VP Bruce dinged us to order and led us in the Pledge. Garry offered the
prayer and our MA student-of-the-month, Gabriella Crivilare won the $20
BIP. (For those of you who have not been following college expenses
closely that $20 will pay for maybe the first chapter of a textbook the
professor wrote and the student will not read!) We were reminded that it
was President Washington who made the first proclamation for celebrating
Thanksgiving Day in 1789 and it was President Lincoln who proclaimed it a
national day of thanksgiving and prayer in 1863 (to be celebrated the last
Thursday in November). School students (and teachers) all over the
country are thankful for the 2 extra days off school. We had “Happy
Bucks” rolling in: Jane—whole family gathering, Kathy—Las Vegas trip with
daughter, Garry—hosting a sleepover for 3-year old granddaughter and
friends, Bruce—son married last weekend and his grandson was able to
wear dry tennis shoes, & Eldon was able to survive a weekend with a large
# of youth with a Veteran’s Day observance. The club news centered on
the Toy & Book Float, which Eldon has assembled and Sandy has flyers
available if anyone needs them for their businesses. Tom Ganiere passed
around a sign-up sheet for 1-hour time slots bell ringing for the Salvation
Army December 10th. Jenny R. and Linda M. then introduced the students
of the month for their presentations.
We welcomed Gabriella Crivilare from
Marquette Academy and her mother, Mary Olson, and Alysha Rae
Eichelkraut from Ottawa High School. Alysha is the daughter of Julie
Eichelkraut and is planning on perusing a career as a Nurse Practitioner. As
a child she was the one who always wanted the doctor’s kit and would
use it to help family members “recover” from their illnesses.Alysha plans to further her education at Elmhurst College and will follow her 4-years there in
an additional 2-year Masters Degree program. There are several medical practitioners in
her family and she plans on adding to the list, becoming the first Nurse Practitioner in her
family. In high school Alysha is involved in the German Club, Rotary INTERACT, as well as
having over 6 years of community service in several organizations: Pirates Displaying
Awareness Team, the Illinois Valley Anti-Drug Coalition, the peer jury program, and she
attended the Illinois Teen Institute. She also has organized an Operation Snowball program
to help local youth live a drug-free lifestyle. Gabriella Crivalare (parents Mary & Gregg
Olson) has been active in the Marquette plays and musicals. Her mother is a director at the
CHAOS in Ottawa and Gabriella spends a lot of time there volunteering. She is active
sending out invitations for the Art of Dessert (their annual fund raiser), assisting during their
busiest times—Halloween, Scarecrow Fest and the Ice Odyssey. She helps with birthday
parties and has performed in some recent plays CHAOS has produced—The Wizard of Oz,
Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Mirror/Mirror. She loves her English classes and will
major in English in college with an emphasis on creative writing. With her passion for
reading and creating her own stories, becoming an author is something she would love
doing. Add enjoyment of movies to her interests and having that grow into becoming a
screenplay adapter becomes another career option. Role models for Gabriella include J.K.
Rowling (Harry Potter) and George Lucas (Star Wars). These are creative people that use
their imagination on a massive scale. The world
needs dreamers and creative geniuses, too.
