School is ending for the summer with oodles of activities by Rotarians helping end the school year for tens of thousands of students in Montgomery County.
Rotarians helped to assist School Sponsors in the election of new Officers and Board Members for the coming school year for the high school Interact Clubs throughout Montgomery County. These new Officers and Board members will convene on Aug. 1 for a District Conference to assist the Interact Club’s incoming leaders on planning for successful Club programs while further developing leadership skills.
Numerous scholarships were awarded to graduating High School Seniors to continue their education in Colleges, Universities, and Trade Schools. The largest number of scholarships went to graduating Seniors going to Lone Star College this Fall. Scholarships were awarded based on a variety of credentials from need to grade point averages to extra-curricular activities and more! These graduating seniors will be our leaders in years to come. It is ironic how these Rotary-impacted students proudly point to the fact that Rotary helped them get their start in their road toward success. Aubrey Spear, General Manager for the San Jacinto River Authority mentioned to the Rotary Club of Conroe while speaking to them about the SJRA that while he was a junior in an Amarillo High School he was selected to attend a Rotary Youth Leadership Award Camp on leadership in New Mexico and the positive impact it had on his life.
The “I Like Me” Books just arrived one week before school ends this Friday with first graders each receiving a personalized hard back book about themselves. Parents supply the information to the publisher who rushes to get these books printed and delivered. Rotarians and book sponsors hand out these books to first graders during these last few days of school. It is a wonderful sight to see these excited, smiling first graders receiving these personalized books from Rotarians and sponsors. Over $20,000 worth of these unique books are personally handed out to each student for their reading pleasure during the Summer. Many of these first graders retain these books with Interact Club Members and Rotarians showing off these books. “I Like Me” Book Chairman, Ed Kelly is a whirlwind of activity as he schedules four to six Rotarians to come to the Elementary Schools which feed into Conroe High School. Each school normally receives two boxes of books per first grade class with five to six first grades per school. Logistics is easy to handle for this retired Navy Captain who make this hard job look easy. Although the work can be hard at times, the reward is exceptionally outstanding when seeing these smiling first grade faces.
Book sponsors like Gullo Automotive Group, Denny Buckalew, Quest Engineering and others repeatedly look forward to assisting each year because they are Rotarians know the rewards are high for these young children. Second grade teachers attest these First Graders who read their “I Like Me” books are well prepared in their reading skills for second grade!