Students of the Month
OUR YOUTH OF THE MONTH AWARD recognizes hard-working pre-high school and high school students who attain high levels of scholastic achievement, community involvement and leadership, and daily demonstrate good citizenship both at school and at home. Students recognized for the month of December were Skylar Hampton from Sebastian Charter Junior High School, Lissett Ascencio from Storm Grove Middle School, German Hernandez from Sebastian River Middle School, and Sarah Cosner and Andres Ruiz from Sebastian River High School.
Skylar Hampton is an outstanding student and leader. She is very focused on academics. She always strives to do her best in the classroom. She is being recognized for academic accomplishments as well as the quality of her character. Skylar is a leader and a caring young lady. She works with the NJHS and recently organized a fundraising event to raise scholarship funds to honor Mr. Billy Wilson. She works extremely hard and puts the well-being of others before herself. Skylar also participates in travel softball in her free time. In accepting her award Skylar said, “Thank you for nominating me – I am very humbled and proud. I believe in the Walt Disney quote ‘if you can dream it, you can do it.’”
Lissett Ascencio is taking all advanced classes and is the Storm Grove role model – respectful and responsible. She quietly does her best. She is a member of the Symphonic Band and Jazz Band. She plans on attending Vero Beach High School and then to enlist in the United States Air Force, to serve her country and receive her college education. She hopes to enroll at Cornell or Dartmouth University and become a cop. Her outside activities are fishing, reading and playing games. In accepting her award Lissett said, “Thank you to everyone who encouraged me to be the best I can be, my family and teachers, this is truly an honor.”
German Hernandez travels with his family, who are farmers, between Ohio and Florida. He knows what it is like to face obstacles and challenges that could easily bring him down but uses those challenges to become stronger. He is kind and polite and always respectful. He is a hard worker, kind, thoughtful and empathetic toward other students’ needs. German genuinely cares about his classmates, his family and his teachers. In accepting his award German said, “Thank you for my teachers who encourage me every day.”
Sarah Cosner is an IB Diploma Candidate with a weighted GPA of 4.639 and Class Rank of 4th. She is an AP Scholar, current Excel Club President, and past Excel Club Treasurer (2019-2020). She won the Exchange Club Presidential Award of Honor in May 2020. Sarah is a Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) member serving as Florida District 17 President 2020-2021 and President of the SRHS Club. She is a member of the National Honor Society and the SRHS Band serving as Drum Major 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. She has received 7 Superior ratings on saxophone for both solos and ensembles. Sarah founded “Forte to Feed” and hosted virtual concerts to raise money for local food banks during the Covid-19 pandemic. In her spare time, Sarah works as a server at Chick-Fil-A. In accepting her award Sarah thanked her parents, teachers and advisors for this “amazing honor.” She plans to attend Stetson or Duke to study Public Policy and become a Public Policy Analyst in Washington D.C.
Andres Ruiz is IB Diploma Candidate with a weighted GPA of 4.556 and Class Rank of 7th. He is an AP Scholar and member of the National Honor Society. Andres was awarded the American Legion Scholastic Excellence for leadership and academics two times. He was accepted to the United States Naval Academy Summer Seminar and a delegate to Boys State, both which were cancelled due to Covid. Andres is Coxswain on the SRHS crew team which won a State Championship and competed at National level. As a Scholar Athlete he was a Top 3 MIT Crew recruit for Coxswain. He serves as Operations Manager of the SRHS NJROTC unit and recipient of 4-year NROTC and ROTC scholarships. Andres takes Dual enrollment classes through Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. He has received letters of Assurance from both the US Naval and US Military Academies.
He has volunteered over 400 hours with the National Parks Service. He loves studying Civil and World War History and Physics. In accepting his award Andres thanked our club, his family and said, “Learning comes first – hard work means a lot – wherever I go I will work hard. Thank you!”
Calendar of Events
All meetings will be offered in person at Captain Hiram’s or via ZOOM unless stated otherwise. ZOOM connection information will be sent out weekly.
January
01/06 – No Meeting (Board Only)
01/13 – Chris Robertson – Hope Lives Foundation
01/20 – Students
01/27 – TBD
Sebastian Police News
Jason Gillette and the Sebastian Police Department accepted check for Habitat for Humanity
Our Sebastian Police Department Took 2nd Place in the 3rd Annual 1st Responders Lip Sync Battle!
The reigning 2019 champions performed “All I Want for Christmas” rock-n-roll style. Officer Jason Gillette stole the show with his shimmering jacket, hat, and dance moves while singing, “I’m still standing,” in reference to Covid-19 and the election.
“I think that was absolutely brilliant; Jason wow,” stated Pastor Alex of the Oceans Unite Christian Centre.
The Sebastian Police Department handed over a check for $1,000 to Indian River Habitat for Humanity, whose mission is to put God’s love into action. Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities, and hope.
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As we all know, the coronavirus has created numerous challenges over the course of 2020. We made two attempts to have our annual awards banquet, which is when we formally present our Officer and Employee of the year awards, but unfortunately we had to cancel both events.
Despite this, we did not want to allow this challenge to prevent us from announcing Felicia Stoll and Detective Melius as our 2019 Employee and Officer of the year! Both Felicia and Bryan are hardworking, dedicated professionals and are valuable assets to the success of our agency. Congratulations & thank you Felicia and Bryan for all that you do!
January Birthdays
Ali Qizilbash 01/04
Kathy Falzone 01/11
Fred Jones 01/28
January Anniversaries
Kathy Burns 2 Yeas
Eric Flowers 6 Years
Margie Duffell 27 Years
| This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY |
This Quarter’s Visitors –
Please Come Again!
10-14-20 – Michelle Morris (Several – she made application for membership!)
10-14-20 – Janet Kennedy (Ali) Real Estate
10-14-20 – John McIntosh and Adrian Garcia (Ali)
10-28-20 – Tom McDonough (Lyse)
11-18-20 – Sean Facey (Lyse)
11-18-20 – Rachel Cannon (Michelle Morris – she made application for membership!)
12-09-20 – Leah Forte (Bill Forte)
This and That
Please contact Jeff Kagan with ideas for future speakers. Suggestions are appreciated!
Lyse McDonough and Debbie Fitzpatrick are also asking for ideas for their Hospitality Committee to consider.
Eva Chapman held the 1st BWO meeting. A sponsor packet is now available and has been sent out via email. Please contact sponsors early to get them on board for June 4, 2021! Performance shirts are available for $30 each. Contact Mike Natale if you are interested.
Eva Chapman needs to know of any volunteer work a member has done outside of Exchange Club. This counts toward credit we get from national toward year end awards. Please use her log or send her the name of the organization and number of hours you spent volunteering.
Paul Williamson reports that we are 44-member strong. Rachel Cannon is our newest member. Please introduce yourself to her and welcome her to our club! Don’t forget to contact members to let them know meetings can be attended via ZOOM if not in person. Also, bring guests and ask them to join the best club ever!
Terry Gardner is chairing the Community Involvement Committee. Karen McElveen will serve with her. They encourage members to give ideas for activities.
Community Giving
Karen McElveen & Kathy Burns report that with our club members’ help gifts were given to nearly 2000 children under the protection of Guardians for New Futures (GFNF). The GFNF mission is to support the unfunded needs of maltreated and underserved children while increasing community awareness and education to further protect children. Thank you to all who helped bring Christmas to these children.
District Director Rene’s Corner
Sebastian Club: Rene reports the scholarship recipients of the Sebastian Exchange Club Scholarship Foundation for 2020 are:
Leticia Ovalle $2,000
Alexander Ortiz Velez $2,000
Madison Hula $2,000
Sofia Carmona $2,000
Alyssa Sturgeon $1,000 (H.R. “Rappy” Perez Scholarship)
Adam Preuss Student Chairman has announced the following recipients:
Youth of the Year:
Alexander Ortiz Velez $1000
Alyssa Sturgeon $1000
ACE:
Rian Butler $1000
DISTRICT ACE:
Rian Butler $2500
Indian River Club: The club held its 4th Annual Toss Out Child Abuse Charity Cornhole Tournament on March 7th at Walking Tree Brewery. Thirty sets of partners teamed up, some arriving early to warm up and hoist a few limited-edition craft beers made especially for the tournament. A total of