At our last meeting we met Yakelin Castro our 2020 Rotary Club of Bluffton Interact Scholarship recipient. Yakelin was the President of the Interact Club at Bluffton High School last year. I had the pleasure to speak with Yakelin a few months ago when she won the scholarship. She is an inspiring young woman who says she was given the gift of giving back to the community from her time with Interact and collaborating with Rotarians. She especially enjoys Math and Science, and her long-term goal is to become a doctor. As of this Fall, she attends UCSB.
Yakelin has a long list of accomplishments—too many to list, but here are a few. She is a member of the National Honor Society, Alpha Theta (National Math Honor Society), the Spanish Honor Society, the Science Honor Society, and she was a member of the Bluffton High School Girl's Varsity Tennis Team and on the Student Council. She has used her leadership skills to help start a fundraising committee at her church to help Hispanic families in need. Of her future--she says she sees herself helping people who are in need and may have lost hope. She says she wants to give them back hope. We wish her all the best with all her goals and future endeavors--and most especially to restoring hope to those in need.
We also heard from Wil Saleeby who presented our strategic plan. The new Rotary Club vision statement is: The Rotary Club of Bluffton is respected and engaged in our community with a diverse and vibrant membership committed to the ideal of Service Above Self. Our Strategic Priorities are threefold. 1) Member Recruitment and Engagement, 2) Leadership Development (Succession and Transition Planning), 3) Service Projects and Community Relations. The complete strategic plan is available for all club members to review in Club Runner.
Carol Branch updated us on the Arts & Seafood Festival Beer Sales. We had approximately $1000 in sales and $300 in tips.