Our board of directors - 2011/2012

Congratulations to the new board of directors, scheduled to be sworn in on July 1 when President Elect Rick Coburn takes over at the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club.

Shown from left are Kendra Jeffcoat, Joe Giamanco, Jim Dunny, Carl Kruse, Jim Stewart, Karen Mortimer, Nasrin Barbee, Paul Gorman, and PE Rick Coburn.

Mark Kersey runs for San Diego City Council

Mark Kersey, running for San Diego City Council to fill the seat now occupied by Carl DeMaio (District 5), spoke with the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club at this week's breakfast meeting.



A member of the Rancho Bernardo Rotary Club, the Rancho Bernardo Business Association, the Conservative Order for Good Government, and the Spirit of the Fourth celebration, Kersey spoke at length about his vision for improving San Diego's financial situation.

Service Above Self Awards

At this morning's meeting we had the Service Above Self Awards. Fifth graders are awarded a certificate and gift card because one or more of their peers caught them doing good things.

Today's award-winners were (from left to right) Taylor Mitchell, Kendal Ellenbeck, and Emily Ligas. They joined Rotarian Mike Miller (blue vest), who supervises the project.

Appearing in native garb at this morning's meeting were past president Kendra Jeffcoat and her husband Jay - both recently returned from American Samoa, where Kendra spent a week teaching.They were our featured speakers, taking the club on a journey of discovery about this fascinating Pacific island/American protectorate. A fine time was had by all.

And despite the fact that he's a member of Kiwanis, Jay is a good guy who lets us poke fun at him. He's also got GREAT legs!

Meet Scott Bramwell - blue badger

Actually, if he was a blue badger, doesn't that mean he'd have a long tail, a snout, and make a snuffling noise? Just wondered. Either way, Congratulation, Scott, for fulfilling your obligations and becoming a full-fledged member of the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club. And your shoes now look so much nicer, too, since you don't have those tiny wheels on the back of them anymore.

RB Sunrise Rotarians Honor Abraxas High School Student

At this week's breakfast meeting of the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club,

At this week's

Joe – The teacher and student for the month of May are: Teacher = Manny Diaz
Student = Matt Gaoa

At this week's breakfast meeting of the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club (held Tuesday morning at the Country Club of Rancho Bernardo), student Matt Gaoa was honored as the outstanding student of the month from Abraxas High School. A hard-working and personable youth, Matt obviously provides a good example to others at his school. Look for this young man to do well in life.

Above, Rotarian Joseph Giamanco and Abraxas teacher Manny Diaz introduce Matt to the 65 members of the RB Rotary Club (Sunrise). Matt received a certificate of recognition and a gift certificate as our club's reward for his great results.

Now Back From RYLA

So I spent the past weekend at RYLA - the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. Truly an educational experience on many levels as I spent 50 hours effectively tethered to nine high school juniors, none of whom knew me or each other prior to beginning the weekend. My group was made up of Alexis Jenkins, George Matta, Chalisa Sims, Reese Russell, Ali Cardenas, Emilie Myers, Maddie Wilson, Tanya Villalpando and Ben Esquivel.
We spent several in-depth hours talking about serious issues, had inspirational speakers like Garry Ridge (WD-40), above, and Jim Brogan, and got to know each other...and ourselves...a bit better.

All this at a campground in beautiful Idylwwild, CA. It was a stereotypical campground

where the food was just so-so, the accomodations drafty and uncomfortable, and the s'mores addictive. And while there were things I would have suggested be done differently, all in all I found the experience to rate 8 on a scale of 10.

If the kids got as much from it as I did, the experience will definitely serve them well.

And in case you're wondering, yes, I would do it again.