Westwood Village Rotary Club

Rotarian Peter Lattey spoke to us about the Rotary Kenya Water Project.

Wendy Caldwell is a lecturer in vocal coaching and music performance at the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA. Wendy and her husband, Don (former director of the Caltech Glee Club), introduced recent UCLA graduate Diego Dela Cruz, who provided musical interlude for our Thursday luncheon.

Our speaker, Steven Salas, is a Public Information Officer (PIO) for the California Highway Patrol (CHP). Officer Salas spoke to us about: - History of the CHP. - Role and area of responsibility of the CHP in CA - and in West Los Angeles. - Patrolman Salas' duties as public information officer. - His perspective on increase or decrease in crime on the westside. - Steps the public can do to mitigate being a victim of crime.

Domenico Fabrizi was our speaker today. Domenico is a Doctoral Student in Economics at UCLA (to graduate with his PhD next week). His research interest is on empirical industrial organization and pricing, with a focus on the airline industry. He will join Catolica-Lisbon, School of Business and Economics, as an Assistant Professor in the Fall.

Mark Casanova, Executive Director of Homeless Healthcare Los Angeles, tells us about his organization.

Lieutenant Colonel Don D. Sheppard has served as the Professor of Military Science at UCLA since July 2023. He was born and raised in Alexandria, Louisiana. His awards and decorations include the following over a 17-year career: Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (2OLC), Army Commendation Award (2OLC), Army Achievement Medal (2OLC), Valorous Unit Award, Meritorious Unit Commendation, National Defense Services Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal (2 stars), Iraqi Campaign Medal (1 star), Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, NATO Medal, Combat Action Badge, and the German Armed Proficiency Badge (Gold).

PP Diane Good, just back from the Paris Marathon, shared with us her experience. Rotaractor Angel Fuentes also recapped his adventure - the District 5280 Humanitarian trip to Ecuador.

Steve Cooley was the Los Angeles County District Attorney from 2000 to 2012. At his 2000 swearing-in ceremony, he charged his over 1,000 prosecutors - including more than 300 District Attorney investigators and 600 clerical, technical and support staff - to "show no fear in pursuing the criminal element, but also be fearless in the pursuit of justice." In 2010, Cooley won the Republican nomination for California Attorney General but lost that election in a close race to the Democratic nominee, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris.

Our first "hybrid meeting," with PP Tom Barron hosting trivia, fun facts, famous quotes, and more.

Our speaker today was best-selling author Kenneth R. Timmerman who has spent his career investigating the dark side of national security. Over the past four decades he has interviewed dissidents behind the Iron Curtain, covered numerous Middle East wars, interviewed suicide bombers, debriefed defectors from Iranian intelligence organizations, and covered the plight of Christians persecuted for their faith.

Steve Cottom and his daughter, Lindsey Clarke, are potato seed farmers (their family owns 25,000 acres) from Dillon, Montana. The Cottoms have been doing this for 90 years.

Mary Michlovich is Executive Director of OPICA. As the first Adult Day Program and Counseling Center in Los Angeles, OPICA (Optimistic People In a Caring Atmosphere) has been serving adults challenged with memory loss and their families in the West Los Angeles area for more than 41 years. In 1984, with help of then-Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, a recreation facility in Stoner Park was transformed into OPICA's current quarters. In 2006, Mary Michlovich joined OPICA as its Executive Director. She brought with her more than a decade's worth of experience in working with seniors as well as a passion and vision for a center that consistently provides professional and compassionate staff, a supportive environment and innovative programming to meet evolving community needs. Today, OPICA provides comprehensive programming specifically focused on all stages of memory loss in a nurturing environment. Offerings include cognitive stimulation activities, such as therapeutic art and music, brain fitness, counseling, education, and The OPICA Brain Train early memory loss program.

"The Mouse that Roared." Opening Rotary to women. RC Duarte vs Rotary Intl. Sanford Smith is the lawyer that sued Rotary International in 1977 when his Rotary Club of Duarte had their club charter revoked for admitting women as members. After a long hard fought battle through the State judicial system he ended up in 1987 before the United States Supreme Court with a victorious ruling. For a bit more Rotary history, have a look at the eClub of Silicon Valley's excellent program with Sylvia Whitlock, the first woman president of any Rotary Club.

Past Rotary Scholar and UCLA student, Bruno de Sa Moreira, is CEO & Co-Founder of HISTOVERY. The company says this about its services: "Our service is unique, global, and evolves to meet your needs - from editorial design to operational maintenance and analysis of visit data. We help with communication and management of your cultural site." Take a look at their website - https://histovery.com/en/ - it is fascinating.

Today's speaker, Jennifer ("Jen") Levy runs City Greens Farm, an educational, non-profit farm where produce is grown in a refurbished shipping container turned into a hydroponic farm. The non-profit will be partnering with the West Los Angeles Veterans Association to oversee the education and planting of the VA gardens onsite by and for Veterans. She describes herself as "an educator and environmentalist turned farmer, explorer and water conservationist."

Born in Beverly Hills, Shea Pitts decided to attend UCLA because his mom and dad both attended and it is in a location that sets himup best for success in his major. He lists the biggest thrill in his athletic career as making a tackle for a loss, causing a fumble, and recovering the fumble all in the same play. His dad and grandpa both played in the NFL for the Packers; his dad played football (defensive back)at UCLA (1981-84) for coach Terry Donahue and was a member of Bruin teams which played in the Rose Bowl following the 1982 and 1983 seasons. Shea earned his undergraduate degree in Political Science and is currently enrolled in the Transformative Coaching and Leadership graduate program.

Former Rotary scholar Pranav Amin was our speaker today.

The Emerson School Speech and Debate Team is back competing in person and they shared with us how they have been doing.

Joe Cannon took a look at some of the recent changes in how we create and distribute energy and provided insight into what to expect in the coming years.

President Chris recalls his trips to Singapore and Vietnam.

Gail Smith gives her craft talk.

PDG Cozette Vegari spoke to us about human trafficking.

Miss California 2022, Catherine Liang, was today's speaker. Liang was born and raised in Sonoma County and was the first woman from the city of Windsor to be named Miss California. In 2014, Catherine served as Miss Sonoma County's Outstanding Teen, sparking her start through the scholarship program journey. Catherine then went on to represent the state of California as the first runner up at the national Distinguished Young Women of America competition in Mobile, AL in 2017. This earned her over $38,000 in scholarships for higher education. Catherine is a 4.0 Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of Southern California Class of 2021 with a B.A. in International Relations Global Business and a minor in Piano Performance. Catherine's future scholastic endeavors include the Schwarzman Scholars master's and leadership program.

The James Webb Space Telescope represents one of the most staggering combined feats of science, technology, and engineering in human history. From its inception in the mid-1990s, to its launch into space on Christmas Day 2021, more than 10,000 people collaborated in making this extraordinary instrument. Immediately fulfilling its promise, the Telescope is now giving astronomers - and the public worldwide - astonishingly detailed, beautiful new images of our cosmos. Dr. Mulchaey discussed the secrets that these images are revealing, and new clues to the Universe that the Telescope is unlocking.

Dan Taylor is a former award-winning television sportscaster and the author of five books. He will discuss his latest, “Walking Alone, The untold journey of UCLA Football player Kenny Washington.”