July 15, 2009 - Lunch

With record setting temperatures, we received a warm welcome to match from our friendly greeters Bob Hesselgesser and Richard Deely. Max Link and crew efficiently prepared our meeting room and Gene Ragsdale gave his thoughtful invocation. Our musical selections were handled a cappella by Richard Saunders.

Ray Arnold and George Bowles were the lucky drawing winners and will handle the greeter duties next week.

Wellness Report – Nancy Carpenter reported that Blaine Keith returned to Mayo for some testing. Don Parks continues his battle with cancer and would appreciate cards and support.

Guests – Max Link brought his wife Sarah Smithey Link, Ed Knight hosted Bert Waterhouse and Richard Saunders introduced two current and former students that have benefited from our scholarships, Michael Cronin and Sara Pages.

New Member – Deborah Adams inducted our newest member, Bob Morenzoni. Bob is married with three children and is Manager of the M&I Bank branch on Westland Dr.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

New Member Mixer – Kirk Wilson reminded us to RSVP for the Mixer to be held, thankfully indoors, at the Red Horse Saloon on July 25th.
Award – The A.G. Terry Shaffer Award from Kiwanis International recognizes special people dedicated to serving Key Clubs in our community. Our Club chose to make this award to Manny and Peggy Gonzales, in recognition of their outstanding service to Key Clubs sponsored by our Club.

Key Clubs – Manny reported on the International Key Club convention he and Peggy attended, and that it will be held in Phoenix in two years. Kathy Haugner’s grandson, Alex, was a delegate and spoke of what it meant to him to attend.

Fundraising – Andy Tobias was thanked for his efforts in servicing and selling two used vehicles. Net proceeds realized by the Club were $2,500.

PROGRAM

Today’s program featured Brian Mueller, CEO of Grand Canyon University (GCU). This 60 year old institution is the only private traditional Christian university in Arizona and occupies a 95 acre campus at 35th Avenue and Camelback. They expect 1,700 students on campus this fall plus 30,000 participating in their on-line educational courses.

The University offers BA, Masters and Doctorate degrees in education, health care, business and various liberal arts majors. Mr. Mueller related that the school was struggling financially several years ago but then became a public company and began the on-line learning, which has brought the school to a healthy financial condition. He pointed out that Arizona taxpayers subsidize, to the tune of $7,500 per year, students attending the state universities whereas GSU does not use taxpayer funds for their operations. GSU students typically pay $8-9,000 net tuition per year, which is less than competing schools. The ratio of those seeking higher education at GCU is 63% female and 37% male, which is a trend at some other schools as well.

Mr. Mueller was thanked for the $2,500 GSU scholarship that they awarded at this year’s Science Fair and indications are they plan to repeat that again next year.

Next Meeting – The program will be Ms.Maddalo, with some dog friends, discussing the philanthropic organization PetSmart Charities.