Page Stories

At 12:13 pm on April 22, 2025, Shelly Rucks, the St Paul Rotary President, called the meeting to order at the Intercontinental Hotel and noted today is Earth Day. President Rucks led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and thanked the volunteers helping at the meeting, Robert Cardinal and Scott Van, greeters, Joy McElroy, Inspirational Minute and the Four Way Test, Susan Rostkoski, introducing guests and happy dollars, our tech team of Jason DeKeuster and Matt Magers, Ken Schaefer, scribe, and our club administrator Amanda Mai. Joy McElory provided the Inspirational Minute and the Four Way Test. Susan Rostkoski introduced guests and visiting Rotarians.

The speaker was Micheal-jon Pease, a club member and Executive Director of the Saint Paul Parks Conservancy; Mr. Pease was introduced by Susan Rostkoski and provided an overview of Saint Paul Parks. He discussed the vision of and impact of the Saint Paul Parks Conservancy. Last, he summarized areas where Rotarians could assist The Conservancy.

Shelly’s announcements were:

  • Nominations are open for the Spirt of Rotary award – Please submit to Heidi Fisher.
  • RYLA is this weekend (Friday through Monday) with RYLA the program the next meeting. Members can visit the site.
  • May 13 is Rotation Day at History Theatre. Register by May 9th.
  • Anything Goes at Lakeshore Players Theatre
  • Education days – May 2 through June 6. Volunteers needed.
  • Parks and People starts Saturday , May 10th and continues on afternoons follow Rotary lunch programs.
  • May 16 - Science Museum of Minnesota from 10 am to 2 pm
  • May 27 (Tuesday) at 9:30 - Join the Student of the Month/Year recognition breakfast at Gordon Parks High School
  • June 1 - Sell Wristbands at Grand Old Day.
  • Party for the Parks on Wednesday June 25th at 5:30 pm at Como Park.
  • June 28-29 – House youth exchange students while in the Metro.
  • The club needs one more host for an International Exchange student.

Susan Rostkoski led Happy Dollars.

The meeting ended at 1:10 pm.

Rotary Club of Saint Paul

April 15, 2025

President Shelley Rucks called the hybrid meeting to order at 5:16 pm. The greeter was Beth Naughton. Lynne Beck was scribe. The A/V Teach Team was Matt Magers.

For the Inspirational Minute, Ken Shaefer read quotes from famous people about taxes since it is Income Tax Filing Day. He then led the club in the 4-WayTest.

Beth Naughton introduced guests: Ken Crabb’s wife Gwen and his cousin and her husband, Jim Delamater’s wife, and a Rotarian who moved from the Washington D.C. Rotary Club to Woodbury and wants to join the Saint Paul Rotary Club.

Ken Shaefer introduced the speaker, Dan Keyport who talked about what he learned from writing, publishing and selling his nonfiction book Extraordinary Popular Delusions of Our Times. Dan grew up in St. Paul, attending St. Thomas Academy, the College of St. Thomas, and the University of St. Thomas. Dan spent 25 years in consulting and information technology, and then in 2005, opened Dolce Vita Wine Shop in Chaska and joined the Chaska Rotary Club. After selling the business and retiring in 2022, Dan spent the next two years writing and publishing Extraordinary Popular Delusions of Our Times.

Dan Keyport, who writes under the penname of Daniel Martin, described the lessons he learned from writing and publishing and selling his book. He divided the book into five delusions: Financial (Bitcoin and Market Bubbles), Health (Alternative Medicine, Antivax), Religious (Cults and Crazies), Cultural (Conspiracy Theories), and Political (QAnon, Communism).

He hired Tim Campbell to proof read and edit the book. Before looking for a publisher, he had to submit queries to agents. After receiving rejections from several agents, he ended up self- publishing on Amazon. This required finding someone to design a cover, type setting the book, and uploading the content onto the website. Finally, he needed to market and sell the book through Reddit, Amazon, Facebook, bookstores, libraries, signing events and presentations. Dan then answered questions about the book and the process.

Beth Naughton introduced our newest member, Alison Rempel Brown, President and CEO of the Science Museum of Minnesota. We were encouraged to submit nominations for the Spirit of Rotary Award to Heidi Fisher by June 1. Beth asked for Happy Dollars. Susan Schuster is happy about RYLA. Linda Mulhern reported that we should contact her if we can host international students for 24 hours who are taking Amtrak from the West Coast on June 28, and leaving on June 29. Shelley said she will invite the students to a pool party at her cabin and pool in Western Wisconsin. Karin Ciano asked people to sign up for the volunteer opportunities.

Shelley Rucks made the following club announcements:

  • April 22, 2025 Signature Lunch
    12:15-1:15 pm InterContinental Saint Paul Riverfront
    St. Paul Parks Conservancy, Michael-jon Pease
  • April 29, 2025 Signature Lunch
    12:15-1:15 pm InterContinental Saint Paul Riverfront
    RYLA Lunch, Pete Grayson as your host
  • May 6, 5:01, 2025
    St. Paul Pool & Yacht Club or via zoom 5:01- 6:15 pm
    Program TBD
  • May 13, 2025 Rotation Day
    Rob Thomas, History Theatre

The meeting closed at 6:13 pm.

Lynne Beck

Scribe

Rotary Club Signature Lunch Minutes for April 8, 2025

Greeters: Susan Rostkoski and Bill Collins
Inspirational Minute: Michael-jon Pease
Tech Team: Andrew Vincelli and Rob Thomas

Club President Shelly Rucks opened the meeting with news that former Club 10 Rotarian Carole Kralicek had passed away and she asked for a moment of silence to remember her.
We had one visitor who is considering membership, the new general manager of Saint Paul Town & Country Club, Carl Grandberg. Welcome!
President Rucks delivered a summary of the changes made to our Club 10 By-laws:
  • A new board position has been created, by the title of “Image Officer.”
  • Past presidents of other Rotary Clubs may become eligible to become president of our club after serving one year on the Club 10 board.
  • We will permit a range of directors from 8-to-10, rather than hold fast to a rule that we must have 10 directors at all times.
President Rucks thanked Past President Heidi Fisher and Karin Ciano for their work on updating the bylaws. And the revisions to the Club By-laws passed unanimously with a vote of 29 members.
 
Susan Rostkoski introduced the featured speaker, Dan Tranter, from the Department of Minnesota Health, Indoor Health division. Mr. Tranter spoke on two gasses and one fungi that are commonly found in our homes and can be hazardous to our health: radon, mold, and carbon monoxide.
Radon is the leading cause of cancer in non-smokers in the U.S. Last year, 600 Minnesotans died from radon-related cancer. Primary cause of radon? Uranium in the soil seeps into homes and we breath in the gas. At high levels, it can cause cancer.
Mr. Tranter advised everyone purchase a radon testing kit and test every 5-8 years.
Mold is not as deadly as radon, but it can cause allergic reactions, respiratory problems, as well as eye and skin irritations. Rather than testing for mold, Mr. Tranter advised conducting a top-to-bottom inspection of your house with a moisture detector.
Carbon monoxide was the third household hazard Mr. Tranter discussed. He advises everyone have CO detectors in our homes located near our bedrooms. Ideally you should have one CO detector placed within 10 feet of each bedroom. He said CO detectors are not expensive and readily available online and in hardware stores.
Questions? Call him at 651-201-4601 or https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/air/index.html
 
Lastly, Linda Mulhern said she is looking for two host families for our inbound student from Nagasaki for the 2025/26 school year. Call her if you are interested at 651-698-4488.

Submitted by Carolyn Will
Incoming President Jason Dekeuster rang the Rotary bell at our March 25th Club meeting.  He thanked our meeting volunteers for their service.
 
Past President  Doug Hartford gave an inspirational moment focused on a recipe for happiness and then led our group in the 4-Way Test.
 
Immediate Past President Heidi Fisher introduced guests with two visiting Rotarians from White Bear Lake and the CEO of the Science Museum of Minnesota.
 
Jim Hunt, White Bear Lake Rotarian and member of the District Grant Committee presented a check to Valdi Stefanson for a greenhouse project that we are building in Bolivia.  
 
Dr. Jim Hart introduced our program speaker Dr. Carol Nelson, a White Bear Lake Rotarian who shared a program on how Rotary is fighting malaria.  Her presentation focused on her volunteer work with Rural Health Care Initiative in West Africa; discussed what malaria is and how it affects kids and women along with what Rotary is doing to help fight this oldest and deadliest disease.  This was a very informative presentation and showed how Rotary is impacting lives across the world.
 
Happy dollars were flowing pretty good with several Rotarians celebrating anniversaries and events.
 
Upcoming announcements included voting on club bylaw changes on April 8; Spirit of Rotary applications are due by June 1st; Career Fair on April 17th at Central High School; and service project opportunity on March 28th at the Science Museum.
 
Meeting notes taken by Past President Dave Dominick.

Minutes of lunch 3/12

President Shelly kicked off the meeting at 12:14 with a large crowd, including nearly 50 guests of our speaker, Dean Wegner.

To welcome the extended crowd, we had Michael jon Pease, Susan Schuster, Jason DeKeuster, and John Chandler. Special shout out to Susan Rostkoski, Carolyn Will, and Amanda for assisting everyone with lunch payments and parking validations. It takes a village! Matt and Andrew coordinate the technology for the day. Bob Cardinal provided multiple quotes on the definition and value of love in our lives, followed by the 4-Way Test.

To allow time for our speaker, Shelly asked any visiting Rotarians to stand, both of whom were guests to hear Dean; additionally, she had all guests stand to be recognized and welcomed. She shared a quick introduction to Rotary with a thank you for District Governor Nominee Michael jon for his slides. She highlighted that our District, 5960 has just over 2,200 members in 57 Clubs; we donate $761,000, and impacted more than a million lives last year. Explaining that we are 120 year old organization in over 220 countries that has over 1.4M members, 46,000 Clubs; we have donated $357Million to improving lives, and have impacted over 2.5Billion lives with our Polio outreach. She invited all the guests to take information from the table and come back to join us for another meeting.

Our speaker, Dean Wegner is a Veteran and entrepreneur who once lived in Stillwater and now runs Authentically American living in Nashville. Being from Minnesota, hockey had an important part in his story, including his time at West Point. Dean shared how his experience in the Army along with the book, the Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann, helped set his path and created a desire to do for others. This included adopting a fourth child. His corporate experience at P&G and Mars helped him take a leap to create a manufacturing company to produce high quality clothing that is all made in America. Bringing in many of the audience guests in his story, he clearly illustrated the value of connections and friends in his world, and in the success of his work. He highlighted that he has a discounted price with lower profit for charitable organizations and a goal of replacing China for much of the clothing industry in the US. Due to a glitch in technology, the sound was not working in his presentation, so Shelly will be sending out the PowerPoint to guests, and will include in an email to Club members if you are interested.

Our first 5:01 at the Pool & Yacht Club will be Tuesday, and upcoming volunteer opportunities we highlighted as the clock showed we were running long. Shelly reminded us all that as Rotarians, we take action together to create change in our world and our community.

At 5:15 pm on March 4th, Shelly Rucks, the President, called the meeting to order at the University Club. Shelly thanked the volunteers helping at the meeting, Susan Naughton, was the greeter, Heidi Fisher for her introduction of guests and Happy Dollars, Susan Schuster for the Inspirational Minute and Four Way Test, our amazing IT tech, Matt Majors, and the scribe Linda Mulhern.
 
Susan wanted everyone to know that International Women’s Day will be this Saturday, and she read a stanza from the poem by Maya Angelou called And Still I Rise. She said that we need to be inclusive, because we may find that we are excluded on occasion.
 
Michael-jon Pease introduced Rick Heidick, an Iowan native, with 3 years in the army while in Germany, retiree from 3M and a member of the Stillwater Sunrise Rotary Club who likes to travel. Rick spoke about his 13 trips to Nicaragua and wanted to give the annual update on the LIFT program. It is an evolution from the original Fast for Hope project within our Rotary district which started in 2012. The district wanted to address a need and look at causes of poverty, while fostering within the community a sustainable project to improve the lives of people within that community. He noted that Nicaragua has 6.6 million people of which 500,000 have emigrated to either the United States or Costa Rica due to the political revolution in 2018 and the subsequent crack-down by the dictator Daniel Ortega. The Nicaraguan immigrants have sent back receipts to the country to support their families and it has grown 500% since 2018 and the total receipts account for 7% of the total GDP for Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan government has shut down 5600 NGOs in the country because they are considered subversive. The people are living with overwhelming poverty and 2/3 of all the people live on only $120 per month.
 
The LIFT program which stands for the following:
  • Listen – gather information from the local community
  • Inquire – learn about the community strengths, assets and opportunities
  • Facilitate – scope, launch and deliver programs to enable a community to improve
  • Transform – the LIFT program loves to hear that they are not needed any longer!
Originally the Fast for Hope program from 2012-2021 was able to provide books, Covid care, a community pharmacy, community development and road repair. With the LIFT program from 2021-23, they were able to complete a water system which is owned by the community and with community water receipts, they were able to repair a pump under warranty that had broken down by renting a crane to remove and replace the pump. They have also worked with teenagers who were able to develop a liquid fertilizer, and they have been able to market around Nicaragua. Currently they are working with 10 farmers in the area to grow turmeric, a “natural” aspirin used by people around the world. Unfortunately, due to the political problems in Nicaragua, RI has cancelled all global grants currently and the LIFT program is operating, but on donations to continue using local agronomists to help nurture the farming communities with new crops. Last year, there was flooding and the farmers lost two crops of beans due to the water, while the farmers growing turmeric were able to net $500 which was a windfall. The LIFT program is working with people in Costa Rica to set up a seed bank and they also work with both Nicaraguans and Costa Ricans to help diversify their crops. A RI Global Grant will be used to build the seed bank in Costa Rica and as political changes occur in Nicaragua, they will help additional farmers and potentially set up a manual processing plant for the turmeric. More information can be found on the District 5960 web site about LIFT as well.
 
Shelly presented a certificate to Rick for his time at the meeting and a donation will be made to Youth Leadership in his name. There were a number of Happy Dollars from Shelly, Doug and Pat, Kathy and of course, Doug Bruce!
 
We continue to look for members willing to help at Camp RYLA, which will be April 25-29th this year. We need help with calling clubs to recruit students as well as reach out to parents of the participants for their consent forms. If you are interested, please let Pete Grayson know and we can find an opportunity for you to participate.  It is a great opportunity to work with teenagers about leadership while having fun at the same time!
 
We will also be looking for help with Education Day, the club would like to have members go out to middle schools to show admiration to the selected students and their ability to overcome many obstacles.
 
We will also have a volunteer opportunity at the Science Museum on March 28 from 10 am to 2 pm and a Career Fair at Central High School on April 17th.
 
Our next meeting will be on March 11th with Dean Wegner, the CEO of Authentically American USA and he will be coming with 55 guests that hopefully will consider Rotary as an option for their time, so come early and mix and mingle with the additional guests. On March 18th, we will be meeting at our new 5:01 meeting location of the Pool and Yacht club and Joy McElroy and Monica Jones will talk about the impact of our service project on December 31st and the impact on homeless youth.
 
The meeting was concluded at 6:14 pm.
Linda Mulhern, Scribe.

President Shelly kicked off the meeting just before 12:15 on Tuesday, February 25. She wished all a happy anniversary, announcing that Sunday was the 120th anniversary of the founding of Rotary in Chicago. Appropriately, February 23 is also recognized as World Understanding and Peace Day. St Paul Rotary started nearly 5 years later on February 19, 1910.

We continued with the Pledge of Allegiance and recognizing Susan Rostkoski for welcoming guests upstairs and directing them to our meeting with Laura Nichols Endres greeting us as we arrived. Rob Thomas and Ken Crabb were our tech team.

Michael jon Pease shared inspiration thought featuring the health benefits of stepping away for technology and into the out of doors and areas like our parks. We followed with the 4 Way test.

President Shelly continued the nature theme and shared that Ben Groves, who made 12 butterflies for our Winter Magic, had donated two more and we would auction them with Happy Dollars.

Jason DeKeuster introduced a guest and colleague of Michael jon’s.

Susan Rostkoski and Susan Schuster have worked together and been long time colleagues in previous roles. Known to each as “the other Susan” Rostkoski introduced Schuster for a presentation on her new role, as of November, with AARP’s Wish of a Lifetime. Wish of a Lifetime is a 501(c)3 and was acquired and is supported by AARP. Susan encouraged us all to reflect both on our lives and those we know who may have a “life changing” wish. She shared that the wishes are significant to the individual with opportunities – not “things” – such as connecting with family and loved ones, renewing or furthering passions, or commemorating service. She highlighted that commemorating service is often thought of as military service, yet it can be service such as our service to Rotary.

Wish of a Lifetime was created to spark hope and joy in older adults (65 and older) by fulfilling a hope or dream. The sharing of the stories is found to also create hope and joy in others. They have just granted their 3,000th wish. One of their largest opportunities and partnership is “Cupid Crew” where a rose is delivered to seniors on Valentine’s Day. Over a quarter of a million volunteers deliver roses across the country to nearly 227,000 seniors; nearly a 1:1 ratio! Susan shared examples of stories (check out all stories on the link) including reuniting two sisters who had not seen each other since the Holocaust, helping grandparents meet their grandchildren and see their son’s home for the first time, supporting a WWII vet revisit Kaneohe Bay after 75 years.

Wish of a Lifetime was started, after seeing the strong respect for elders in Japan, in 2008 as an independent organization. The organization became an affiliate of AARP in 2020 and has been

expanding. Susan’s primary role with the organization is to build awareness – which also builds joy and hope. She conducts 90 minute workshops in communities throughout her multi-state region.

It was an excellent and inspiring twenty-five minutes.

Following questions and thanks to Susan, President Rucks shared that our 5:01s are moving from the University Club to Pool & Yacht on March 18th. With the U Club looking for a new owner, the Board voted to move now. At the UClub, our $200 meeting charge had little it brought; at the Pool and Yacht, we will now have $200 worth of snacks provided. The food will continue to only be a snack, it will at least be provided for us and free Amanda from the task.

Jason D collected Happy Dollars and coordinated the auction for two butterflies donated by Ben Groves and brought $60 each to the Saint Paul Rotary Foundation.

Saint Paul Rotary has long considered RYLA and Education Day as our signature projects. There is an opportunity now for everyone to help with these – at a time that works for you. RYLA is currently looking for members who will reach out to 5950 and 5960 Clubs to encourage sponsoring students to attend camp. There is an outline with Q & A and all the details you might need. In early April they will be asking for Rotarians to call parents and complete the consent forms needed. Reach out to Pete Grayson–– if you can assist. There are also needs for counselors April 25-29.

With bussing and meal costs, our Education Day has become too expensive to do as it has been done. Andrew Vincelli and John Kupris have heard from the school district and local middle school counselors that the recognition we have done for middle school students is important and impactful. With that knowledge, reflective of years gone by when our Club delivered dictionaries to third graders in St Paul, two to three Rotarians will represent the Club and recognize these students at a school assembly in front of their peers. More details will be forthcoming; let John and Andrew know if you are willing to assist.

Sign ups were on the tables for these and for assisting at the Science Museum on March 28 and Central High School’s Career Day on April 17.

Our March 11 meeting already has 40 guests scheduled to attend. President Shelly encouraged us all to attend and welcome guests and potential new members. They will have printed nametags if we have received their name prior to the meeting.

We were reminded that Together People Create Change, across the globe, in our community and in ourself and wished a great week until the 5:01 on March 4.

Respectfully submitted

At 5:17 pm on February 18, Past President Heidi Fischer called the meeting to order at the University Club. Heidi led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and thanked the volunteers helping at the meeting:

  • Beth Naughton - greeter,
  • Mark Howlett - Inspirational Minute and the Four Way Test,
  • Micheal-jon Pease - introducing guests and happy dollars,
  • Our tech team of Matt Magers and Ken Crabb,
  • Ken Schaefer - the scribe and
  • Club administrator Amanda Mai.

Micheal-jon Pease led introductions of guests and visiting Rotarians. Beth Naughton introduced multiple guests. Beth Naughton also introduced our speaker. The speaker was Joe Landsberger, a lifelong resident of Saint Paul who has authored a book about the history of Fort Road and West 7th Street.

Announcements:

  • Community Forum covering AI at Scouting’s Base Camp on September 16th, led by Roseville Club with support of Rotary Club of Saint Paul and other clubs.

Happy Dollars led by Micheal-jon Pease that raised funds for Saint Paul Rotary Club Foundation. Heidi outlined upcoming programs and service opportunities.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:10 pm.

At 5:15 pm on February 4th, Shelly Rucks, the President, called the meeting to order at the University Club. Shelly thanked the volunteers helping at the meeting, Carolyn Will, was the greeter, Susan Rostkoski for introduction of guests and Happy Dollars, Joy McEloy for the Inspirational Minute and Four Way Test, our amazing IT tech, Matt Majors, and the scribe Linda Mulhern.
 Joy offered a short and important inspirational minute from the Book of Dares, to dare yourself to stand up for someone who is being bullied and also led the group in the four-way test. We also had cupcakes on hand to celebrate the February birthdays of Karin Ciano, Yvonne Ekdahl, Christoper Taykalo and Michael-jon Pease.
 Shelly introduced Mark Nepper, a former college roommate of Shelly’s husband. He spoke about his book, “Glory Days in the Rear View Mirror”, a novel about life messages as a person moves forward in life. It is his first book after retiring from a career as an English teacher at West High School in Madison. Mark would often ask his students about Ferris Bueller, from the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and what he would be doing as an adult. His students would reply that Ferris would have a fast car and a great job, whereas most of his fellow teachers would state that Ferris would have peaked in high school and not moved forward to an interesting and productive life. The book centers on the character, Cam, as he observes the relationship between his grandfather and father, with flashbacks of high school. Mark wanted people to think about what they had done in high school, what you did or should have done as well as what you did that was forbidden, but you did anyway. Did your life end up the way that you planned? Mark shared many quotes from the book that were very important as well as instructions on how to live your life well. He noted that the characters in his novel use the following mindset of leaning on friends in hard times, there are second chances and family relationships are redeemable.
 Mark noted that writing the book took time and it took 6 weeks of pondering the ending for the book but finally thought of the ending while in a crosswalk and sprinted home to finish it. The title is based on Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen. Mark wrote the book because he had something important to say to his audience. As an author, he noted that you must have a purpose for writing the book and know how to finish it. The most difficult process in writing was to give his characters dialogue that encapsulates themselves versus sounding like himself and it took a while to find that voice for each character. Mark has started another book about a family saga that he hopes will be as good as All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren that he had his high school English students read when he was a teacher.
 The greatest difficulty was learning how to sell his book by using social media to get the word out about the book. Bookstores no longer have author readings done, so leveraging social media to sell the book has been his biggest struggle, although a niece has been happy to help him as directed.
 Shelly presented a certificate for his time at the meeting and invited him back when he publishes his next novel!
Upcoming events include the Polar Plunge on Saturday, February 8th at 1:45 pm in Hudson for Susan, Dana and Karin. They are raising funds for youth programing including Camp RYLA and Rotary Youth Exchange, so please open your wallets for the “Superheros from St Paul” plunge! On February 11th, we will be having our joint meeting with the Minneapolis Rotary Club #9 and Andrea Roffo from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis will be speaking on the US economy and recent policy actions. On February 25th, Susan Schuster, a member of our club, will speak about Wish of a Lifetime from AARP. We continue to look for members willing to help at Camp RYLA, which will be April 25-29th this year. It is a great opportunity to work with teenagers about leadership while having fun at the same!
 
The meeting was concluded at 6:12 pm.
At 5:15 pm on February 4th, Shelly Rucks, the President, called the meeting to order at the University Club. Shelly thanked the volunteers helping at the meeting, Carolyn Will, was the greeter, Susan Rostkoski for introduction of guests and Happy Dollars, Joy McEloy for the Inspirational Minute and Four Way Test, our amazing IT tech, Matt Majors, and the scribe Linda Mulhern.
 Joy offered a short and important inspirational minute from the Book of Dares, to dare yourself to stand up for someone who is being bullied and also led the group in the four-way test. We also had cupcakes on hand to celebrate the February birthdays of Karin Ciano, Yvonne Ekdahl, Christoper Taykalo and Michael-jon Pease.
 Shelly introduced Mark Nepper, a former college roommate of Shelly’s husband. He spoke about his book, “Glory Days in the Rear View Mirror”, a novel about life messages as a person moves forward in life. It is his first book after retiring from a career as an English teacher at West High School in Madison. Mark would often ask his students about Ferris Bueller, from the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and what he would be doing as an adult. His students would reply that Ferris would have a fast car and a great job, whereas most of his fellow teachers would state that Ferris would have peaked in high school and not moved forward to an interesting and productive life. The book centers on the character, Cam, as he observes the relationship between his grandfather and father, with flashbacks of high school. Mark wanted people to think about what they had done in high school, what you did or should have done as well as what you did that was forbidden, but you did anyway. Did your life end up the way that you planned? Mark shared many quotes from the book that were very important as well as instructions on how to live your life well. He noted that the characters in his novel use the following mindset of leaning on friends in hard times, there are second chances and family relationships are redeemable.
 Mark noted that writing the book took time and it took 6 weeks of pondering the ending for the book but finally thought of the ending while in a crosswalk and sprinted home to finish it. The title is based on Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen. Mark wrote the book because he had something important to say to his audience. As an author, he noted that you must have a purpose for writing the book and know how to finish it. The most difficult process in writing was to give his characters dialogue that encapsulates themselves versus sounding like himself and it took a while to find that voice for each character. Mark has started another book about a family saga that he hopes will be as good as All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren that he had his high school English students read when he was a teacher.
 The greatest difficulty was learning how to sell his book by using social media to get the word out about the book. Bookstores no longer have author readings done, so leveraging social media to sell the book has been his biggest struggle, although a niece has been happy to help him as directed.
 Shelly presented a certificate for his time at the meeting and invited him back when he publishes his next novel!
Upcoming events include the Polar Plunge on Saturday, February 8th at 1:45 pm in Hudson for Susan, Dana and Karin. They are raising funds for youth programing including Camp RYLA and Rotary Youth Exchange, so please open your wallets for the “Superheros from St Paul” plunge! On February 11th, we will be having our joint meeting with the Minneapolis Rotary Club #9 and Andrea Roffo from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis will be speaking on the US economy and recent policy actions. On February 25th, Susan Schuster, a member of our club, will speak about Wish of a Lifetime from AARP. We continue to look for members willing to help at Camp RYLA, which will be April 25-29th this year. It is a great opportunity to work with teenagers about leadership while having fun at the same!
 
The meeting was concluded at 6:12 pm.