Posted by Nick Aroutzidis on May 18, 2017
May 25, 2017:  Ryan Stokes “Black Swan Brewery”.  John Wright will introduce our speaker and Doug Thompson will thank our speaker.

Head Table:  Our President Kevin Silver, invites, John Wright, Philip Schroeder, Jim Scott, Diane Sewell, Brent Shackleton, Ron Shaw and Gordon Sherwin, to join him at the head table.
 
 
This Week:  On May 18th the Rotary Club of Stratford hosted the Honour Students from the three secondary schools in Stratford.  President Kevin opened the meeting by providing some background information about Rotary, Interact and Rotaract.
 
 
Past President Wendy presented a Rotary Moment by listing the many projects and achievements of the Rotary Club of Stratford, both locally and internationally.  Alas, the list was much too long for this poor scribe to keep up.  It was a proud moment for all Rotarians in attendance to reflect on the many services that we contribute. 
 
Rotarian Al Wakelin gave a toast to the students, ending with the advice from Lord Byron:  “Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves.”  Al urged the students to never be slaves.  Al had previously asked the students at his table to score his performance.  At the conclusion of the toast, all of them awarded a perfect 10, except for the French judge who gave a 6.
 
Ben Laurin, Megan Rauser and Vanessa Ortelli brought greetings on behalf of St. Michael, Northwestern and Central, respectively.
 
 
The guest speaker was Rotary’s very own Katelyn Aitcheson.  Her topic was “[Advice] to my younger self”.  Katelyn began her presentation by announcing that she had recently celebrated three milestones:  her 33rd birthday, her 5th work anniversary at Sun Life, and her 10th anniversary of graduating from university.  She commented that “we age not by years, but by stories” and used that approach to deliver her speech through anecdotes. 
 
Katelyn was born and raised in Stratford.  She attended St. Michael’s high school and realized that her parents’ strategy was to keep her so busy in hockey and other activities that she would have not time to get into trouble.  It worked. 
 
Katelyn completed her last two years of high school at Taber School in Boston.  Her parents dropped her off on September 10th, 2001, or one day before 9/11. 
 
While at Taber, Katelyn expanded her interests in sports to include not just hockey, but also rowing and sailing.  And that is how she learned her first major lesson:
 
1:      Hard work does not go unnoticed.
 
Katelyn was disappointed to make the hockey team as the left wing on the third line.  She had always played defense and was upset that the coach has selected others for that position.  However, she realized that she did not work hard enough in practice and was determined to do better.  Three weeks later she had an opportunity to redeem herself when another player suffered an injury.  The coach reassigned Katelyn to defense because he had seen how much harder she was working and wanted to reward her for it.
 
1a:    A supplemental lesson is that when you move into your school dormitory and your parents offer to help you unpack, let them.  Katelyn turned the offer down and it took her six weeks to do it herself.  (Which leads to the question that everyone was wondering, but no one asked:  If Katelyn had already waited six weeks, why not wait another few months and save the bother of repacking?)
 
2:      Get out of your comfort zone.
 
Katelyn quickly realized that she and her university roommate had nothing in common.  The roommate had never played a sport in her life and was not much fun at anything.  For some reason, the roommate decided to try playing rugby.  Surprisingly, she excelled at it.  She became the captain of the team and it changed her life dramatically.
 
3:      Don’t worry so much.
 
Since Katelyn’s graduation, no one has ever asked her about her marks in high school or at university.  Nor has anyone ever asked where she ranked amongst her class.  For her first several years she tried her hand at many different jobs, (much similar to Paul Harris), and learned that she loved to teach.
 
4:      Play to your strengths.
 
When she was 27, Katelyn became a Financial Planner and joined Sun Life.  She loves that she is able to teach her clients about financial planning as well essentially running her own business. 
 
5:      There is no need to grow up.
 
We tend to spend too much time waiting for thigs.  We yearn to be older; then to have our own home, then to make more money, or to have a better job.  It is better to simply enjoy whatever stage of life we are at. 
 
6:      There are no bad decisions – just good stories.
 
No explanation needed.
 
7:      The world owes you nothing.
 
Katelyn was disappointed with her first job that she was not promoted to Vice President within the first year.  With a little bit more maturity, she has realized that everyone needs to take a step back sometimes and reflect on what they have achieved in life.  Take the time to enjoy wherever you are. 
 
Katelyn was introduced by Rotarian Elizabeth Gaffney and tanked by Rotarian Fadia Mankal.
 
Scribe:  Steve Lichty
 
 
 
 
Draw: No Draw this week.
 
Make-ups: Dave Hunt, May 16 at the FCRC.
 
Hello Everyone!
 
I would like to invite you to a wonderful evening of food and entertainment at the Huron Country Playhouse on Thursday, August 31, 2017 beginning at 5:30 pm
 
We will be having a gourmet dinner catered by F.I.N.E. A Restaurant (http://www.finearestaurant.com/).  Erryn Shephard and her team served a fantastic meal last year and she has something special in mind for us again this year.  Following dinner, we will be treated to a fun evening of theater brought to you by Drayton Entertainment:  One for the Pot.  If you have never been to Huron Country, trust me, it's fantastic entertainment.  Here is a small synopsis of the show:
 
A seemingly endless string of mistaken identities, unrequited romances, and hilarious confusion cause this bubbly farce to boil over in a bevy of laughs.
 
Billy Hickory Wood must prove to a rich mill owner that he is the only surviving child of a late business partner in order to claim an inheritance. Unfortunately, his efforts are complicated by the arrival of a horde of other claimants – each of whom professes the same identity and should be the rightful beneficiary.
 
Surrender to the silliness of summer with an outrageous comedy that will leave you in a wealth of hysterics.
 
You could also invite non-Rotarian friends to come along as well.  Car pool, stay overnight, make a day of it, you will have a great time.
 
The cost per person is $90.00  which includes the dinner and theatre.  By the way, we have some of the best seats in the house thanks to our friends at Drayton Entertainment and this year we will be in the more intimate Playhouse II.
 
Please let me know as soon as possible if you would like tickets.
  
Thanks,
Fritz Steigmeier
 
 
May’s Attendance Committee:   Katherine Hahn (I/C), Maryanne Cox, Rena Orr, Gord Steed, Colleen Brown, Kevin Nonomura, Ed Dujlovic, Mimi Price.
 
June’s Attendance Committee: Brent Shackleton (I/C), John Carruthers, Gary Lingard, Paul Siberry, Doug Page, Pat Feryn, Jerry McEwin, Lisa Breault
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