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The FOGHORN
ROTARY CLUB OF HALF MOON BAY
February 22, 2018
Every Students Roadmap to Higher Education
Jennifer Williams Taylor
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Article by Richard White
Photos by FD Bobko
The speaker today was Jennifer Williams Taylor, the title of her talk was “Every Students Roadmap to Higher Education”
Jennifer is a highly qualified educator. She has worked at Stanford and Santa Clara Universities in College admissions and accumulated extensive and exclusive insight into the college admissions standards at top universities. Based on all these 10 years of experience, she founded Avalon College Advising. Currently she runs this business, in which she advises and counsels high school students on helping them make the right choice in further education. She considers this the greatest job in the world for her: she gets to work with students at the moment that they are making critical decisions about what sort of college they should apply for.
Jennifer is a highly qualified educator. She has worked at Stanford and Santa Clara Universities in College admissions and accumulated extensive and exclusive insight into the college admissions standards at top universities. Based on all these 10 years of experience, she founded Avalon College Advising. Currently she runs this business, in which she advises and counsels high school students on helping them make the right choice in further education. She considers this the greatest job in the world for her: she gets to work with students at the moment that they are making critical decisions about what sort of college they should apply for.
Jennifer gave an excellent slide presentation that set out to demystify the whole process of choosing and applying to colleges. She encourages students to really look inwards and decide what in their hearts they really want to do. Given economic realities, grades and standardized test scores, four-year college degrees may not make much sense for quite a few students. In these cases, two years at a local Community College can be a good choice, which keeps open the chance of attending a State College subsequently. Even so, for most students there is a wide variety of colleges available to choose from (over 2800 in the USA). This is going to mean exploring quite a few colleges and finding the best fit(s). If choosing a 4 year degree, then there is the general choice between a liberal arts or a research college. It’s important to calculate the real cost of the 4 years of college, which can finish up being a very intimidating figure. There are all sorts of scholarships and financial aid available to help deal with this, which can make the ‘net’ price tolerable. Jennifer believes in starting early and has a process which begins with the first year in High School as a Freshman. For each of the four years in High School Jennifer laid out exactly what should be done. The importance of college essays and extracurricular activities was emphasized. November/December of their Senior year is the most stressful time for students with all the applications going in by this date.
There was a lively Q and A session after Jennifer’s talk. There was a complaint about the sheer number of applications which are typically submitted and the associated cost. Given the vast number of applications received by popular schools, it was questioned whether they were all seriously evaluated. Jennifer, who has participated personally in the application review process assured the audience that every single application was carefully examined. She also agreed that students can be coached to improve their SAT scores.
February 22 , 2018 Meeting Recap
Article by Arancha Casel
Photos by FD Bobko
Greeters: Past President Irwin Cohen and Brian Lee
Inspirational Thought: Words of wisdom read by Brian Lee quoting Robin S. Sharma: “Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It's about impact, influence and inspiration. Impact involves getting results, influence is about spreading the passion you have for your work, and you have to inspire team-mates and customers.”
Pledge of Allegiance: PP Dianne Bobko
Guests and Visitors
Jamie Weintraub of Main Street Scholars and today’s speaker Jennifer Taylor and Dave Andrews’ friend Diane Passen. and John Evans grand daughter.
Happy/Not So Happy News
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Kevin O’Brian gave thanks for all the good-wishes for his wife. Her elbow was broken from a fall, and she had surgery to implant screws in her elbow.
Warren Barmore announced that Polio is on its way to being fully eradicated from the world and will be considered so if for three consecutive years no new cases are reported anywhere. The Gates Foundation is still matching Rotary’s contributions in this effort.
Ralph Ely : “Life is like space travel” and he is only 12 hours away from completing his 74th trip around the Sun! Tomorrow will be his birthday, and we celebrated at the last Rotary meeting.
Dave Andrews shared news of Honorary Member Eric Shapiro, and his mother who is ill at home.
Irwin Cohen reminds us of the importance of Rotary to nurture and create relationships of importance
Rosi Fontana drew our attention to an excellent and very powerful article on gun violence in the latest issue of the Rotary Magazine.
Announcements
The Pacifica Rotary is moving to a new venue, Warren tells us, and they are in need of volunteers to help with painting, starting February 23rd. Warren can connect those interested with the President.
Mitone Griffiths reminded us of the upcoming Learning and Leadership Development Assembly on March 17th at the Redwood High School in Larkspur. It is completely free but requires online registration There will be a carpool form Half Moon Bay. This meeting is specially good for new Rotarians but all members will benefit from the classes. So far Warren, Mitone and Liz are attending.
Renee Lewis announces there are still 20 tickets available for the Año Nuevo Elephant Seals tour on March 31st.
Good news! The Dictionary giveaways are completed, almost 300 3rd graders got a dictionary - every single 3rd grader in every school in Half Moon Bay.
Community Free Breakfast will take place next Wednesday, and volunteers are needed for the 6 a.m.and 8a.m. time slots. It is always at the Lutheran Church and run by Abundant Grace Coastside Worker. We participate on the last Wednesday of every month. Duties include chopping vegetables and keeping the visitors company.
Youth Service training to become a counselor will take place April 20th to the 22nd.
PP Liz Schuck reports that Magic on the Coastside still needs volunteers to help with tickets. Also, to help select a band for the evening, she asks that people go to the American Legion in Princeton on Friday at 8 p.m. to listen to the band being considered.
Exchange Student Update
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Warren Barmore plays a video of a young man from Canada who has been an exchange student for 6 months & claims that the experience changed his life.
There were no exchange students at this meeting, but John Evans provided an update on Louise and Rafa, this year’s exchange students.
John met Louise’s parents at the airport, who are here for a two week visit. Rafa is traveling in Southern California this week.
Marble Drawing
President Elect Paul Wrubel reads the last three numbers, and the winner is Dwight Wilson, who draws a green marble!
OH, no luck this week, Dwight!
President's Closing Message
President Warren announced the following upcoming events:
- Next Thursday the speaker will be Wendy Lama of KharmaQuest Eco Tourism
- March 16th is the next Board Meeting
In closing, he reads a message from RI President Ian Reisley, "The work we do makes a difference in people’s lives!"
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REMINDERS
Our Monthly Rotary Day at the Community Free Breakfast (held at the Lutheran Church will be Wednesday, MARCH 28. Please sign up for a shift for future days (last Wednesday of each month.)
Rainy Day Project for the Homeless - Rotary Assignment Shana Reilly-Pond and Liz Schuck are looking for volunteers to man the rainy day shelter for the homeless at a location next to the Lutheran Church. The Shelter will be open in the mornings on rainy days so the homeless can dry off, put on dry clothes, etc. Various charitable organizations on the Coastside will be manning the shelter.
OUR SPEAKERS and PROGRAMS for MARCH
3/15 St. Patrick Day feast, Offsite at Cameron's
3/22 Rotarian Shop Talks: Arancha Casal & Dianne Bobko
3/29 Speaker: TBA
PHOTO GALLERY
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