Posted by Charles Rehberg on Sep 16, 2019
Spokane North Notes
September 16, 2019
Calendar:
            9/20/19 Rotary Fundraiser – 5:30 p.m., Kalispel Country Club “Big Tent” event
 
            9/30/19 Rotary trip – Noon, Riverfront Park “Connections” Sister Cities Garden\
 
            10/7/19 Lunch – Noon, Nectar at Kendall Yards, HELP in Honduras
 
            10/14/19 Rotary Connect – 4:30 p.m., Backyard Public House
 
            10/21/19 Lunch – Noon, Nectar at Kendall Yards, Generation Alive
 
            10/21/19 Rotary Serves (TBA)
 
Briefly:
            It’s official!: Our newest member – Steve Perry – was officially initiated into the club by President Melinda Keberle at the Sept. 16 luncheon.
 
Big event in the ‘Big Tent’
            About 100 members and guests will raise money for projects at Holmes Elementary and other needy children in the West Central area at the club’s major fundraiser Sept. 20.
 
            The event will be in the “Big Tent” at the Kalispel Golf and Country Club, 2010 W. Waikiki Rd.
 
            “It will be a great event,” said coordinator Lenore Romney.
 
            In a word of two, this program is ‘AVID’
 
            Dictionary terms define “avid” as keen, ardent, eager, fervent and enthusiastic.
 
            For Paul Gannon, avid means motivating and inspiring students to grow skills to help “leveling the playing field” so they can compete in their classrooms.
 
            AVID is an acronym for Advancement Via Individual Determination.
 
            Gannon, who spoke at the club luncheon on Sept. 16, is a coordinator for professional learning and elementary AVID in School District 81.
 
            AVID’s nationwide goal helps grow writing, critical thinking, teamwork, organization and reading skills to help “bubble kids,” especially “lower-represented kids,” who need some added help to compete in the classrooms, Gannon said.
 
            He said the AVID skills program coordinates with teachers and other administrators so it does not conflict with regular classroom assignments.  “It’s a program, not a curriculum,” Gannon said.
 
            The program started with high school students to achieve in classrooms and to plan career paths, whether college-bound or other avocations.  The program schedules career fairs and visits to campuses, businesses and other workplaces, he said.
 
            AVID has now migrated to middle-school classes and older elementary classes to widen the horizon of learning skills at earlier levels.
 
            Gannon stresses that “kids should be active learners,” whether it’s taking notes on post-its or writing formal reports.
 
            The students also are encouraged to “map out their time, thinking and reading, he said.
 
            Some 80,000 AVID are involved in the programs and Gannon said the Spokane results have shown some dramatic increases.
 
            Gannon hopes the dictionary program will also become equate with “success.”
 
Bulletin Producers:
             Editors:  Chuck Rehberg and Sandy Fink
             Photographers:  Sandy Fink