Clare Lutgen, Principal of Oakland School, reminded us that her students have the same graduation requirements as all schools in Indiana. With a staff of 7 (4 are teachers), and 64 students, the school acts and feels like a family. Each student is accepted for who he or she is and where they are in life. The first year they had seven graduates, the second – 19, and the third – 26. About 50% go to Ivy Tech. A large portion of the rest go into the military. The two biggest differences besides being a small school is the strong community approach (it takes a village) and it feels like family. Relationships are most important to learning.

VISITING ROTARIAN:

GAIL BRICKLER, Monticello.

Money Collectors: SCOTT RUMBLE and WES MCDIVITT; Greeter: LEW RUNNELS and JOEL RASMUS; Invocation:  BARB REIF; Piano: RAY PEETERS; Song Leader:  CORKY MITCHELL;  50/50 RAFFLE:  CECIL BLIGNAUT and CHRIS BIANG.  Help with attendance and facilitating a smooth meeting:  TOM MORAN, JO WADE, and JANE SMITH.  Webmaster: LARRY HUGGINS.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:
Comes from our speaker (at the end of her Bio):  "The question is not, is it possible to educate all children well? But rather, Do we want to do it badly enough?" ~Deborah Meier – Author, Administrator and Educator

The Harvest Dinner, (Committee: KIM MOTULIAK, BECKY ROBLEDO, CATHY BARRON, NANCY BRANDT, VICKI BURCH, CHRISTINE BURR, BETTY DOVERSBERGER, JAYNE FEATHERS, CAROL GALBRAITH, PRIS GERDE, LARRY HUGGINS, JEAN JACKSON, ELSA JANLE, CHRIS JOHANNSEN, JIM KLUSMAN, TIM LUZADER, DAVE McGAW, BETTY NELSON, ELDON ORTMAN, TOM PERSON, BARB REIF, JOEL RAMUS, RENEE ROAMES, AND JANE SMITH) last Friday night’s dinner and auction, was a lively and fun event.

From special champagne flutes acting as raffle tickets to a floating magician, with a silent auction and a lively live auction, the evening produced lots of laughs.

Service Above Self Awards: The winners in the youth category were Carson, Cooper and Cade Kitchel who asked birthday guests to their party to bring food for the food bank instead of presents and then raised $110 at a lemonade stand to buy school supplies for children in need at their school.

The individual winner was Eloise Lewellen, a long time volunteer at the Salvation Army. For 19 years she has organized and overseen Tools for School and also is very involved in Winter Warm Up and Toy Shop. In addition Eloise volunteers in the office, the food pantry and the Family Emergency Shelter.

Josh and Aurielle Lindblom received the group category award for their work through the Lindblom Foundation. For two years the foundation has been able to provide $45,000 to the Backpack Program through Food Finders. They also donate their time and have even helped hand out backpacks along side Rotarians at Miami School.