The Golden Valley Rotary Club gathered with members of the community to celebrate all things Rotary during the 2018-2019 year. We presented the Citizen of the Year award to Amy Forbes and the Rotarian of the Year award to Colleen Haubner. Our high school scholarship recipients were honored. Paul Harris Fellows were given for extraordinary service, including a special posthumous award for Jim Nielsen. Members of Jim's family were on hand to receive his award. Julie Peterson passed the presidential gavel to Bryan Palmer, our new Club President. It was a great event, hosted at the Golden Valley Country Club, celebrating the forty-six year history of the Golden Valley Rotary Club! View all of the event's photos here.

On June 6, Rotarian Betsy Anderson presented a scholarship to a graduating senior at Perpich Arts High School. The recipient for 2019 is Linda Xiong. The counseling staff and music faculty at Perpich Arts High School helped select the recipient for the Golden Valley Rotary Club Scholarship. The scholarship is a one year, $1,000 scholarship. ​The student exemplifies “Service Above Self” and lives in Golden Valley or attended a school in Golden Valley. The scholarship honors high achievement in music but need not be awarded to a student currently focusing on music at Perpich. The student should plan on either studying or continuing with their music in their post-secondary career. This scholarship rounds out our 2019 giving of $5,000 total. Two scholarships were given to Robbinsdale Armstrong seniors, two to Hopkins seniors, and one to a senior at Perpich Arts High School.

Bryan and Rachel Palmer are in Hamburg, Germany for the 110th Rotary International Convention! They had an experience away from the RI Convention with other Rotarians from District 5950. They took a bus about 85 miles north to Flensburg, which is just south of the Danish border. They met German Rotarians, toured Flensburg on foot, and visited the Danish Queen’s summer castle. Later in the day, they enjoyed dinner and live music hosted by Gitta & Yogi Reppmann. Dr. Joachim "Yogi" Reppmann was born in Flensburg, Germany, and first came to America in 1978 as a young college student with aspirations of learning everything he could about the country that had fascinated him since he'd read wild west novels as a child. He served as a professor of German at St. Olaf and Carleton Colleges in Northfield. With the Reppmanns, they learned about the Peace Pipe Letter Initiative, an opportunity advancing world peace.

The official start day of the convention was Sunday, June 2, when all of the speakers and breakout sessions began. Enjoy, Palmers!

This month's Spotlight Speaker for Golden Valley Business Council was Lori Ertl from Under Pressure Brewing. Located just one block off Highway 55 on 7th Avenue in Golden Valley, their taproom showcases award winning beers, an art studio available for rent, outdoor seating, games, a library of classic books, and the perfect atmosphere for friendly gatherings. They started searching for a building to call home in 2014; Golden Valley wrote an ordinance for them to be here. After four years and many location attempts, they finally found a building to house Under Pressure Brewing. The owners have known each other since they were fifteen. So far they have won 41 medals through Beer Judge Certification Program sanctioned competitions. Check them out!

Monies raised at our Winter Warm Up in February are being distributed in the community. One recipient is the New Hope YMCA. The $1,000 donation from Rotary will go toward offering scholarships for their summer camp programs. Rotary has supported this effort in previous years. President-Elect/Treasurer Bryan Palmer presented the contribution to  Past-President Colleen Haubner, who is also executive director of the New Hope YMCA. Other community groups have been selected by the Board, and check presentations will be made in the coming weeks, prior to the end of this Rotary year on June 30.

Did you know that Minnesota has more FIRST robotics teams than hockey teams? It's true! FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science & Technology) designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. Members from The Technocrats 2239, the Hopkins High School robotics team, visited to share their story. They are one of the longest sustaining robotics teams in the state, and have a vision to not only compete at a high level, but also to mentor and inspire students in the younger grades.