Avenues of Service - Vocational Service

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Rohnert Park-Cotati 2009-2010 Vocational Service Director

Pat Miller

Vocational Service describes the opportunity each Rotarian has to represent the dignity and value of his or her vocation to the other members of the club, as well as the responsibility of the club to undertake projects related to such ares as career planning, vocational training, and the promotion of high ethical standards in the workplace.

The Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Rohnert Park-Cotati routinely visit the middle schools and high schools in the community to discuss their particular business or vocation with students

Trudy Nye from Rancho Cotate High School sums up the sucess of the Career Class Presentations in her Thank You to the club:

"The speakers yesterday were all good and we had a full house during the last 2 sessions.  Tom Patterson spoke in my classroom 1^st period and he got the students’ attention and kept it all period long!  He interacted with the students very well.  In the last session, Ted Sakai surprised us all by bringing cookies from his restaurant, and that got everyone’s attention, yum!  He even had one student ask about applying for a job with the hotel.  It was a good day.

In general, I would say that the series of career speakers was very successful.  The more our students hear about different careers, the better decisions they will make in the future. Both Barbara Shaw and I would like this program to continue for next year.  All speakers had several tips in common:  follow your passion (and you’ll never work a day in your life), do what you enjoy, one’s career path can take many different turns and one decision can cause it to go in a completely different direction, and take advantage of opportunities—say yes!

Thank you again for all your hard work in setting up these speakers and coordinating schedules.  It went incredibly smoothly thanks to all the time you spent organizing and contacting the speakers.  I hope we can do this again next year!

Trudy"

Vocational Service:

• All new club members are given a copy of the Four Way Test upon induction in the club.
• Members serve on committees and are members of trade or professional associations which develop professional skills, i.e.  Home builder association where members meet with local tradesmen to improve language and banking skills.

Youth Service

Interact Clubs:

The Rohnert Park-Cotati Rotary Club sponsors two Interact clubs at the local high schools.  The involvement and results for the Interact clubs are listed below:

• Second year supporting Brian an orphan in Uganda.  The funds raised will provide housing, food and an education for one year.   The students raised $900 while enjoying a movie night at Tech High.  Tech High is committed to support Brian until he become an adult.  (currently age 13)
• Both high school interact clubs participated in the wrapping and delivery of Christmas gifts for the Rotary toy drive
• The club members made popcorn bags for the children receiving toys at the toy drive.
• Christmas cards were made for soldiers in Iraq
• The club members volunteered at the Sonoma Mt. Art & Wine Festival by helping children create greetings  cards
• Both schools participated in the local sponsored Rotary Club quilting project
• 40 loaves of banana bread where made & decorated for the seniors at the senior center.
• Rancho Cotate High School interactors welcomed the 8^th graders to the local high school and gave them a tour.
• Dictionary Project – The interactors assisted the Rotary Club with personalizing the dictionaries with the Rotary name labels.
• Made Valentine Cards/cookies delivered to Evergreen Nursing Home
• Participated in the Big Brother/Big Sister Bowling fundraiser raising $250
• Samaritan’s Purse – Operation Christmas Child – Shoebox presents
• Rohnert Park’s 50^th Anniversary at the registration and informational purposes
• Assisted in the food packing for the local food bank   NOAH – Rohnert Park Food Pantry
• District Interact Conference – Attended the district conference where 2 interactors were nominated for Leadership Award and won the Conference Inspirational award.
• Participated with the local Rotary Club and City of Rohnert Park with Xeroscape landscaping at Country Club & Golf Course (Fire depart)

Career Days

The Rotary Club of Rohnert Park/Cotati has joined forces with the Rotary Club of Rancho Cotati to create Career Talks once a week on Wednesday’s. The goal of this collaboration is to help our local high school, Rancho Cotate, students. Every Wednesday we provide speakers in various classrooms to discuss our careers. For example, a local chef will speak about his background and how he became a chef and what it takes to become a chef. Including educational background and work experience.  Not only do we encourage high school students to pursue education and careers we also encourage them to get involved in their local community.  

Community Based Rotaract Club

The Rotary Club of Rohnert Park/ Cotati has joined forces with several other clubs to help form (recently chartered) the South Sonoma County Rotaract club. We support this group financially and with a liaison from our club. We offer advice so they may pursue their own projects and speakers and for help in our projects and fund raisers. We’re helping to shape the next generation of Rotarians. 

Assisting Less Advantaged Children

The Rotary Club of Rohnert Park/ Cotati has setup a computer lab so local university students can offer homework help to local children after school and any others to use it to better themselves. This was also addressed under the community service avenue.

RYLA

The Rotary Club sponsors four students to attend the week-long RYLA camp in June each year.