Today was our annual Holiday Party with the students and staff of the San Miguel School. Our Emcee for the day was Robert Murphy. Bob gave a shout out to Walter Adamowicz who was our prior emcee for many years – Bob stated it has been an easy transition as he is following Walter’s playbook!
Inspiration
Bob Murphy began by explaining that it is our custom to begin with an inspiration of the day, and that an inspiration is a reflection on some events or ideas that inspire us to continue on with the Rotary’s vision of service before self. He stated that today, we find our inspiration from our guests, the students and staff from the San Miguel School and their noble mission, developing young men with high academic achievement and high moral character. As Rotarians, we are really inspired by what you have done and the accomplishments that have been made over the years that we have been partnering with you.
Announcements
On Zoom today: Jim Gilcreast
Guests
Kathy Murphy
Cherie Saracen
Ann Adamowicz
John McGinn (Friend of the Rotary)
Victor Reynoso, (Visiting Rotarian from the Prov Metro)
Get Well Wishes to Rotarians
Jim Gilcreast
Ken Conde
Margaret Kane
Happy Bucks
- Pete Brock – is happy for his five new San Miguel friends that he sat with at his table
- Jim Gilcreast gave happy bucks – this is the first San Miguel Holiday party he has ever missed as he is recovering from surgery, and he wishes everyone Happy Holidays!
- Art Norwalk gave happy bucks in honor of all his new San Miguel friends and tablemates
- Mary Brewster gave a happy buck to remind Rotarians to bring in their donations of business-friendly clothes for the Dorcas Clothing Drive
- Don Saracen – who was happy to meet the five boys at his table and is hoping to bring back the fishing derby
- Richard Applebaum – was happy to meet new friends at his table
- Walter Adamowicz was happy to be here!
- Steve Hug gave a happy buck and mentioned that both he and Walter Adamowicz have the same January Birthday!
Many students from San Miguel gave happy bucks because they were happy:
- To sit next to their favorite teacher
- To be here with the Rotarians
- To meet nice people
- To be out of school meeting nice people
- To spend time with their friends
- For the wonderful food
- For their scholarship to San Miguel
- That they got to sit next to Mrs. Murphy
Speaker
Bob Murphy introduced the Executive Director of San Miguel, John Wolf who shared a few words with us. He thanked the Providence Rotary for our partnership over the last 25 years and for hosting their students and staff at the Holiday party. He gave us a brief history of San Miguel, that it has been in existence for 30 years, is located at Branch Avenue and offered an invitation for us to visit. He explained that San Miguel is built on gratitude and hard work, and he indicated that the young students in our presence today were a great example of that. He explained that “congeniality” was a topic of discussion at their school this week and he was happy to see the students conversing with Rotarians at their tables.
San Miguel was born 30 years ago, not as a traditional Catholic school, but out of a vision from a Catholic brother named Lawrence Goyette, who realized that there's a great deal of talent that isn't getting the opportunity it deserves in the world. So, he created San Miguel enabling any boy from Providence or any area that has an economic hardship nearby can come and have this great opportunity to learn and grow. In addition to a great middle school curriculum, San Miguel provides many after school programs, as well as continued support through high school and beyond for their graduates.
John Wolf introduced Victor Reynoso, an alumnus of San Miguel, a guest today at our party, as a great ambassador for San Miguel who currently is serving as a mentor at the school.
Director Wolf then introduced our speaker, Jaden Smith who shared with us some thoughts about San Miguel. A few quotes from his speech:
“My name is Jaden Smith and I'm in eighth grade at San Miguel School. San Miguel school changed my life. When my mom told me I was going to an all-boys school, I wasn't really interested. Since being here, I've grown so much as a young man. I've learned so much and I've been getting so many opportunities to excel. I've seen myself grow and develop in these last three years. There were some challenging times. But the support and love here helped me do it. San Miguel has so much to offer. But the most important thing to me was integrity. I'm an only child. And when I first came here, I struggled a little bit to open up or express myself. The Brotherhood and understanding of integrity helped me grow mentally stronger. San Miguel also offers a wide variety of sports and clubs. It was very exciting to be able to try so many new things. I played sports I've never tried. I learned how to cook, build things, and even play chess was not fun for me until coming to see me go and finding a purpose. Thank you to all my teachers and staff.”
Mrs. Murphy, one of San Miguel’s teachers, then led a group of seventh graders in a poetry reading of “The Night Before Christmas” which was enjoyed by one and all.
Santa arrived next and we all joined in singing Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer and a chorus of Jingle Bells. Each student got the opportunity to visit with Santa and received a gift of movie tickets to a theater of their choice.
A great time was had by all!
