Oct. 3, 2024
President Tim Tholen called the meeting to order and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Lon Lawton provided us with a thoughtful Invocation.
Club Anniversaries: Rusty Macy - 22 yrs Oct 3rd; Doug Nelson – 23 yrs Oct 4th
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
This week’s Greeters were the Club’s member of the Ecology Committee.
Donna Eddy passed away on September 28th and was the wife of Past President Chuck Eddy, who died in 2019. Donna was as much a part of Club 13 as Chuck, attending almost all events when Chuck was the entertainment committee chair and President.
Marc Horner noted that October is KCRC Foundation month. The KCRC Foundation covers approximately 75% of the camp’s expenses. During October, individuals can become Foundation Fellows with an $800 contribution with the remaining $200 balance being matched!
Ted Higgins reminded us a Hits for Haiti, a pickleball tournament at Homestead Country Club on Saturday.
David Hanzlick updated the Club on the Regatta’s financial results with Gross receipts of $36,000, which increases to $54,000 when including in-kind receipts. Congratulations to Tom Woolwine’s committee!
UPCOMING EVENTS: BRING A GUEST !
Oct 3rd - Bolte Beer & Brat Bash – still room if you want to attend
Oct 24th - World Polio Day Social at Minsky’s (Silent Auction)
Nov 9th - District Foundation Dinner
Nov 19th - Project C.U.R.E. -service event (more details to come)
UPCOMING EVENTS & MEETINGS:
Oct 10th - Kyle Hollins, Lyrik’s Institute
Oct 17th - Evan Verploegh, International Relations Council
Oct 24th - No lunch meeting – 4th Thursday at Minsky’s Pizza
Oct 31st - Tim Caniglia, The Future of the Country Club Plaza
PRESENTATION:
Jorge Velez introduced our programmer speaker, Enrique Chi, who was born in Panama and grew up in KC. Enrique Chi became a musical sensation, with awards including the 2017 Latin Grammy and a 2012 N.P.R. Best Song.Enrique works in both languages, Spanish (Panama, his birthplace) and English, combining America rock with Latin music. Very importantly, Enrique believes in Giving Back. Initially he thought he had to wait until he became a big success before he could get involved. But, he saw video’s of other entertainers, who were not big stars, giving back to their communities. That changed his perspective/timeline.
The “Give Back” began with community activation. Enrique put together a single one week music camp for 12 year olds at the Mattie Rhodes Center (cost $20, included lunch for eight hours for six days). Since the kids came in with widely differing levels of musical and instrument skills, the Program went a different way, i.e. Song Writing, which became the Rebel Song Academy (RSA) and Arts as Mentorship.
In response to our youths’ mental health crisis, RSA was rooted in mental health, with an Arts Therapy prospective. For a kid, signing up for Rebel Song Academy is much easier than signing up for mental health therapy. Song writing gets the participant over to Critical Thinking and Creative Design.
As an authentic way to help, the initially modest 1 week program grew into 7 weeklong programs and then into 12 Rebel Song Academy in 2024. The Rebel Song Academy is rooted in mental health and community building. Its curriculum was developed in partnership with Sherri Jacobs (author & licensed therapist) to develop Social & Emotional Learning, Critical Thinking, and Creative Design.
OUR CURRICULUM: There are 12 modules. Each has a transferable real-world skill and mental health principle intertwined with the musical lesson. For example, week #1, “Ready, Set, Write!” is a lesson on design thinking, goal setting and anticipating challenges.
The 12 modules are:
1. Ready Set Write 2. Pick Your Path 3. The Hook 4. Own Your Story 5. Three Chords and the Truth 6. It Takes a Village 7. The Magic 8. Refine Your Sound 9. Add More Color 10. The Release 11. Build Your Audience 12. Showtime
The modules feature:
CREATION: Harness the fundamental creative spark
ALCHEMY: Find the right elements to make the magic
RELEASE:Design an intentional plan to share your creation
EXPERIMENT:Enter the lifelong journey of building authentic audiences
OUR IMPACT: [measurable Brain Scan (ERG) Results]
We partnered with a neurofeedback technician, Tyler Mark, to track the physiological effects of our programming with the following KEY FINDINGS:
- Reduction in stress brainwaves (high beta) over the temporal lobe. This amounted to a 68% normalization in the primary “qeeg” marker for anxiety.
- Averaged a 24% normalization of brain function across all brain regions in every brain frequency.
- Averaged a 32% normalization in brain function in the frontal lobe
In the video, the Club saw brainwave response Before RSA (Rebel Song Academy) and After RSA. The brain scans showed fundamental (healthy) changes. Music’s healthy mechanics releases biologically internally generated dopamine.
THE LAB:
RSA students record and release their songs in The LAB, our custom-built studio located at the Inter Urban ArtHouse in Overland Park, KS.
-35 original students’ songs written; -RSA students assisted in scoring the music for a film featuring Grammy Award-winning artists, Steve Berlin and Mireya Ramos, and a nationally recognized podcast, “Inadmissible”.
Through the LAB, a work force development project, the kids have created a festival, “CELEBRATE AMERI’KANA”, a Music & Arts Festival, celebrating the origins, legends, and diverse colors of American music. The National Endowment for the Arts has granted to us $135,000 to hire a full time director for one year. [Really we need for it to a 3 year term for proper “onboarding”.] The Kauffman Foundation has contributed $12,000.
The program concluded with our own Rotary Club 13 audience interactive project of creating lyrics to the beat of Bruce Springsteen’s popular song “Dancing in the Dark”.
You can view and listen to Enrique's PowerPoint presentation here.
Today’s Quote: “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” Bob Marley
Tim Tholen wrapped up the meeting with the Four Way Test.
[as an ongoing scrivener’s note: our local Club 13 Rotary organization is comprised of at least three interrelated groups (like a three-legged stool), each with its own separate board, officers & primary focus. KCRClub 13 comprised of various committees and weekly luncheon meetings with speakers; KCRCFoundation primarily focused on financially supporting the Club 13’s Rotary Youth Camp; and the Rotary Youth Camp*, near Lake Jocomo, at 22310 NE Colbern Road, in Lee’s Summit, MO 64086] (* Rotary’s oldest continuous ongoing project in the world!)
