May 23, 2019: Don Ewert (Better Ways to Age Well in Perth County. Some Reflections), Ken Nesbitt will introduce, and Wendy Wilkinson will give thanks.
Head Table: Our President Paul Roulston, invites, Ken Nesbitt , Basil Hurst, Dan Kane, John Kechnie, Bryan Lapier, Bill Lemmon and Steve Lichty, to join him at the head table.
Today at Rotary: The annual Honour Student Banquet was held tonight at the Stratford Rotary Complex. Very capably chaired by President Paul and well organized by the Honour Student Banquet Committee, under the leadership of Rotarian Sue Wakelin.
Honor Student Banquet Committee Chair Sue Wakelin with President Paul and guest Speaker Andrew Chung.
Our speaker this evening was Andrew Chung, the general manager of London Symphonia and artistic director of the Inner Chamber, which is entering its 10th season this fall in Stratford. Andrew was born and raised in Stratford and graduated from Stratford Central Secondary School in 1994. He enrolled at Queen’s University, Kingston where he earned a degree in civil engineering. Upon graduation, he followed his heart to the University of Toronto where he began a degree in Music Performance. After one year at U of T, having met his future wife, they returned to her homeland of Australia. Andrew continued his music studies there, eventually playing professionally at the Sydney Opera House. After nine years in Australia, Andrew and Nicole and their two children returned to Stratford where Andrew has been a free lance musician for the last twelve years.
In spite of the fact Andrew does not feel ‘older and wiser’, he chose to share four ‘lessons’ that he has learned along the way.
As he graduated high school, Andrew felt a great sense of pride in his school and in his classmates. When he looked back at Stratford after some time away, he was able to appreciate it as a home base and the home of many of his biggest supporters. When they returned from Australia, they intended to live in a larger centre to make it easier for him to find work. However, once he had been here a few months, they decided to stay in Stratford. Roots can be very important.
Learn the best way for you to learn. Listen in class. Ask for help when you need it. Don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself. Your school will want you to succeed and will provide resources to help you. Don’t be afraid to use them.
Keep an eye out for the surprises along the way. There are many ways to reach your goal. Andrew has come to realize that his engineering background has been very useful in his career as a musician. He worked hard to get his musical technique back after abandoning the violin as a young teen but he soon understood that his life skills were very well rounded compared to his classmates who had devoted themselves to nothing but music. While not advocating dropping out of school and fleeing the country, and much to the chagrin of his parents, Andrew believes that the unknowns are not a bad thing and that things can turn out well. There are no wasted experiences!
Be a good person. Be honest and truthful. Look for ways to contribute to your community. We need to do what we can to make the world a better place.
Andrew was introduced by Sue Wakelin and thanked by Wendy Anderson.
Scribe: Wendy Anderson
Rotary Complex Hall at Honor Student Banquet
Entertainment by Stratford Central Jazz Band lead by Ms Paula Ortelli
President Paul with North Western Principal Emma Watt and Rotarian Ralph Robinson
Greetings from 3 schools Toby Massingham from St Michael, Micaela Vancea from Central and Ben Roth from North Western
Make-ups: No report.
May’s Attendance Committee: Gord Steed (I/C), Ed Dujlovic, Kevin Nonomura, Mimi Price, Katherine Hahn, Colleen Brown, Wendy Wilkinson, Steve Weed.
