This past Wednesday, our Rotary Club was proud to present its "Cadet of the Month" Award to Air Force ROTC Cadet Kaden Fletcher.
Kaden is a freshman at CSU and a member of the Detachment 90 Air Force ROTC program. He plans to complete his undergraduate education in Environmental Engineering, and receive his commission as a Second Lieutenant (2LT) in the Spring of 2027. Kaden is one of the youngest members of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Following graduation, he hopes to train as an Air Force pilot, flying a fixed-wing F-22 or helicopters in a close air support role. Kaden hails from Cincinnati, Ohio, but has quickly embraced life in Colorado, and enjoys the many outside sports available so close to the CSU campus. We congratulate him on receiving this award for his academic achievements and dedication to serving our community and country.
Last Wednesday, our Rotary Club presented a Community Grants check for $1,000 to Dr. Janet Landreth, founder and director of the International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival. The grant money will support IKO&F's six-day classical music competition for piano held each summer at CSU since 2011. The event's agenda includes guest artists' concerts, master classes, workshops, and the competition itself which brings piano contestants, ages 13-35, from 25 states and 25 countries. 2,500 people are expected to attend and/or participate in this year's competition, August 5-10, 2024. The IKO&F supports a holistic program for the pianists' growth and performing wellness, and helps to establish Fort Collins' reputation as an important cultural destination on the global arts map. Rotarians are encouraged to participate as event volunteers; see Susan Brand for more information.
New Rotarian Dawn Brownne is a Colorado native and CSU graduate in Wildlife Biology. As a devoted softball player, she played for CSU and recreationally for over 35 years. As a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) professional with the Colorado Department of Wildlife, she was on the ground floor of mapping real estate holdings, area, and game management unit boundaries. She was a baseball and fastpitch softball umpire for 40 years, and enjoys hiking, camping, hunting and fishing. Dawn also enjoys investing as a hobby, having started an investment club several years ago.
New member Anita Basham is a retired nurse anesthetist and passionate world traveler. As the wife of a CSU horticulture professor, she lived in Kuwait during Desert Storm, traveled to Yemen, Bolivia and Ethiopia, and was a resident of Armenia for 4 years. She served 8 years on the Fort Collins Affordable Housing Board, and was appointed by the City Council to the Commission for Community Development and Block Grants. She continues to be adventurous, whitewater rafting the Colorado River last year, with plans to travel this October to Kenya and Tanzania.
During our Rotary meeting on April 3rd, Cindy Ufer was honored as our April Teacher of the Month. Cindy teaches 4th grade at Werner Elementary. She has a long experience in the Poudre School District and brings out the best in her students while recognizing individual differences.
Narratives of the early settlement of Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska took center stage at our April 10 meeting as Matt Vincent, a fifth-generation Colorado resident and retired journalist, summarized the background and contents of his book, “Wild Times & True Tales from the High Plains".
Suzanne Barslund of People Helping People will be our speaker for our Evening meeting at 5:30 PM on Wednesday, April 3rd at Sweetwater Brewery. For Suzanne, People Helping People is an opportunity for all of us to do our little bit and to be reminded that we are the United States of America. As People Helping People, we can provide those in need with the items they need to feel more settled at home.
The program for our April 3 noon meeting was presented by Fort Collins City Mayor Jeni Arndt. In a departure from the more usual format, after some very short introductory remarks, Mayor Arndt simply proposed to respond to questions from the audience. She commented that, in her position as representing the citizens of Fort Collins, every Wednesday afternoon she has open office hours for citizen interaction, scheduled in half-hour increments. The city also is working toward setting up a Citizen Assembly to provide a format for interaction between city government and the citizens of the city.
