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STRIVE & MAD Luncheon and Scholarships

Our Program: Our program on Tuesday, June 4, 2024 was the STRIVE and MAD Student & Parent Luncheon and awarding of scholarships totaling $13,000! The assembled gathering totaled 42 people including students, parents/relatives and Rotarians.

After the greeting and Rotary warmup by Jim Cada, Dick Glover kicked of the program by explaining what STRIVE attempts to do and presented letters of recommendation to each STRIVE attendee. This letter can be used for higher education, job applications and acts as a letter of acknowledgement they can use in the years to come. As he gave out the letters he asked each student to introduce their parents and to make a comment about their parents. Then it was on with the presenting of the five scholarships totaling $9,500. The recipients were called up to receiver their scholarship and tell where they would be doing their higher education in the fall. The STRIVE recipients were: Milla Gonzales - $3,000, Zoe Risacher - $2,000, Shawn Johnson $1,500, Ronan Abrahamson - $1,500, and Sadie Reyerson - $1,500. Dick ended his portion of the program by thanking all the parents for the support of thses great kids and the STRIVE Program.

Jim Cada then explained how the MAD Scholarship Program works and how difficult it was for the Rotary Screening Committee to choose just two out of the 24 applicants. He and the other four committee members amazed at the accomplishments, academic excellence and community involvement of these students. The two scholarship winners of $2,000 each were Emma VanMeter and Fern Arreola. Both winners introduced their family members and talked about their goals and the college they would be attending in the fall.

To end the program President Randy Schumacher and Don Draayer presented at Paul Harris Award for 16 years of dedication and support to Jackie Gleeman from the Minnetonka High School Office Staff. Jackie took care of the paperwork for the STRIVE Program, attendance and final GPA of STRIVE Students leading to the scholarships awarded. All in all it was an amazing program!

Tour de Tonka with Tim Litfin & Staff

Our Program

Our speaker on Tuesday, May 21, 2024 was Tim Litfin, Executive Director Minnetonka Community Education accompanied by members of his staff, Zac Mink, Office Assistant, and Marica Ackinson, Interim Marketing Specialist. Our speakers provided an update on the 2024 Tour de Tonka, that will take place

Saturday, August 3.

The presentation started with a wonderful and informative video from last year’s event that included messages from many participants.

Tim, offered congratulation to Don and Mary Anne Draayer, who were recently recognized as Minnetonka Community Education Volunteers of the year. Tim also recognized Club members, Randy Schumacher, Lou Graber and Don and Mary Anne Draayer for their service as volunteers for the recent Tonka Youth Triathlon in which over 250 kids participated. this year.

Zac and Maria shared many interesting and fun facts about Tour de Tonka:

294 – total number of miles in event routes
44 – number of states participants are from
19 – number of years of Tour de Tonka
51 – Legacy riders – Have ridden all 19 years
43,903 – total number of riders since 2006
Information about Tour de Tonka riders in 2023

655 riders participated in 100 mile route

5-18 years of age represented9% of riders

This year marks the 13^th year Bob Boyer has participated

Tim provided information about the use of Minnesota Road Guards to assist with traffic control and safety for the event. This year’s shirts for riders and volunteers were “unveiled” and Tim presented President Randy Schumacher with an Tour de Tonka bike hat, a new addition year.

Tim Litfin acknowledged many members of our club who have volunteered for Tour de Tonka events in the past and invited everyone to consider volunteering this year.

Book Collection Project at Minnewashta School

The Book Collection Event at Minnewashta was great. The Sun Sailor and the School District PR Staff are giving us coverage! Here is the PR Release to the media: “The Rotary Club of Excelsior teamed up with the Minnewashta Elementary School of the Minnetonka School District to do a Book Collection Project. Working through the seven first grade teachers and classes all the students in the school brought in over 3,000 books for children, teens and adults and a new record of books collected over previous years. The donated books were sorted by age and grade levels by the Excelsior Rotarians and delivered to four metro area charities: Reach Out and Read Minnesota, Way to Grow, Eastside Learning Center and Orchard Story Books. The club is also donating $1000 to each of these charities to promote child, teen and adult literacy for families with limited financial resources.

The coordinators of the Book Collection Project were Rotarians Linda Gustafson and Tiffany Frazier working with Assistant Principal Jenny Van Aalsburg and staff at Minnewasta. At the end of the day Linda Gustafson said, “What an amazing job by the Minnewashta Students and Staff. As a result of all their work and dedication, 87 boxes (over 3,000) books were collected and have now been delivered to our non-profit partners. We want to thank all the students, parents and school staff for this amazing book collection project effort and for teaming up with the Rotary Club of Excelsior.”

SLMPD Police Chief Brian Tholen

Our Program: Our speaker on Tuesday, May 7^th was Police Chief Brian Tholen of the South Lake Minnetonka Police Department. Chief Tholen had served 15 years in Carver County. The Chief got right into it by stating that policing has continued to be a challenge in these turbulent times. He noted that in 2019 there were 400 assaults and by 2023 they were over 800 and 59 officers were shot. The undertone of the Chief comments suggests great dissatisfaction with the Hennepin County Attorney for not stricter adherence to law. The Chief went on to highlight three incidents where citizens and police officers were under dire life threatening situations. The up shod of this is that according Tholen, “Law Enforcement needs our support and our officers are under great stress as they encounter more violence and lack of respect.”

However, all is not bleak! The Chief gave a big smile and said, “I love it here!” To back this up he has enacted lots of training and although recruitment is challenging, many officers are coming to small forces like SLMPD. Chief Tholen says, “We are fully staffed currently while many cities can’t even get any applicants! So, what are we doing things right here? We have become very responsive to the needs of the community and our officers. We have embedded a Social Worker (Jen) in our facility who serves 7 adjacent cities. She helps in cases of crisis management, works with officer’s issues and families in crisis in our community.” The Chief smiles and says, “Jen likes it here and says she will never leave!” Continuing he says, “Also of great help is the West Metro Drug Task force serving 5 cities to work under cover and working behind the scenes crack down on drugs and related crime.” He noted also that he has assigned one officer on each watch to apprehend impaired drivers and ‘suspicious vehicles’ in the area. Besides all of this our police are reaching out to our community for interns, holding ice cream socials at schools and doing other community events. Also, officers have required therapist visit for emotional issues and the officers are even working out with the Firefights to stay in shape!

Jeff Erickson - Update on Minnetonka High School

Our Program: Jeff Erickson the Principal of Minnetonka High School was our speaker on Tuesday, April 16th to bring us up to date on what is happening at MHS. Jeff noted that “Our work at MHS is grounded in three critical words: relationships, engagement, and encouragement. Each staff member is committed to building a strong relationship with students in an engaging environment. At the same time, we work to inspire students to do more than they thought they could. MHS is a scho

ol of opportunities for all learners.”

Jeff asks each student to excel in the four As: Academics, Arts, Activities, and Athletics all while developing a strong moral compass. New students will quickly learn our two core values: “Do the right thing” and “Represent us well.” These phrases are not merely words; rather, what each student is asked to do. Neither is easy and both require courage. I am proud to watch our students live up to these expectations every day.

“Our commitment to building a strong, respectful, and inclusive school community is on-going. We welcome students from all backgrounds and a variety of communities. The fact that we are all Skippers is our common bond. Our ongoing video series, “I am a Skipper," showcases MHS students throughout the year.” He noted the success of the female and male sports this year. He also talked about the real life offerings in and through the new Vantage building and the great hands training and experience in construction, auto mechanics, aeronautics with 200 students in that new program this year.

Jeff says, “Parents entrust their children to us. I do not take that responsibility lightly. As a school, we are committed to educating the whole child and providing a positive, safe, fun, and caring community.”

Alive & Kickin'

Our Program on Tuesday, April 2^nd was Alive & Kickin’ with Jeff Nelson and members of the staff, board and performers. Alive & Kickin’ was Founded in 2010 by Michael Matthew Ferrell, Alive & Kickin’ is the Twin Cities’ premier senior rock ensemble. It began its journey as a touring vocal ensemble of seniors who rock. The rock ensemble is comprised of seniors ages 60-99+. Now, a full decade later, Alive & Kickin’ has grown to redefine what it means to grow older. Alive & Kickin’ supports and

serves our senior population through the craft of music, empowerment of self-expression and the belief that you’re never too old to pursue your passion.

The enthusiastic ensemble has been performing to sold-out crowds at the Bloomington Center for the Arts for several years and tours around the upper midwest to a myriad of venues from the Minnesota State Fair to senior-living communities. This year’s cast has 35 seniors ranging for ages 60 to 89 years old and they are busy with their Annual Performance of Music from the 70’s as well as 15 to 20 community outreach events.

Alive & Kickin’ gives voice to seniors through personal stories and popular songs, empowering its members to entertain and enlighten multi-generational audiences. The highly inspirational group of spirited and charismatic seniors spread their musical message as they explore contemporary genres of music ranging from rock & roll and pop to gospel and Motown.

The organization gets its funding from ticket sales, corporate and group sponsorships and donations. The annual budget is $394,000 and they are currently working on a shortfall as Covid caused lots of cancellations and funding issues. One of their many events includes performing at State Fair each year on Seniors Day.