District Governor International President
Gary Benmark John Kenny
Springfield, TN Grangemouth, Scotland
Rotary 2009 - 10
The Future of Rotary Is in Your Hands
April 23, 2010
Today,
we welcome a Group Study Exchange Team from Rotary International District 2430 of Turkey. The team consist of 5 members.
Sedef Ozcan, Rotarian and Team Leader, she is self employed as an ESP tutor.
Dilek Senturk, she is owner/manager of MOD7 Educational Center that prepares students for university entrance exams and standardized tests.
Eda Yasa, a lecturer at a university and on the faculty of Economics and business Administration. She has an MBA and is working on her PHD dissertation "The relationship Between Consumer Satisfaction and Service Quality Values of Hospitals.
Sevda Ozcan, a Language instructor at the American Cultural Association Language School. She is also interested in archaeology.
Gutay Yildiran, a Music Leturer at Nidge University, his specialty is as a classical guitarist.
The team has had a busy past week, as they have visited several Rotary Clubs in Middle and West Tennessee, experiencing the culture of the area, as it relates to their individual vocations, and to receive in depth tours of District 6760 points of historical, commercial and public interest. They have visited clubs, including Savanna, Lawrenceburg, Murfreesboro, Columbia, Brentwood, Nashville, Martin, here today then it’s on to Greenfield, Brownsville, Dyersburg, and Jackson.
Next week, Union City Rotary welcomes Randall Phillips, Director of research for Union University.
Randy has had a diverse career as evidenced by clinical and professional service in human services, business, higher education, community involvement and professional associations.
He is heavily involved in his Community and surrounding area, as he is a member of Jackson Downtown Rotary, and a Paul Harris Fellow. He is also Charter originator of a Union City School System Foundation, founding board member of Obion Co. Chapter Habitat for Humanity, former member of Board of Trustees of Union University and former board member (STAR Center) rehabilitation service center serving children, teens and adults with intellectual and physical challenges/limitations.
On the Human Service side of his career, Randy is also a Licensed Marital and family Therapist and Licensed Professional Counselor/MHSP, Clinical Member AAMFT Approved Supervisor. He has supervised a variety of medical and mental health professionals in highly profitable services
Last week, Stephen Vaden, a graduate of Union City High School, Class of 2000, was on hand. Since that time he has had a storybook experience, graduating from Vanderbilt University, and then on to Yale, graduating from that school in 2008.
Stephen said Mr. Houston invited him to come and speak about his experiences in law school, his experience with the Federal Court and what he had learned from it. He said, in thinking about what he would speak about, he was reminded of a trial that was in Federal Court not too long ago. He said it was not very exciting at first, it included, plaintiff, a defunct furniture store, defendant, a furniture company. The basic dispute revolved around the furniture store owner had agreed to let the company essentially tell him how to run his store, testing new market ideas and new merchandise, in return the furniture company would provide to him a subsidy. The plan didn’t work out and it ended up in federal court. The Pre-Trial Negotiations didn’t work out, and shortly before the trial began the furniture company approached the owner of the store and offered 1 million dollars to drop all claims. The offer was declined and the dispute went to trial. The trial lasted 2 days, the jury deliberated and gave the Judge the verdict. The Jury found for the defendant and the plaintiff received nothing.
"What we should learn from that trial was, if someone offers you a million dollars, TAKE IT", he said. "No matter what happens afterward, you will always be happy you got the million dollars", he said. In other words the chance the furniture store took didn’t pay off.
The above took Steven to his subject "the role of chance in the law and the role of chance in all of our lives", and the way it affected the decisions he made in deciding what career he wished to pursue. He gave us some interesting points of what it took for a person to be accepted into Yale Law School, and his personal experience toward that goal.
He ended by saying, his success at Yale came from things he learned here at Union City High School, preparing yourself for your goals, whatever they may be, will work throughout life.
Coming Attractions
