FogHorn April 11, 2017 - Annual Joint Meeting with Rotary Club of Pacifica
Posted by Editor: FDBobko
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The FOGHORN
ROTARY CLUB OF HALF MOON BAY
April 11 , 2017
ANNUAL JOINT MEETING WITH ROTARY CLUB OF PACIFICA
Speaker: Ambassadorial Scholar Uldouz Berenjeforoush
Article by Bill Johnston
Photos by Joe Brennan
Assistant District Gov. Mary Bates from the Rotary Club of Foster City introduced our guest speaker as a young lady who immigrated from Iran at the age of 14 with all of 10 words of English vocabulary. She started at Hillsdale high school as a freshman and six months later she tested out of ESL and started tutoring other immigrant students. She followed that with a Berkeley undergraduate degree and then AmeriCorps. She was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Foster City to become an Ambassadorial Scholar, and she aced her interviews and was selected as the District 5150 Ambassadorial Scholar.
Her name is Uldouz Berenjeforoush. (A far more interesting name than Bill, Liz, or Joe). She told us about her year as an ambassadorial scholar in Turkey. She attended Sabanci University in Istanbul. She lived on the European side and took the ferry every day to the school which was located on the Asian side. She was in a Masters of Finance program. Over the course of nine months she completed 27 classes. She was one of 16 students in the class and she completed her degree in 2013. This is one of the top finance programs available. While there she also worked an internship in an investment bank.
She also participated in a project through the school which involved encouraging people who had moved from rural villages into the city to return to their villages. She visited a number of different small cities including Borsa where they observed a civil involvement project. She got involved with the Human Library, a program out of Denmark that raises awareness and uses peer group education to mobilize youngsters against violence. She was involved in the One Billion Rising event and, for her, a highlight was International Women's Day where she join thousands of people marching.
Her travel included Izmir a beautiful West Coast city surrounded by small towns, Adana a more traditional city in the south middle of the country and Cappadocia which is an incredible underground city in the middle of Turkey. The pictures of Cappadocia featured a remarkable interconnected undeground infrastructure and strange conical shaped hills. She also spent time in Antalya which is another beautiful beach city.
She thoroughly and obviously enjoyed the dancing that takes place at Turkish weddings. She told us about civil activism in Istanbul and specifically about protests that arose when the government wanted to replace a public park with a mall. Protesters occupied the park, twitter was used orchestrate the protest and the government backed down. The coalition involved in the protest included soccer fanatics from clubs which are usually at odds but here found a common purpose. She showed us photos of a bus that had been appropriated by the protesters and turned into a library in the park.
She returned to become a financial analyst at Oracle and for the past two years she has worked for twitter.
Assistant District Gov. Mary noted that the Ambassadorial Sscholar program has produced 41,000 graduates at a total cost of about $500 million.
Finally, Joe Brennan wanted us to know that every year on Thanksgiving he flies a flag with a red field containing a white crescent and a white star. Apparently, this has something to do with the menu.
April 6, 2017 Meeting Recap
Article by Stacy Trevenon
As Rotarians walked in to the new senior center building on Main Street in Half Moon Bay, they were welcomed by Greeters Bill Johnston and Linda Crose-Anderson of the Half Moon Bay club and Carl Schwab, Treasurer of the Rotary Club of Pacifica. The flag salute was led by Kevin Casey, and Marilyn St. Germain-Hall of Pacifica gave the inspirational message, with the words of Maya Angelou.
On each table were cards created by Rotary Club of Half Moon Bay President Liz Schuck and Rotary Club of Pacifica President Wendy Santiago. Each carried questions that began with "Who ... ?" and the answers were Pacifica or Half Moon Bay Rotarians. (Questions ranged from "Who wore a kilt? Who has been a hypnotist? Who has 86 rose bushes?" (Prez Liz!)) The idea was to get to know each other better!
Half Moon Bay President Liz talked a little about the Magic of the Coastside event, saluting Dave Anderson and Linda Crose-Anderson respectively for bringing items from the storage unit and for bringing in local youth to help, on that night. She also remarked on the delicious dinner, and added that the final tally is still being counted.
On each table were cards created by Rotary Club of Half Moon Bay President Liz Schuck and Rotary Club of Pacifica President Wendy Santiago. Each carried questions that began with "Who ... ?" and the answers were Pacifica or Half Moon Bay Rotarians. (Questions ranged from "Who wore a kilt? Who has been a hypnotist? Who has 86 rose bushes?" (Prez Liz!)) The idea was to get to know each other better!
Half Moon Bay President Liz talked a little about the Magic of the Coastside event, saluting Dave Anderson and Linda Crose-Anderson respectively for bringing items from the storage unit and for bringing in local youth to help, on that night. She also remarked on the delicious dinner, and added that the final tally is still being counted.
Patrick Hall of Pacifica mentioned that Club's upcoming fundraiser, the third annual Memorial Weekend Walk/Run for Vets on May 28 supporting Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Steve Wright of Pacifica mentioned the upcoming District 5150 Conference which is scheduled for Friday evening, May 5, at the Mill Valley Community Center, Saturday morning, May 6 at the Delancey Street Conference Center in San Francisco and Saturday evening, May 6 at the Pullman Hotel in Redwood Shores, and Sunday morning, May 7 at the Pullman Hotel. There will be great speakers and registration is encouraged.
An update was given on Half Moon Bay Rotarian, Dr. Joy Enriquez, the first female member of our club, who has been ill. The board has voted her an Honorary Member
.
Birthdays were noted: Joe Brennan celebrated the 50th anniversary of hi 21st birthday on April 7, and Linda Jonas of the Pacifica club was due to celebrate her birthday tomorrow.
Guests for the joint meeting included Rick and Carrie Chin of the Rotary Club of Millbrae.
Assistant Governor Mary Bates introduced the event's guest speaker, Rotary District 5150 Ambassadorial Scholar and Redwood City resident, Uldouz Berenjforoush.
Birthdays were noted: Joe Brennan celebrated the 50th anniversary of hi 21st birthday on April 7, and Linda Jonas of the Pacifica club was due to celebrate her birthday tomorrow.
Guests for the joint meeting included Rick and Carrie Chin of the Rotary Club of Millbrae.
Assistant Governor Mary Bates introduced the event's guest speaker, Rotary District 5150 Ambassadorial Scholar and Redwood City resident, Uldouz Berenjforoush.
And Patti Shartz saved the evening with a quick dash to pickup the missing corkscrew. COMING EVENTS AND SPEAKERS
Apr 20 Heal Comes To Rotary
Apr 27 Shop Talk: Rosi Fontana