On Wednesday Morning, January 11th, 2017 we had our second meeting of the New Year. Kevin Hutchinson lead us in the invocation and pledge followed by happy bucks and visitor introductions by Sgt. at Arms, Robbie Selby. President, Rob Samouce, then gave an update on searching for a new venue for our annual Paint Ball tournament and Robbie discussed our next Social at the end of March and preliminary club plans for the International Rotary Convention in Atlanta in June.
Rob then introduced our guest speaker, Greg Turchetta, Executive Director of Communications and Community Engagement for the Collier County Public Schools (CCPS). Greg and his team is responsible for district-wide communication with 45,000 students, parents and 7,5000 employees (largest employer in Collier County). Prior to working with CCPS, Greg had an award-winning 21 year news career as a News Director in Fort Myers, Atlanta, Orlando, Seattle, and Austin. He was Executive Producer & Assistant News Director here in Southwest Florida for NBC2 and ABC7.
Mr. Turchetta presented a well-made video showing all the facets of CCPS and then a power point presentation of facts and trends in the local School System. In the last 10 years the school district has morphed from a majority white student population to a majority Hispanic student population and at the same time has grown 14 percentage points in its graduation rate to now graduating 82% of the CCPS Students! Achievement programs such as Cambridge and Advance Placement has grown significantly and high school students are introduced to College Programs at FGCU and area Technical Schools. The takeaway from the presentation is that we in Collier County have one of the best Public School Systems in the State of Florida that keeps getting better every year. We should all be very proud of our Collier County Public Schools.
Mark your calendars, unless otherwise stated, all our meetings are at Hyatt House Naples.
Thurs. Evening Jan 19, 6:00 p.m.: Boys and Girls Club Speaker
Thurs. Evening Jan. 26, 6:00 p.m.: Naples Art Association Speaker
Wed. Morning Feb 1, 7:30 a.m.: Collier County Hearing Examiner Speaker
Wed. Morning Feb 8, 7:30 a.m.: Polio Plus Speaker
