Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Dragos Kruze Hooked Us with his Reel-Life Fishing Tails

Wednesday, August 29  - Casting the big fish stories to the Cedar Falls Kiwanis Rough Risers was Dragos Kruse who is the fishing specialist from the Scheels Sporting Goods Store.  What lured us into his tails  was the scale of the different way to fish for the big ones.  

Dragos shared a fishing observation: 
Most people make the mistake of fishing the way they want to fish but the fallacy of that is that you need to fish the way the fish want to be fished. 

Using the right kind of gear and knowing where the fish are during that time of season will get you winning results.  Such state-of-the-art lures such as the Whopper Plopper will work during certain times of the year to catch Moby Bass.  

Dragos shared some good places such as Volga Lake near Fayette, Iowa and a small stream between Webster City and Fort Dodge will land you the trophy hauls. Legendary out-of-state places for bass fishing is near Lake Fork, Texas.

Thanks for showing us how to hook a fish and reel 'em in, Dragos.

Written by Lynn Barnes and Leigh Zeitz

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Rushton Hurley Beams-in from San Jose

Wednesday, August 22 - Today we had a unique opportunity to video conference with Rushton Hurley from San Jose. While we were connecting with him early in the morning at 7:00 AM CST, Rushton was bright and cheery even though it was 5:00 AM PST.

Leigh began the program part of the meeting with a Pun-search of the program posting online to see who won the "How Many Puns on the Page" context.  Cindi Hahn won the award. This was followed by the main attraction, Rushton Hurley from San Jose. 

Video conferencing with Mr. Hurley goes to show you that the Cedar Falls Kiwanis Rough Risers Club will "go to any distance" to provide amazing speakers for our programs.  This week we enjoyed connecting with Rushton Hurley. The only catch was that Rushton lives in San Jose so we "Zoomed" him into our meeting. Zoom is a video conferencing tool - similar to Skype but MUCH better. 

Rushton is a Kiwanian where he goes to face-to-face meetings, but he is also a member of the Rotary e-Club of Silicon Valley. This club uses technology and innovation to facilitate club meetings online.  San Jose is so large and busy that it is virtually impossible for members to rendezvous in a central location in a timely fashion; so they conduct their meetings online on Mondays using a video conferencing program, Zoom. 
Their programs are recorded using Zoom as well so they have speakers from all over the world. They can record them any time of the day or night and they post them on their website for their members to review them at their convenience.
Rushton is a High School Japanese Language Educator in the San Jose School System.  Since he meets his Kiwanian members online, it frees him up to also belong to another service club of Rotarian fellowship.  The main fundraiser for his Kiwanian Club is an area wine tasting event that they host and it is very well received.

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Carole Gustufson and Cedar Valley's Promise are Making a Difference!!

August 15, 2018 - Our greatest resource for the future is our children.  Cedar Valley’s Promise sets the tone and the environment to enhance the methodology in nurturing our communities children.  Effective education makes for kids future job skills and develop the needed attributes to be future leaders.  

Carole Gustafson, Director of the Cedar Valley Promise Program, was enthusiastic as she shared her experiences in social work and, more importantly, her experiences in leading CVP for the past year. She began by presenting the 5 Goals CVP has developing and sustaining our children as productive citizens.  

  1. Children are supported and nurtured;
  2. Children are safe;
  3. Children are healthy;
  4. Children are learning; and 
  5. Children are leaders.
She then shared how her organization is working to achieve each of these goals. 

This kind of support help keep families off of welfare; because the CV Promise Program shows them that somebody cares enough to help develop them into contributing members in society.

Thank you for sharing, Carole.   You are making differences in childrens' lives.

Written by Lynn Barnes

Sunday, August 12, 2018

August Brings Thoughtful and Adventurous Programs



Wednesday, August 1 - Business Meeting Where active club members discuss their accomplishments and plans for running and developing the Rough Risers. 
  
Wednesday, August 8 Global Collaboration Projects that Connect Your Kids to the World
Dr. Leigh Zeitz, Instructional Technology professor at the University of Northern Iowa, will share his 30-year adventure of connecting students to the world through Global Collaboration.  He will begin with his adventures in East Los Angeles and recall his connections with Malaysia, China, South Africa and Japan.  Stories will be heard of Iowa students changed their lives by collaborating with students in other countries.  Dr. Z will finish by touring through the Write Our World program which enables students to write multilingual e-books about their lives and make them available to the world.


 Wednesday, August 15 - Cedar Valley's Promise is Making a Difference!
Carole Gustafson, Director of Cedar Valley's Promise, will share the accomplishments of the CVP.  This program is a grassroots movement to improve the lives of our children through community-wide involvement. It connects parents, neighbors, businesses, governments and youth-serving organizations to provide all children with the support, assets, and resources necessary to achieve their fullest potential. It is dedicated to the health and safety of our children as well as developing their leadership skills for the future. 

Wednesday, August 22 - Connecting Kiwanis Across the Nation
Rushton Hurley, Member of the West San Jose Kiwanis Club, will Zoom with us from his home in San Jose.  Although it will be 4:30 AM in his house, Rushton is excited to tell us what they are doing out on the west coast.  He will also share an innovative meeting strategy that he created with his Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley (yes, he belongs to both) where the club exists online.  They don't actually meet in a synchronous manner.  The presentations are recorded and posted.  The members connect with each other online through their website. Rushton is an imaginative man and it will be exciting to spend some time with him to hear what he has accomplished as well as share our successes.

Wednesday, August 29 - Fishing Like There's No Tomorrow - Let's Get those Bass!!
Dragos Kruse, Fishing Specialist at the Cedar Falls Scheels, will hook you with his stories of angling adventures.  Dragos shell lure you into his watery world with his tails of finny happenings. On a scale of 1 - 10, this will be an 11. Make sure you don't flounder or leave it to salmon else. If you can't make it, let minnow

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Dr. Z Shares Global Collaboration and How He has Connected Students throughout His Career

Wednesday, August 8 - Education is always changing and one of our own Kiwanians, Dr. Leigh Zeitz,  is on the cutting edge using technology to enhance the minds of kids in school through “Global Collaboration.”  

Dr. Z has been connecting students with others around the world since the mid-80s. They have been working with other students in Japan, South Africa, China, Russia, and even Connecticut.  They have learned about other ways of life, cultures, and languages.  

Connecting our kids to the world and other cultures is not just about meeting new peers. Working with learners of other countries can enable learners to better understand the world. They are able to crosstalk about the world with others through experience rather than just hearsay.  

Dr. Zeitz shared a project that he has been promoting called Write Our World.  This is an opportunity for students with other native languages to write e-books about important things in their lives.  They write their stories and illustrate them with drawings or photographs. Their writings are then translated into their native language.  They record their stories in both languages and create multi-lingual books that share their stories in both audio and textual format.  Visit Write Our World  to read some of these books.

We live in a Global Society today and engaging in Global Collaboration is the best way to develop skills for today and tomorrow.

Written by Leigh Zeitz and Lynn Barnes