Alysen Abel is the Public Works Director for City of Parkville and she will talk about the Parks Projects and Improvements in Progress.
Alysen Abel serves the City of Parkville as the Public Works Director, overseeing Streets, Parks, and Wastewater Divisions of Public Works. She is active in numerous professional organizations such as APWA (American Public Works Association) and WTS-Kansas City (Women in Transportation).
Alysen received a bachelor of science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Evansville. She also attended the University of Kansas, receiving a masters degree in Engineering Management, as well as a Masters in Public Administration. She is a licensed professional engineer.
COVID-19 UPDATE: Parkville Rotary has been meeting virtually since mid-March due to the pandemic. Our club will continue to meet virtually until the Parkville Rotary Board determines it is again safe for our members and guests to meet in-person.
Programs Etiquette for 2020-2021
We are starting a new Rotary year so here are a few reminders to help you find a speaker for your date.
1) All members are assigned a date to provide a Friday program. Please find a speaker to present that day. You will be finding a speaker about once a year. It is much easier to find a speaker a few months in advance vs. a few weeks so PLAN AHEAD! You can also be your own speaker if you have an interesting topic to talk about!
2) Remember to keep your topic free of politics and religion!
3) When you know who you are having talk let Scott Walterbach (scott@bw-llp.com) and Dalyn Novak (dnovak@wskfarch.com) know so they can add it to the event list in ClubRunner.
4) Have your speaker email you a short biography and description of their speech and email it to Scott Walterbach and Dalyn Novak for the weekly newsletter. Please email this to them no later than the Friday before your speaker is to present! This is key so that there is enough time to get the information into the weekly newsletter. Please don't make us hunt you down! No one has time for that!
5) Make sure you provide the Zoom meeting information provided above to your speaker so they can join our virtual meeting! They will be able to present a powerpoint, etc. although we've seen some difficulty with videos and being able to hear the sound so try to avoid that, if possible.
6) If you are having a hard time finding a speaker email Scott Walterbach (scott@bw-llp.com). We get emails often from people who would love to come speak to our club.
Thank you!
Dalyn Novak & Scott Walterbach
Our Global Grant in Puerto Rico
We received news this week regarding our global grant with the Rotary Club of San Juan. The project will start this month. The pandemic of COVID-19, social distancing, the lockdown, the closing of all schools in the month of March 2020, and the earthquakes in Puerto Rico have forced the Rotary Club of San Juan, Parkville Rotary, and PIENSA Corp. to delay the project until now.
Schools will reopen on August 17th, first online for the month of August and then in September classes will be as required by the Secretary of Education. In June, Dr. Wilfredo Colon Requejo and his staff from PIENSA Corp. made the necessary adjustments to comply with both the objectives and goals of the project and the guidelines established by the Secretary of Education in Puerto Rico.
This adjustment was approved by RI the same day.
This global grant is to help the children at Asuncion Lugo School in Yabucoca, Puerto Rico. Hurricane Maria took a toll on the island and caused psychological trauma to families in this area which is in turn negatively affecting the behavior of many youth.
This grant is to help caregivers teach the students to cope with their emotions. Sustainability is an essential goal of the project. That's why, in addition to providing workshops for the students and teachers, caregivers will also be trained. The objectives of the project include training teachers in the psychological skills needed to transform inappropriate violent behavior, and by means of teamwork between trainer and trainee share experiences and establish strategies to improve techniques. The latter will assure continuity of the project.
Rotary Leadership Institute
The Rotary Leadership Institute is a leadership development program designed for those Rotarians who have the potential and willingness to engage in club leadership (not necessarily as club presidents) to provide them with a quality education in Rotary knowledge and leadership skills so important in voluntary organizations. The leadership skills you will develop at RLI will help you in your leadership efforts professionally and in other service organizations as well as in Rotary. There are three sessions to complete RLI.
RLI has been held virtually due to COVID-19. To learn more more click the link below or contact Julie McCoy, 660.752.3128, jmmccoy17@gmail.com - District RLI Coordinator.
By Guy Speckman (Platte County Landmark Newspaper)
Shout out to Platte County’s Park University. They continue to be leaders in the community, but more importantly they are unabashed leaders in moving with change. Within weeks of seeing the shift in educational patterns caused by COVID, Park was advertising for students that were considering “gap” years or those that were attending schools that might not be meeting in person this fall.
It was a seamless transition for the private university that utilizes “Redefine Possible” as their mission statement. They have rolled out a “flat fee solution” pricing and have aggressively sought out new students in a time of higher education transformation. The other side of this pandemic is going to look quite different on the education front. State regional universities have had major cuts. Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph has had as bad a public relations year as possible with a President hire that lasted less than a year and deep program cuts.
Students are going to seek different paths in the coming years that may not include the traditional 4 years on campus experience. The trend appears to see many seek less expensive alternatives for general education requirements. Park is ahead of the game by getting to those students now, rather than wallowing in the challenges presented by the pandemic.
Reminder: Parkville Days 2020 Cancelled
The Main Street Parkville Association and the City of Parkville have cancelled Parkville Days 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in compliance with public health and safety recommendations.
The Parkville Rotary has been part of the Parkville Days parade for many years.
Please mark your calendars for August 21, 2021 for the 2021 Parkville Days Parade!
