May is Support International Conference month, as our President Elect Dwight Heikkila and his wife Sook meet President of the International Flying Rotarians Peter More, his wife Shirley, and Leo Tseng in Bangkok, Thailand for the 2012 RI convention.

Jim Crane and Don Parks greeted us as we walked in.  Athena Jackson led the pledge, followed by Steve Day giving our invocation which is included below:

“Creator and sustainer of all that is and all that will ever be, accept our thanks for this day and all its blessings.  We ask that you’ll guide and direct our club, its leaders and our actions.  Grant that each of us may feel a responsibility to Rotary, to our community, to our country, and indeed to all countries and peoples.  Bless our fellowship today, and bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies, in your service.”

Visiting Rotarians:  Maurice Amber from Aspen, Colorado, visited and exchanged club banners with President Ed.  The next visiting Rotarian is a good friend of Westwood Village and a TMZ-worthy celebrity.  Twenty-five years ago he was president of this organization; Bill Bloomfield, Jr. now lives in Manhattan Beach and is the Manhattan Beach Rotary Club president this year.  Jane Mulato was a guest of Peggy Bloomfield.

Guests:  Wayne Herron, associate head of school for Marymount High School, was a guest of Past District Governor Bill Goodwyn.  Debbie Scherer was a guest of her husband, Past President Steve.  Debbie has been very instrumental in our participation in many great projects with Marymount throughout the years, from the great Wopi assembly line to forming a new interact club at Marymount this year.  Thank you Debbie, for helping to make the community better and for helping Rotary in these endeavors since 1993.

Diane Good, the new director for the Salvation Army transitional center in Westwood, was a special guest of President Ed Jackson, and with Diane was Christina Mayola, the business manager at the transitional center.

Our speaker, Jacqueline L. Landry, Head of Marymount High School, served as a Catholic Chaplain at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1994-2005), where she also served on the Ann Radcliffe Trust to improve the climate for women at Harvard, and was Director of Women’s Spirituality and Leadership Programs.  As Campus Minister at the University of Minnesota (1989-1994), she taught in the Women’s Studies Department.  Prior to her position as Campus Minister at St. Cloud University (1985-1989), she held positions at Georgetown University focusing on social justice outreach.

Jacqui was raised in New Jersey at St. Francis Acres, a lay-based social justice community started by her father. Her parents later moved to Princeton, where they worked at the university. Jacqui has one sister, Martine, and a nephew, Jarrett.  She received her B.A. in Liberal Arts and Peace Studies from Eastern Mennonite College, in Virginia, and a Master of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary, in Washington, D.C.  In her free time, she enjoys yoga, independent film, running, and going to art museums.

 She brings with her a deep commitment and passion for education that is dynamic and focuses on developing confident, grounded and compassionate young women.  She loves that technology allows students individuality in their quest for knowledge,  and that Asia schools must be doing something right since their scores in math and science are very high.