July 9, 2012
The program speaker was Anna C. Dragsbaek, President/CEO, The Immunization Partnership, who became aware of the critical role that vaccines play in the health of a community when she worked in a rural hospital as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone, West Africa.  Watching children suffer from vaccine-preventable diseases, such as tetanus, measles and polio, was an experience that left a deep impression on Anna.  She has been published in several peer reviewed journals, including Pediatrics, and has received numerous awards, including the Healthcare Hero award from the Houston Business Journal.

President Musial presented Pam Ugalde (right) $500 each for Girl Scouts Troops 7640 and 7363.

District 5890 District Governor Chris Schneider (right) visited the Club and gave a brief overview of his plans and objectives for the District.


July 16, 2012
Club member Rosemary Lengefeld, Executive Director of the Edgar A. Smith Family YMCA, led a thank you program featuring children and staff members from the YMCA.  Rosemary noted that 77 kids were in the day camp and brought 8 of them and two team leaders with her.  Rosemary and staff members, Andy Pham and Amanda Hernandez, gave a brief overview of the activities at the YMCA and the kids did a couple of dances.  The children made thank you cards for the Club members.

Club members Bob Wren, Al Ligrani, Nanci Rutledge, and Dick Kidder, also Chairman of the Board of Directors at the YMCA, gave testimonies about their experiences over the years about the YMCA. Senior VP of Association Advancement, David Snow also attended.


July 23, 2012
The 20th Excellence in Public Safety awards were presented to 5 outstanding law enforcement officers by Constable Phil Sandlin and the Excellence in Public Safety Committee consisting of Phil Sandlin, Chair; Kippy Caraway; Rafael Lugo; Marilyn Musical (not present); and Art Wood (not present).  The program started with bagpipe music being played while the color guard brought in the U.S. Flag.  The officers were Stephen Antley, League City Police Department; Philip A. Shaffer, Houston Police Department; Christofher Yetter, Harris County Constable Precinct 8; Walter Hammann, League City Police Department; and Vahid Rabat Jafari, Houston Police Department.  Committee Chair Sandlin recognized officer Philip A. Shaffer as the Law Enforcement Officer of the Year.  The officers each received a Certificate of Distinguished Service, a brass star inscribed paper weight, and $600.  Officer Shaffer received an additional plaque and $600. See group picture.


July 30, 2012
The first Club Assembly was conducted under the leadership of President Marilyn Musial and members of the Board.  The program covered Academic Scholarships, Meal on Wheels, EarlyAct, Interact, Rotaract, RNASA, Rotary Youth Exchange, Shrimporee, District 5890 Conference, Membership, Rotary International Foundation, Space Center Rotary Club Endowment Foundation, Senior Citizens, Fellowship Golf, Rotary Youth Leadership Award, ShelterBox, and Communities in Schools.  Assistant District 5890 Governor Lisa Faith Massey was also present. 

Emily Norman, (left) outbound student, was given Club banners to exchange with Clubs that she will visit in Belgium.  Delores Hestdalen , (left) of the Bastrop County Rotary Club, exchanged her Club’s banner with President Musial.  RNASA President   Rodolfo Gonzalez (second from left) recognized three Club members Bob Wren, Gary Johnson, and Philip Harris, (not present).

August 6, 2012
The program consisted of a presentation by District 5890 Governor Nominee: Lisa Faith Massey.   The topics were Rotary Theme for 2012-2013, District 5890 Leadership Team, District 5890 Goals , Calendar of Events, and Resources.

Stan Galanski gave an overview of a new grant to provide water project for the people along the Nicaragua/ Guatemala border.  It will cost about $50,000 and will take about 6 months.

Sheryl Berg presented a large layout of the Landolt Pavilion showing all the Shrimporee activities and the assigned club members.  She is encouraging everyone to participate.  She is offering 3 weekends at her place in LaGrange, Texas to the top three baskets.

August 13, 2012
Dr. Brenda Hellyer, Chancellor San Jacinto Community College, was the speaker.  She spoke on the following subjects: History of Community Colleges, Quality of Education, Our Students – Who are they? and What’s new?: Bond Construction Projects, New Programs, and Legislative Session.

August 20, 2012
New member Richard Sarpong received his red badge material and introduced to the Club by District 5890 Governor Chris Schneider and Mike Cornett.  Richard is the first new member for the Rotary Year.  Sheryl Berg introduced inbound international student Juan Martin from Argentina.  Jon McKinnie noted that the Club Runner is now the primary Club web site.  President Musial asked Kippy Caraway to share with the members  her new professional position.  She resigned as Treasurer of the Club because of this new position.

District 5890 Governor Nominee and Assistant District 5890 Governor Lisa Faith Massey introduced District 5890 Governor Chris Schneider.  Governor Schneider recognized Jerrold Dewease (left) with an Above and Beyond pin for his work on the Club’s history.  He continued with a dynamic talk on his plan for the Rotary year.  He suggested that the Club have on Peace Forum since the Rotary International theme is Peace Through Service.  He recognized the military veterans and thanked the Club for contributing over $426,000 to The Rotary Foundation.  He mentioned that the District web site was available and that web netting would be possible soon.  He said Rotary was focusing on a One Rotary Approach such as polio eradication.  This is very important to Rotary because it focuses on the youth which is the future of Rotary.  The success of Rotary will be for the clubs to return to its core value of taking care of one another.  Be concerned about each other, start a buddy system to check on those who don't attend.

He challenged the members to remember when they went from being  just a member to a Rotarian and to share her or his testimony to potential new members.  This will do much more to encourage new members than statistics on Rotary.  He again said we must involve the youth in our activities, “ future of Rotary is our youth."   He then went over the calendar for the year, and noted that the District will be looking for the next district governor and the purpose of the district is to serve the Clubs.


August 27, 2012
President Musial gave a tribute to Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon, who passed away August 25, 2012; Shrimporee Chair Berg gave an update on the Shrimporee; and Dr. Jack Bacon briefed the Club on the water well projects involved with the Engineers without Walls.  Angel Martinez, RN, BSN made a presentation about the Shriners Hospitals in Galveston, Texas.  Read a summary of his presentation.

September 3, 2012
No Club Meeting


September 10, 2012
President Musial Program introduced speaker David L. Cisco, Author of the book “Full Circle”, a reflection on his life and his path into the Apollo Space Program.  The recent passing of Neil Armstrong has caused us to pause and reflect on the great accomplishments of the Apollo Program.  We are fortunate to have with us David Cisco, speaker, educator and author, to share his reflections on the glorious Apollo years at Johnson Space Center.  In his book, “Full Circle”, David traces his steps from a child growing up in New York, to his eventual role as a lead test engineer with Grumman Aerospace for the Lunar lander, the LM.

President Musial presented Margo Montgomery, Director, (second from left)  a check for $1,000 as a donation to the Cross Roads at Park Place, whose mission is to provide services to promote the health, hygiene and dignity of homeless persons. 


September 17, 2012
Tommie Buscemi, District EarlyAct First Knight Chair, presented the EarlyAct First Knight (EAFK) program, explaining the popularity and growth of this program across the school systems throughout the Greater Houston Area.  Space Center will be implementing the first EAFK program in Clear Creek Independent School District on October 16, at 1pm at Whitcomb Elementary School, 900 Reseda, Houston TX 77062.

Club members are excited about this unique service opportunity to work with the students to learn the importance of citizenship, responsibility, self-discipline, confidence, perseverance, respect, honesty, compassion, friendliness, "Service Above Self" in the classroom, justice, loyalty, defense, generosity, courage, faith, humility, nobility, and integrity. In the process, we'll become better individuals, and Rotarians!  More than a student service club participated in by a few, EAFK is a daily, mandatory course of study for each child, starting with the first day of Kindergarten

Sponsored by Rotary Clubs, EAFK is a year-round character and service education program for elementary and middle schools that, for the first time ever, puts Rotary into mainstream public education every day.  Jousting, Knighting Ceremonies plus students learn importance of citizenship, responsibility, self-discipline, confidence, perseverance, respect, honesty, compassion, friendliness and more. EVERY school day, EVERY student recites Rotary's 4-Way Test!

September 24, 2012
Linda Smith (left) is the Program Manager for NASA Aerospace Scholars at the Johnson Space Center.  She took this position last fall and with her team received the “I am an Innovator” Team Award.  Prior to this role, she held positions within the NASA Aerospace Scholars project, was the Program Manager of Interdisciplinary National Science Program Incorporating Research and Education Experience working with students in grades 9-12th and a major player in the initial year of Summer of Innovation which is a response to the president's “Educate to Innovate" Campaign for Excellence in STEM Education. A recipient, Cody Kelly (right), of the Aerospace Scholars Program was also a speaker.

October 1, 2012
The annual Shrimporee planning status and rally was presented by Shrimporee Chair Sheryl Berg and committee chairs as the main program.  Shrimporee Chair, Sheryl Berg, entered the meeting donned with the pink Shrimp costume and rode in on one of the raffle prizes, a pink scooter.   Rosemary Lengefeld, YMCA, and Becky Reitz, Communities in Schools, gave testimonies of how the respective organizations used the Club’s donations.  Rotary Youth Exchange Students Mica Cao and Juan Martin were in attendance as were the officers of the Clear Lake Interact Club.  View club meeting in photos.