As the four recipients of the Waunakee Rotary Foundation Service to Humanity Scholarships talked about their plans after high school, Waunakee Rotarians felt hope for the future.
While one has aspired to advance medicine, all expressed a commitment to serving others throughout their lives. They also thanked the club for the scholarships and helping them achieve their goals.
Alainna Reefe, Andrew Beyer, Hayden Janus and Adrian Lopez Mateus all attended the June 4 club meeting with their parents to talk about their past experiences volunteering and future plans.
Alainna, an Edgewood High School graduate, plans to attend the University of Tennessee and study finance. Her mother is a financial advisor and her father works for the Village of Waunakee’s public works and parks department, and volunteers with the Waunakee Fire Department
She’s learned from both of them the importance of helping others and had volunteered in roles at Edgewood, along with the Waunakee Fire Department Pancake Breakfast. Alainna also attended the Rotary Youth Ethics Composium, and she managed the Edge High School Hockey team.
Alainna plans to continue volunteering and looks forward to helping others achieve their goals so they can also have a lasting effect on their communities.
A soon-to-be Waunakee High School graduate, Andrew Beyer plans to attend UW-Madison and major in political science. Andrew has been on a number of mission trips, including two to other countries where he helped build homes for families. On missions to Milwaukee, he and others served the local communities by providing day care for children while their parents worked, and leading food and school supply drives.
In the future, Andrew wants to further public policies to help people in the United States and internationally.
Also graduating from Waunakee High School, Hayden Janus plans to attend UW-Madison and study biochemistry and microbiology with a pre-med track. He said the medical journey is long and arduous, and the scholarship will help fund unpaid internships. Hayden has already completed some internships, including a typhoid workshop in Nigeria where he found differences in the cultures, specifically a mistrust of doctors among the Nigerians.
Hayden also developed a program for students to shadow medical professionals and is involved in a cancer research program at the Carbone Cancer Center.
Adrian will graduate from Waunakee High School on Sunday as well, and plans to attend Marquette University. His mother is a member of the Madison Downtown Rotary Club, and Adrian thought serving in Rotary sounded interesting. He learned about the inactive Interact Club at Waunakee High School, and wanted to start something like it. Tim Decorah became an advisor and the principals were on board.
Adrian helped spearhead the club’s reinvigoration, seeing it grow from four members to 30. The Interact members have helped with the Guatemala project that involved training midwives, and partnered with a well project in Africa.
Adrian has also volunteered with the Greenbush Neighborhood in Madison, assisting in translating, and has helped with a summer program.
The experiences have taught him about how he can make a difference in the world.
Adrian plans to study mechanical engineering but may also focus his studies on artificial intelligence.
Marquette also has a Rotaract Club he plans to join. Adrian will also join the Navy and the ROTC program at Marquette.
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Other news:
Congratulations to Cyndi Kennedy and Danae Marsh who have earned their Blue Badge are no longer “newbies.”
Bill Kennedy was also presented with a Paul Harris +1.
Fran Alverez, who was the exchange student last year, returned to study in Waunakee this year and is graduating Sunday, Mark McFarland told the club. There will be a graduation party for Fran, who plans to attend UW-Superior, and club members are invited.
The Interact Club’s personal hygiene drive ends June 7. Any contributions can be dropped off at Waunakee Village Hall.
The club’s board of directors met and approved several donations. Among them were: $1000, WaunaFest; $4000, Waunakee Food Pantry; $4000, Waunakee Neighborhood Connection.
Coming Up
June 24: Changing of the Guard at Drumlin Ridge
June 11: Midnight Splash cruise on Lake Mendota
July 8: Waunakee Rotary Picnic.
Greeters: June 11, June Ganser and ??; June 18, Shauna Hughey and June Ganser; June 25, Phil Willems and John Townley; July 2, David Rupp and ??
To sign up to greet or to find out when you are greeting, visit:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805054CAAAA2CA7F85-44320149-2023#/
