submitted by Linda Baldwin; photos by Donna Beestman & Jim Christensen
Our annual Rotary Scholar Mentor Picnic was held on Sunday, June 23, at the home of Nancy and Ed Young. Moving from one side of Lake Monona to the other, Nancy and Ed treated scholars and their mentors to a terrific afternoon in the Community Room at Nolan Shores condos.
Our club has a terrific group of scholars, and I had the opportunity to talk with a few. One, Lisa Xiong, a 2016 Levy Family Scholar from East High School, a senior studying biomedical engineering, had been to four picnics, loved catching up with other mentees and enjoyed meeting new ones.
Cassidy Ferguson, a 2018 Brandenburg Scholar from La Follette High School, is studying early childhood education at UW Stevens Point. She loves the smaller school learning experience and we chatted about One City Schools, our Rotary sponsored project. I encouraged her to visit the school while in Madison this summer.
I also talked with Ahyun Chung, a 2019 McBeath Scholar from Middleton High School, who is studying engineering at UW-Madison. We talked about climate change with her mentor, Karen Kendrick-Hands. I left the event uplifted and impressed with these young people and the others I met. I’m confident that their generation will change the path of history for the better…
The tacos were terrific and we ate on recyclable plates with recyclable forks. Our thanks to Ed and Nancy Young for hosting our group and thanks to Rotarians who brought food and beverages.
Rotary Club of Madison, Wisconsin 