Kee-Notes

Weekly Newsletter of the Kiwanis Club of Bethesda, Maryland

Serving the Community Since 1945

Meeting Date: June 18, 2009

President Jim Leder opened his last meeting as President.  Ben Schlesinger led the Pledge and Bernadeen Zivkovic led us in My Country 'Tis of Thee.  John Walker gave the prayer.  It was great to see the return of Shira Oler and Ben Schlesinger.  Jeanne Smith introduced her guest Monica Ashok who was one of the winners of a $1,000 scholarship awarded by the Foundation.  Monica is a senior at Blair High School and will be attending the University of Maryland with a major in Bioengineering.  Bernadeen Zivkovic introduced her guest Julie Cheng who is an intern at the YMCA with Bernadeen.  Julie is also a student at Blair High School.  She was born in the United States and has lived in China. 

Announcements:

•     June 25, Thursday - No Meeting

•     June 25-28 - Jim Leder and Bernadeen Zivkovic will attend the 94th Annual

•          Convention in Nashville, TN

•     July 2, Thursday - Roundtable Luncheon at Tragara

•     July 8, Thursday - Club meeting with Dr. James Flood as speaker

•     July 12, Sunday - Mid-Montgomery County Charter Day Brunch (details to follow)

•     July 23, Thursday - Meeting @ Tragara

•     July 30, Thursday - Roundtable Luncheon at Tragara

Our club will have a service project at Camp Friendship on Sunday, August 2.  We will convene at 4 p.m., help serve dinner and register campers, and stay for the circus performance which was made possible by our donation of $4,500  to Camp Friendship.  Jim Leder announced that the camp will be relocated at the end of August to Aberdeen, MD.

We had a discussion about our annual fundraiser--the 36th Annual Golf Tournament held on September 25 at Bretton Woods.  Our club does not make much money from the fees that golfers pay.  Ninety percent of the profit comes from the ads in the program, sponsorship of holes and greens, and the Silent Auction.  We will have a full lunch and buffet dinner.

President Jim Leder presented a generous grant from the Kiwanis Club Foundation to Bethesda Cares.  The amount will help keep children from becoming homeless. Bethesda Cares' eviction/utility shut off prevention program assists Montgomery County families facing eviction or utility shut-off with a grant to help pay their bills and stay safely in their homes.

President Jim Leder presents a check for $5,500 to Susan Kirk, Executive Director of Bethesda Cares. Guest Julie Cheng is welcomed by President Jim Leder.  Julie is serving as an intern for YMCA.  She is a student at Blair High school.

2008-2009 Presidents Jim Leder and Jeanne Smith, pose with Monica Ashok, one of the two scholarship winners from Blair High School. The other winner is Kiera Zeitelman who is presently spending six weeks learning Arabic in  Morocco. Both Monica and Kiera will be attending the University of Maryland College Park next year.  Monica is planning to major in bioengineering and follow a pre-med track. NEWS FROM PRINCETON UNIVERSITY    ...and from the 2008 Teenager of the year--William Cody Burton-- I got my final grades in for this semester: an A in The Ethics of Human Enhancement, an A in Advanced Physics (Electromagnetism), an A- in Analysis in Several Variables (math for math majors!), and a B in Political Laughter, my writing seminar.  I was also invited into the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, which is composed of the top 20% of students academically for freshman year at Princeton.      At the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad, I have been promoted to a "3".  This means that I am able to take charge of patient care, and my next task is to learn to drive the ambulance!  Now that I'm back in Montgomery County, I'm continuing to volunteer on Sunday nights through Monday mornings at the Sandy Spring Volunteer Fire Department to give back to my local community.      As a summer job, I have already started a research position at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).  I'm working in the Process Measurements Division, Pressure and Vacuum Group, under Dr. Robert Berg.  Right now, I'm calibrating a gas flowmeter, with the goal of being able to measure the viscosity of neon gas.  Currently, theorists are able to calculate the properties of helium gas from first principles, but neon, the next simplest gas, is still too complex.  I hope to work toward this understanding experimentally - learning new things about the world is always exciting!