so that her mother could earn enough to send her children, Esters older sisters and brother, to college. Ester was supported by the Bedford Rotary Club in England. She showed us many pictures of her family, of her growing up and of her home town.

She said she really misses her family, particularly her mother, who has been a role model for her. The time in Fort Collins has been a big change for her and she has experienced many, many new things, like skiing, snow shoeing, the ballet and a rodeo. She has learned that we are more alike than different and she has really loved the host families who have treated her like a family member. She feels that she has grown and matured a lot in the last year and the experience has helped her to narrow her career choices. She thanked us for the experience and asked us to continue giving other foreign students the same great opportunity.

Omnia El-Hakim then introduced next year’s Ambassadorial Scholar, Phoenix Mourning-Star, and a graduate student in biostatistics at CSU. Phoenix said that he likes working with people and to giving back to communities, through entities like the Red Cross and YMCA, like he saw his parents doing. He told us about the service project that he would like to do during his year as the Ambassadorial Scholar and the five schools that he has submitted to the Rotary Foundation for his study. The first three were the University of Auckland in New Zealand, the University of Delhi in India, and the University of Melbourne in Australia. His project will be to work with the youth in his host country to set up a modern version of “pen pals”, through email, blogs, etc., with students in Fort Collins to discuss global problems. On his return, he would work to try to make sure that the communications continue

Warren and Genny Garst Wildlife Collection at CSU Click here or on the "tiger."

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Copyright © by Lannie Boyd and Alan Ashbaugh for the Rotary Club of Fort Collins, Colorado, May 14, 2008