Professor Guillaume Teasdale presented our Club with the Kulisek award, Sara Alves spoke about her life in Brazil and Mary Zugcic introduced herself to the Club with a very interesting "This is my Life". 
 
What an honour: Guillaume Teasdale, History Professor at the University of Windsor, presented our Club with the 5th annual Kulisek Prize for our Centennial Museum Exhibit held throughout 2 rooms at the Chimczuk Museum last year. Named after Dr. Larry Kulisek, a long-standing and highly esteemed professor of history at the University of Windsor, the award recognizes work being done to preserve the history and heritage of our area. Peter Hrastovec, co-chair of the history sub-committee of the Centennial, accepted the award and spoke about the project, thanking Professor Teasdale for recognizing Rotary Club of Windsor (1918) for this important project that featured not only our Club, but also our sister Clubs throughout the area as well as Rotary International. Peter thanked the late Megan Meloche, our archivist who worked so hard and turned the project into “something profound and magical”, without whom this award would not have been possible. He also thanked History Committee Co-Chair Anil for his enthusiasm and Maureen Lucas, Centennial Committee Chair, for her support.
 
Youth Exchange student Sara Alves gave a great presentation about her life in Brazil! She spoke about her friends and family (she has 3 older brothers who also went on Rotary Youth Exchanges), and touched on interesting facts about Brazil, her Rotary District (4521) and Rotary Club. She lives in the State of Minas Gerais, located in the Southeast of Brazil. Her Rotary Club of Sete Lagoas Serra was founded in 2005 and has 34 members. Some of the projects of her Club include “Banco De Rodas” which raises money to buy wheelchairs, “Educando Para O Bem Nascer” which helps promote health education to pregnant women and "Um Comodo A Mais”, a project aimed at improving living conditions of people within their own homes. Sara is also involved in her Interact Club of Sete Lagoas. At the end of her presentation, she handed out cute and creative keychains made of felt with brazil flags – thanks, Sara!
 
Member Mary Zugcic gave an excellent “This is my Life”, tying key aspects of her life to world events for reference. For example, she was born in 1953, which was also the year Salk first announced his Polio Vaccine findings! She referred to herself as the “poster child” of the Baby Boomers. She grew up in Detroit and studied Nursing at University of Michigan between '71 and '75. She’s had an incredible career, starting as a nurse in New Orleans, traveling to Liberia as an instructor and going on to Battle Creek as a nursing administrator. She returned to Michigan where she was the Head Nurse at Henry Ford Hospital, and returned to U of M for a Masters in Medical Surgical Nursing. She also taught at Wayne State University as a Clinical Instructor. Mary married and immigrated to Canada in 1987, had a son in 1989 and officially become a Canadian Citizen in 2004. She’s now settling into her retirement, and has goals of travelling, volunteering, taking classes at the University and just exploring the city!
 
Rebecca Rivard spoke about the Easter Seals Paper Egg campaign, with funds raised helping to support children in need of assistance in our area. For more information on how you can help, please contact Rebecca directly at rrivard@easterseals.org
 
 
Sushil Jain’s invocation, in Sanskrit, “Parasparopagraho Jīvānām”, refers to the fact that “all life is bound together by mutual support and interdependence”.
 
 

Click here for more pictures from this meeting (courtesy of Gordon Drake)