Today’s meeting was called to order by President Dawn and Rick Ingram led us in our patriotic song.  The membership then proceeded to recite the 4-way test.

We held a moment of silence for our beloved longtime member, Agnes Reading who passed away yesterday.  Our extraordinarily kind, funny, committed member and frequent writer of weekly meeting notes will be sorely missed.

Barbara Niess May provided our inspirational message today and spoke about the value of not only being in nature, but actual movement in nature.  The challenge of a race, for example, when the grueling parts give way to the light at the end of the tunnel.  Public service often follows these same concepts, while the work may be different, working together it brings lasting results.  Let’s continue to be “people in motion.”.

Our song leader today was Jim Irwin and his backup chorus singing a version of a UM fight song, sung to the tune of Home on the Range.

We welcomed six guests today, including a Danish exchange student who is attending Community High School in Ann Arbor.  We had good wishes for two members who have upcoming birthdays this week.

President Dawn thanked all the Rotarians helping with today’s meeting: Rona Hu, Melissa Foster, Bob Mull, Rosemary Rowney, Tom Millard, Rob Shiff, Don Deatrick and Pattie Katcher.

Announcements

Brandon Black promoted the GPO, letting us know that the GPO auction website is handy to use and easy to see and bid on items.  Use your phone or use a2rotary.org to navigate to the website.  Several trips are being auctioned this year!  Marlena Struder also reminded us of the GPO 50/50 raffle, which as of today has reached $2,000.

Interested in being a Rotaract mentor? Dennis Powers and Mary Steffek Blaske are able to help!  Mentors are paired with UM Rotaract students and mentors are there to listen, provide support, advice and asked to commit to 1 hour per month.  Reach out to Dennis or Mary if you are interested.

Continuing his presentations on the history of Polio Plus, John White reminded us that Rotary International joined the fight to eradicate polio in 1979. In 1985, RI created PolioPlus which was geared towards fighting not only polio but other childhood diseases, clean water and sanitation and humanitarian aid.  In 1988 a partnership of several agencies was announced and in 1994 the Americas were considered polio-free!  Today, Rotary and the Gates Foundation have committed $450 million to extend the program.

From Phys Ed to Kinesiology

Larry Gray introduced today’s speaker, Victor Katch, whose talk was titled Kinesiology – An emerging field of study.  Dr. Katch, who retired from UM’s School of Kinesiology 10 years ago, was a UM professor for 43 years. His presentation took us through the history of Physical Education (PE) in general and at UM. In early days, training in PE was a combination of physical skills classes, administration and teaching.  It evolved to be college professional degree that is cross-disciplinary and ultimately the study of individuals engaged in movement or performance.

At UM in the early 1900s, the program was part of the Department of Physical Education and Athletics. Over time, this field of study has developed into what is now called kinesiology, a term that better describes the science of movement. Today, the School of Kinesiology is the 4th largest UM school and is the #1 Kinesiology PhD program in the U.S.  Half of their graduates progress to programs in medicine and allied health, while the other half move into employment in sports and entertainment management, teaching, and coaching.