District Governor International President
Larry Boyd Dong Kurn Lee
Brentwood, Tennessee Seoul, Korea
Rotary 2007-08
Make Dreams Real
February 13, 2009
Today,
This year marks the 28th year that the Union City Rotary Club has awarded scholarships to students from Obion County. The Rotary Club International was founded in 1905 with the first club in Chicago, Illinois and has since grown worldwide to include clubs in 167 countries with 1.2 million members. Members of the Rotary Club are a diverse group of professional leaders working to address various community and international service needs and to promote peace and understanding throughout the world. The Union City Rotary Club was chartered September 2, 1936, and now has approximately 140 members. In 1982 when Gus White (one of our charter members and past district governor), passed away a trust fund of $10,000 was set up for a scholarship in his memory. Then another Rotarian, Mr. Hardy Graham, started a trust fund for scholarships with a $1,000 donation. In 1983 Old & Third National Bank (now Commercial Bank) had a trust fund that had been left in a will for scholarships; the trust officer, John Pylant, asked if they could join with the Rotary Club to make the processing of applicants easier, and thus, began the Union City Rotary Club Scholarship Program.
The Union City Rotary Club Scholarship Program is divided into three categories. The first is the traditional Rotary Scholarship that was began in 1982 and is available to graduating seniors from Union City High School, Obion Country Central High School and South Fulton High School for post-secondary education at qualified colleges, universities and technical schools. The second category is for upper classmen in qualified colleges, universities and technical schools who are residents of Obion County. Both of these first two categories are privately funded by donations and endowments from business and individuals from Obion County. Third, is the Verhine Scholarship fund, endowed with $3,500,000 from the F. Fern Verhine Trust, which is available only to upper classmen in qualified colleges, universities and technical schools who are graduates of Union City High School.
In 2008, businesses and individuals from Obion County donated $100,000 during the annual scholarship drive, and an additional sum of $32,150 came from interest earned on endowments given over the years by many generous contributors. We are certainly thankful to all these donors for their interest in giving back to the community because without them there would be no scholarship program.
Since 1982 the Union City Rotary Club has helped over 2500 students from Obion County and awarded $3,274,035 in scholarships. In 2008 the Union City Rotary Club awarded 233 students a total of $300,150 in scholarships.
Scholarships from the Union City Rotary Club are awarded primarily on the basis of financial need; however, there are a very limited number of scholarships based on scholastic achievement and/or study in a particular field. The scholarship committee always considers financial need first and the students are ranked according to this need; then, for high school seniors, the committee must give consideration to the student’s interview and third, any special requirements of the donor’s scholarship are considered to determine the final award selection.
The Rotary Scholarship Committee is chaired by Roger Williams and includes members Steve Vaughn, Newell Graham, Gary Houston, Bob Regen, Ron Green, Clint Joiner, Barry Keathley, Al Creswell and Dave Schlager. Many other Rotarians give of their time to help make this program the huge success that it is.
Enrollment for Union City Rotary Club scholarships is currently open until April 17, 2009. Applications can be obtained from the Union City Rotary website at www.unioncityrotary.org . To be eligible for a regular Rotary Scholarship you must be a resident of Obion County, currently be a senior at Union City High School, Obion County Central High School or South Fulton High School, or an upper classman in an accredited university, college or technical school. Eligibility for a Rotary Verhine Scholarship requires that you must
have graduated from Union City High School and will have completed at least one year of post-secondary education at qualified institution by the time the scholarship money will be awarded.
Applicants are encouraged to print and keep a hard copy of their application, but this year no hard copies of documents will be accepted by the scholarship committee. All applications must be completed online and all supporting documentation requested must be scanned and attached to the online application electronically. Failure to submit the required documentation will result in that application not being considered. Any questions about the application process should be submitted by email to info@unioncityrotary.org.
Also on today’s program, Dr. E. Jerald Ogg, Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts will address Rotary and relate to the benefits of the Scholarship Program offered by Union City Rotary
.
Next Week, Dr. Stan Dungan, Assistant Professor of Geology at UTM, will address Rotary and discuss the New Madrid Seismic Zone and the earthquakes which have happened in the past and what the future holds for this area.
Last Week, Rotarians were again entertained by Dr. Paul Marsidi, and much to the demise of some of our members, he had pictures of the Komodo Dragons in the wild and kept the audience fully entertained by pointing out some of the similarities the Komodo Dragon had with some members of Union City Rotary.
Dr Marsidi also shared some beautiful underwater film which he made while scuba diving in the "Coral Triangle", one of his favorite places in the Pacific Ocean, coming within touching distance to some very large sharks, to which he showed no significant fear, as far as the film could determine. He also came into hand contact, feeding and touching some very large Sea Turtles, of which he said showed no fear of humans whatsoever.
He pointed out on a global map the location of the Komodo Islands, which he said is about as far away as you can get from the United States. In his film he had various animals of the area, but the Komodo Dragon was the most feared, because though these animals have no poisonous bite, the bacteria in their mouth was lethal, as the infections you could get from a single bite was virtually untreatable because you would sustain so many different infections.
Coming Attraction
Feb. 20 - Dr. Stan Dungan - UTM Earthquakes in the New Madrid Seismic zone
Feb. 27 - Union City Police Chief JoeGarner
Mar. 05 - Ladies Night
Mar. 13 - Kid’s Day - Larry Mink, local Magician will be entertaining
Mar. 20 - Jo Ann Speers - Update on the Airport
