Each year Rotary clubs across the world sponsor speech contests for local students. The Sheridan club is no different. March 7 the regular Tuesday evening meeting was dedicated to choosing a speech contest winner for our club. Congratulations go out to Sheridan High School senior Brittany Welch for her outstanding presentation about the objectives and activities of Rotary. As the local winner, Brittany takes home a prize of $100 and moves on to our local Rotary District 6560 speech contest where she has a chance to win $1,000.
Sheridan Rotarians would like to extend our thanks to all the students and staff at Sheridan High School whose efforts make our local contest something special. And a great big thanks goes to SHS Language Arts teacher Becky Pitzer who champions our cause at the school and encourages her students to participate each year.
Sheridan Rotary is proud to partner with the school and other community organizations to make Sheridan a great place to live, work and learn. In addition to the annual speech contest, we honor the Top Ten percent of each graduating class at a banquet. At the same meeting we also recognize and honor the top elementary and the top secondary educators of the year. We give a $500 scholarship to a deserving senior student to help them continue their education. And we annually sponsor 2 senior students to the Rotary Youth Leadership Academy, a 2-day weekend adventure camp aimed at developing leadership skills for our youth.
Sheridan Rotary does a lot of things for the Sheridan community. On the 1st and 3rd Tuesday evenings of each month we have a formal meeting with a meal and a guest speaker. The other Tuesday evenings we have various community projects we undertake to make Sheridan an even better place to live. In the past we have raked leaves, weeded flower beds and trimmed shrubbery at our parks, we have sponsored community dinners and pancake breakfasts, and we have cleaned up various eyesores in the community. We do all this not to gain any sort of recognition but just because it is something that needs doing.
If you are interested in getting more involved in your local community, you should consider becoming a Rotarian. We do good work, we have a lot of fun doing that work and you will build life-long friendships. As noted above, Sheridan Rotary has formal meetings on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of each month. If you would like to attend a meeting, please contact any Sheridan Rotary member or contact club president Steve Martin at the Sheridan Public Library.
Our formal meetings usually feature a guest speaker on some interesting topic. You do not have to be a club member to come to the guest speaker programs which begin at 6:45 pm. Programs coming up are: March 14th – Adult Speech Therapy for Stroke Victims presented by Megan Sutton and on March 21st we will have a program about the upcoming Sheridan School Corporation referendum presented by Superintendent Dr. Dave Mundy. Won’t you join us?
Sheridan Rotary meets in the Community Room of the Sheridan Public Library, 103 West First Street, Sheridan.