Speaker: Barb Pitchford, Executive Director of Professional Learning and co-founder of The Core Collaborative. Barb spent more than 30 years teaching and leading in the Aspen School District. She has been the principal at Aspen High School, Aspen Middle School and Aspen Elementary School. She now travels the U.S. and the world teaching teachers to teach more effectively. She has recently worked in Panama; Australia; Ferguson, Missouri; Lake Washington, Washington; and Sugarland, Texas. Her premise is based on three main things that work to improve education in today's schools. They are that teachers are the by far the most important aspect of education; that students improve most rapidly through self-assessment; and that there must be a collective teacher efficacy based on shared beliefs. Teachers must create the educational environment that encourages the student to ask "Where am I going", "How am I going" and "What are my next steps". Barb says that "We know what works and what good teachers do".
Sgt. at Arms Jon Kelly presented the "thought for the day" which involved some background on Memorial Day and a quotation from President Harry Truman, "America was not built on fear, America was built on courage, on imagination, and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand."
Raffle: Doug Peckham not only bought the winning raffle ticket but then drew the Queen of Hearts and won the jackpot. He then, very generously, decided to reinvest his winnings into the Aspen Camp Happy Bucks fund. Thanks Doug, an Aspen Rotarian through and through!
Happy Bucks: Robin Smith is happy about he new Ducky Derby T Shirts which have gone to print and the new souvenir ducks we will be selling at the tent; Jeanette Darnauer is happy that while attending her PR Boutiques International conference in San Francisco she was given a behind-the-scenes tour of the Facebook headquarters; Justin Barrow and Doug Peckham were happy to have helped paint the Deaf Camp cafeteria; Norm Batcheldor drew our attention to Memorial Day and its history; Craig Melville, Kurt Adam and Susan Gomes put Penance Happy Bucks into the basket since they away during the Aspen Camp weekend; Kathy Klug is happy that her daughter graduated from the U.S. Army Air Assault School; Pat Marquis is happy that her Mother is moving to Aspen; John Keleher, Deborah Breen and Todd Brewer were all happy to have been involved in the work weekend. That's a bunch of happiness folks!
Guests: Barbara Wickes, guest of Steve Wickes; Jason Taets, guest of Dwayne Romero; Mardell Burkholder, guest of Craton Burkholder; Tania Gallegos who was the recipient of a Rotary scholarship when graduating from Basalt High. She expressed her gratitude to Rotary and was the guest of Susan Gomes; Susan O'Neal, visiting Rotarian from Washington D.C. and her guest (next week's speaker), Kayce Anderson; Jennifer Allen, again hosted by Emily Burr; Danielle Arca again hosted by Christina King; Shaun Hathaway, guest of Ashton Hewitt; Michael Connelly, guest of Jeanette Darnauer and several future Rotarians hosted by their parents Deborah Breen, Peter Waanders and Robin Smith.
