Selinsgrove Area Rotary Club
Rotary Newsletter
Rotary Opens Opportunities
Vol. 93, No. 20 – President – Dan Mahoney – Editor – Carol Handlan

No Meeting – November 26 – HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Next Meeting – December 3 – Mary Peterhaensel, host. Program TBA via Zoom. Zoom will be opened  at 12:00 noon, 10 minutes prior to start of our meeting.

Nov. 19, 2020: 17 Rotarians and 1 guest joined us via ZOOM, to hear Dr. David Richard, Professor of Biology at Susquehanna University speak to us about what the university has put in place to keep the SU community safe. Professor Richard’s specialty has been years of research and study of the fruit fly. He also heads the Global Opportunities GO Program and has been fortunate that he, himself, has been able to take students to Australia and Nepal. In addition to those responsibilities, he was asked by President Green to be the Coordinator of COVID-19 for the campus.  They asked the question “what can we do to keep everyone safe”. Letting science drive the process and looking beyond the basic of social distancing, washing hands and wearing masks; which are all extremely important, they also looked at the ventilation system, and staggering opening. Bringing back freshman, then seniors and then sophomores/juniors; which allowed for them to get a better grasp on testing which had been problematic.  They established multi testing methods, one is waste water sampling with 13 testing stations, collecting samples every two days with samples every 5 minutes in a 24 hour period. If positive results, then those individuals, in that building/dorm would be tested and quarantined if necessary. They also have rapid testing in place. All of the individual testing methods are extremely expensive; ranging from $25 to $150 each and done on an ongoing basis. In addition, tents were erected on campus to provide for outdoor classrooms another very expensive move but they are scaling back, as many places are, because of winter weather coming and the tents can not withstand heavy snow. It will also poses a significant concern as we move indoors. The semester is coming to an end and there are only a few students actually still on campus. The semester break will allow staff to take a much needed reprieve and will also allow time to review and analyze the COVID-19 processes and determine any necessary changes before the semester starts in January. Dr. Richard remains optimistic with the vaccine and its 95% effectiveness (with the new technology this is the fastest a vaccine has been developed) and that perhaps maybe this time next year we may be back to not having to wear masks. Credit has to be given to the faculty and staff for their ability to adapt and cope during these challenging times on campus. Very interesting program.

Announcements:  1) Dottie Anderson, installed Jodi Cope as our newest Rotarian. Jodi’s sponsor was Melissa Laniewski 2) Marv Rudnitsky shared that he asked Dan Mahoney and Dottie Anderson to join him in interviewing two candidates for our outbound youth exchange programs.

Sergeant at Arms:  Marv Rudnitsky provided a bit of humor and collected happy fines from Marv (Raven’s surgery), Carol( speaker and Jodi), Art (Birthday fine, Raven, SAHS soccer), Melissa (Jodi), John (Raven, Jodi), Dave (speaker, Jodi, leaf raking of Rotary field)

Future Programs:
Dec. 10 – Pam Ross of Snyder County Libraries is the speaker. Mike Flock is the host. Via ZOOM.
Dec. 17 – Holiday Luncheon, host Art Bowen.  TBD
Dec. 24 – No Meeting – Happy Holidays
Dec. 31 – No Meeting – Happy Holidays
Jan. 7 – Bob Bertram, Host. TBD

Birthdays:
December 4 – Kristen Horten, 7 – Bob Bertram, 8 – Cheryl Stumpf & Charlie McCuen, 10 – Marv Rudnitsky, 23 – Dan Mahoney, 30 – Dottie Anderson

Quotation: “A diamond is a chunk of coal that did well under pressure” – Henry Kissinger