At 12:36 p.m., club president John Flynn called us all to order and played outstanding videos from inspirational Rotary members Gordy Lewis and Kaylin Eidsness on what Rotary means to them. Apparently Rotary means a lot to a lot of us, since John Flynn was also able to announce that, in a club first, noon members outnumbered morning members in attendance at last week’s combined meeting with Rotary Edina Morningside. Wow!
Following the Invocation, Pledge, and Four Way test, ably led by Joe Arends the club welcomed a whole slew of guests, including president Kirsten Nelson of the Richfield Rotary Club, as well as various youth ministers from area churches who came to hear today’s speaker (more on that to come).
Toshi Metzger gave an entertaining classification talk and told us a little of her work as a Mortgage Banker.
On behalf of the Youth Exchange Committee, Terry Stevens invited us all to consider becoming host families for Rotary exchange students. Just provide an international student with a home in or very near Edina schools for three and a half months. And while you are considering being a host family, be thinking about local students you could invite to become Rotary Exchange students in other countries. Terry also indicated that the committee is seeking new members… so join in!
Mike Kallas introduced Rotary Local Grants award winner Liz Tenpas for The Sheridan Story, a local organization dedicated to fighting child hunger by building partnerships with schools and community organizations to help provide food for underserved students in our area. Liz indicated that the Rotary grant will allow the organization to equip their trucks with much needed lift-gates to aid in deliveries.
Time for the speaker! Introduction honors went to Shelly Loberg (who was sponsored for membership by Brad Hepp), because, well, Shelly has known the speaker since the 7th grade. Heather Flies has been Junior High Pastor with Wooddale Church since 1996. Yep, 1996. And in a field of ministry with an average work stay of 2 to 3 years. But before Heather became a youth minister, she was a hockey cheerleader with Shelly!
Anyway, Heather shared a lot… a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of energy, a lot of her love for playing football and other sports. And she shared a little about Shelly, a little about family (including over three hundred pounds of household dogs), and a lot of knowledge about kids. In brief, Heather, who has pastored to Junior High kids for over 20 years now, put it this way:
Teens still struggle with the same stuff we all struggled with… self-esteem, school, bullies, appearance, parents, relationships. But contemporary technology and the ability to communicate most any time any where has magnified all those things. Academic stress is up. Bullies are everywhere online all the time. Self image is skewed by “perfect” looking people on the internet. So the kids are stressed in ways that many of us never were at that age.
What can adults do? Well, Heather says: “Stay level." Stay steady with youth. Be your authentic self. The world is full of fake images, so don’t be one. Learn how to apologize to a young person. You don’t have to be always right and always perfect, so admit it when you should. Admit that us adults still struggle too. And above all, take a kid seriously. They are intelligent, meaningful people who need to be treated like they matter.
So, with a lot of laughs and smiles, Heather gave us some important pointers on how to help a generation grow to adulthood. And that may take a while, she said. Heather suggests that adolescence and brain development may take a person all the way up to age 25 nowadays. In short, adolescence is now an extended process. I think I resemble that remark.
Terry Stevens thanked Heather for sharing her insights and enthusiasm for youth with our club.
And with an announcement from President Flynn that the club would hear next week from Alvin Abraham of the University St. Thomas on getting college access for those who need it most, John rang the bell for adjournment at… wait for it… 1:30 sharp! Thanks, John.
