March MADNESS

While the sports world is tuned to the outcomes of College Basketball in the US, the McGill Rotaract Club is having its own March Madness! We are close to reaching our goal to be able to supply 1350 students from 5 schools in Kumasi, Ghana with school supplies. The next few weeks, we will be busy with a whole bunch of great events! If you would simply like to donate to our March Madness cause, click the PayPal Donate link below. Check our all the event details below and we hope to see you there!

Comedy for a Cause:

March 24th at 8:15 pm at the Comedy Nest, Pepsi Forum

Tickets are $10.00

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=208965799118453

Tickets must be purchased in advance by e-mailing mcgill.rotaract@gmail.com.

Groove for Ghana African Music Night:

March 28 at 7:00 pm at Les Bobards, 4328 boul. Saint-Laurent

Tickets are $10.00

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=197041570330130

Tickets can be purchased in person or via PayPal by filling out the form and clicking the button below:

Name

Email or Phone Number

Exec Position Details

Here are the details for the exec. positions for those who are interested in running for next year's exec. team! Don't forget, elections are March 3rd! You can run for more than one position if you'd like.

President:

As president, one creates a year-long plan for the club. The most important thing as president is to make sure that everything is running smoothly. As president, one chairs the meetings and creates agendas for the general and executive meetings. He/She may coordinate one project, but will oversee all projects that are going on in the club to make sure that everything is on track and lend a hand whenever help is needed. The president is in charge of the administrative duties, such as room bookings, meeting arrangements, necessary paperwork, and any issues with SSMU. As well, the president, along with the Rotaract Liaison, deals with the District Rotaract Chair, Magued Wassef.

Vice-President:

The Vice-President assists the President in whatever is needed. If the President is absent, the Vice-President runs the meeting, creates the agenda and keeps in contact with other execs. The Vice-President essentially will organize a project or help with the organization of other projects and oversee if the President is unable to do so. It is a very flexible position.

VP Volunteering and Fundraising:

The VP Volunteering and Fundraising position is an important task within the executives team and one that requires quite a lot of work. As VP Volunteering and Fundraising, one is in charge of organizing and keeping track of all the volunteering projects occurring in the club to ensure that they do not overlap. As well, he/she will coordinate and book Samosa and/or bake sales around campus.

Treasurer:

The treasurer is in charge of the money for the club. This means keeping track of the money coming in and the money going out, collecting receipts, distributing and co-signing cheques along with the President. As well, the treasurer works on the audit that happens at the end of the fiscal year.

Secretary:

The Secretary is in charge of taking down minutes for general and exec meetings. He/She is also responsible for checking the Gmail account, responding to e-mails, and sending out the minutes after each meeting. As well, the secretary sends out any necessary reminders from the Gmail account.

VP Communications and Publications

The VP Communications and Publications is in charge of the publicity for the club. He/She, along with a committee, will create posters for all events and find ways to advertise for fundraising events, such as through newspapers, radio, internet, etc. The VP Communications and Publications is also in charge of keeping the website/blog/Facebook Page updated.

VP Membership and Social

The VP Membership and Social is in charge of recruitment and taking care of our members. He/She will come up with new and creative ways to present the Club during Discover McGill and Activities Night. As well, he/she will organize social events to keep the members entertained and enjoying their time with Rotaract.

VP Professional Development and Rotary Liaison

The VP Professional Development and Rotary Liaison is in charge of finding guest speakers for general meetings. As well, he/she is responsible for keeping in contact with our Advisor from our Sponsoring Rotary Club, the Rotary Club of Old Montreal. If possible, he/she should also be the liaison with the other local Rotary Clubs and organize time to attend each club at least once during the year. Additionally, he/she can organize for other execs and general members to attend Rotary meetings.

Rotaract Liaison

The Rotaract Liaison is responsible for communication with the District Rotaract Committee, which is made up of the District Rotaract Representative and the District Rotaract Chair, Magued Wassef. He/she will convey any information to the club hat has been sent to him/her, which often regards District Conference, District Retreat, happenings in the District, and projects going on with other Rotaract Clubs.

A Toast to Tyndale Success!

After an enjoyable evening last Saturday, January, 15 here are some pictures by photographer Alessia Pizzanelli. Stay tuned for the final tally!

Rotarians Alexander Patricio, Manon Lennon, Annie Chan, and Patrick Poupart

Guest speakers Tamara Hart from Tyndale Saint-Georges Community Centre and Krystina Alogbo from the Canadian Women's National Water Polo Team

McGill Rotaract Club Exec. Team with cake created by Les Delices Lafrenaie

The Canadian Women's National Water Polo Team

Tonal Ecstasy performing!

$674.64 for Ghana thanks to Terry Fox Elementary School in Laval!

By now most of you must be done final exams and papers and I hope that they all went well! :)

On December 10, Grades 4L and 4SD of Terry Fox Elementary School in Laval, Quebec, organized a Dress Down Day in support of our project in Ghana. Each student brought in at least $1.00 so that they could wear clothes other than their uniform. They had great fun making announcements to the school and creating posters, and counting the change turned out to be a great math lesson! They raised a total of $674.63 going towards our project to buy school supplies for 1350 students in Ghana.



Thanks to all the students from Terry Fox Elementary School for the support!

Don't forget to show your friends and family our Cocktail Party Website so they can buy tickets or donate to the Tyndale Saint-Georges Community Centre! web.me.com/mcgillrotaract

Just for the Holiday Spirit, I thought I'd put up a picture of some awesome decorations in Montreal this year. These are in front of Place des Arts metro station



Happy Holidays!

Sean

Cocktail Party Website Launch!!

Hey Rotaractors,

For today's study break (ie the 10 minutes before I head to bed), I'd like to post up the link to our website devoted completely to the cocktail party. Send this link to all your friends and family so they can either buy a ticket or donate to our cocktail party so we can raise as much money as possible! :)

Check out: web.me.com/mcgillrotaract

And to get you all pumped for the cocktail party and excited to sell tickets, here's a little video



Have a good evening everyone! Let me know what you think of the website and the video!

Sean

A little study break

Hello Rotaractors and company!

This is my first EVER blog post. I'm taking a little break from the joys of protein pathways and the wonder that is the cell to tell you about something that is equally as awesome...just A LOT larger: Rotary International. Marie talked about Rotary and Rotaract, so I'm going to do a quick blurb about Rotary Scholarships.

So, here's the fun fact of the day (Fun Fact Friday!): did you know that the Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship is the world's largest privately-funded scholarship program?

Founded in 1947, it had enabled over 40 000 student from more than 100 nations to study abroad. The purpose of the Ambassadorial Scholarship is to "further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries and geographical areas." This is achieved by:

-Increasing awareness of and respect for cultural differences by sending ambassadors of goodwill to study in another country

-Instilling in scholars the Rotary ideal of Service Above Self through active participation in Rotary service projects

-Encouraging scholars to dedicate their personal and professional lives to improving the quality of life for the people of their home communities and countries

-Developing leaders who can address the humanitarian needs of the world community

-Impacting all areas of the world through a balanced geographical distribution of scholars

-Encouraging Rotarians worldwide to increase the educational opportunities for scholars from low- income countries

-Fostering a lifelong association between Rotary and its scholars

The program consists of one year abroad for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as qualified professionals pursuing vocational studies. An Ambassadorial Scholar serves as a goodwill ambassador to the host country while giving presentations to Rotary clubs and various other clubs regarding their homeland. Scholars must also give presentations detailing their experiences. The scholarship consists of $27 000 to study in another country. Applicants undergo interviews first within a Rotary Club if there are multiple applicants and then at the district level. Scholars have a sponsoring Rotary Club both in their home district and where they are studying. Students can study in ANY field. This is pretty cool huh!

Also, Rotary offers the World Peace Fellowip, which is a scholarship to receive a masters degree in international relations, public administration, sustainable development, peace studies, conflict resolution, or a related field. THe scholarship is offered at one of six Rotary Peace Centers:

the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand
Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
International Christian Unversity in Tokyo, Japan
Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires, Argentina
University of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England
University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia

Check out more information about all the great Rotary Opportunities at their website: www.rotary.org

On a club note, here is a picture of the art gallery where our upcoming cocktail party is being held! Hope you've all told your friends and family about it! Don't forget January 15, 2011 at 7:00 PM at the AKA Gallery at 51 Saint-Paul Ouest. They money we raise will benefit the Tyndale Saint-George Community Centre (http://www.tyndalestgeorges.com/)



Okay, back to the books! Good luck everyone on final exams and papers! Stay tuned for more posts! :)

Sean

Woohoo Rotaract [2]! (For real this time guys)

Hello!

Well. I'm back! Today's post is brought to you by procrastination from a lab report about continuously stirred tank reactors. So, as promised, I am going to talk more about what Rotaract is.

The term "Rotaract" comes from the shortened version of "Rotary in Action". The main difference between Rotaract clubs and Rotary clubs is that Rotaracters are between 18 and 30 years old. Rotaract clubs are sponsored by an area Rotary club, and are not necessarily university based, and even our McGill Rotaract club has members from UQAM, Concordia, U de M, cegeps, and also young professionals in Montreal. So, for people like me where graduation is on the horizon, never fear! Rotaract will still be here even after the diploma is on your wall!

Rotaract clubs have similar goals than Rotary clubs. According to the "Standard Rotaract Club Constitutions", the goals of Rotaract are:

1. To develop professional and leadership skills;
2. To emphasize respect for the rights of others, and to promote ethical standards and the dignity of all useful occupations;
3. To provide opportunities for young people to address the needs and concerns of the community and our world;
4. To provide opportunities for working in cooperation with sponsoring Rotary clubs;
5. To motivate young people for eventual membership in Rotary.

Sounds cool, right?

So basically this means that Rotaract clubs promote Rotary spirit through volunteering, fundraising, social events, attending Rotary meetings, professional development through speakers and workshops, and so much more.

I have some numbers again! If you continue reading this, you should probably be warned that I really like numbers...
8,383 Rotaract clubs
171 Countries
>190,000 members
69 Rotaract clubs in Canada
(Numbers taken from the Rotaract first quarter report of 2010-2011. I don't actually know what time period that entails, but it sounds recent!)

So here is your overview of Rotaract. Quick. Easy. Not very War-and-Peace like. (Not ragging on War and Peace, it's just the longest book I could think of at 11:50pm on a Wednesday. It's terrific, you should read it).

Tomorrow's topic: What McGill Rotaract has done, is doing and will do!

Annnnnnnd here is your procrastination source since 'tis the season (this one is not as productive as yesterday's, but still pretty awesome):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COr_k621YM4



I really like this factoid idea, so here is the next one:
Colonel Sanders (of KFC fame) was a founding member of his Rotary club in Indiana. True fact.