PV Rotary breakfast meeting Sept 13th PV Golf Club
District Governor visit Sept 20th
Angels Gate project September 7th 9-12:30
We were fortunate enough to see a bit perhaps into the future at our meeting Friday August 9th, as 4 members of the PV Chamber of Commerce’s Young Entrepreneur Academy “pitched “their new businesses. The program is a 6 month program that has been put on by the Chamber for the past 6 years. It is open to 6-12 graders and has participating business leaders that act as mentors of the participants. They go through all aspects of the business plan, analysis of financials, competition and who the target market is for their product. Then comes the pitch as they all participate in PV’s version of Shark Tank as they pitch investors for monies to fund their business. As I experienced one year representing Rotary to be on the investors panel is a real treat. The top Young Entrepreneur goes on to a regional competition with their pitch and then the regional winners go on to the nation completion. The PV Chamber also has the unique distinction of having 3 in the top 6 in the nation since the program’s inception.
We were “pitched” by Sarah Porter from PVIS on her “instructions not included” product that is filled with craft items but no instructions so the imagination can run wild. Ashley Feng of Chadwick pitched her idea Art + notebook perhaps a combination of a Franklin planner light, some beautiful art all within a very atypical binder for school. Ryan Byrne from Miraleste pitched us on Connectutor a personal on line tutoring service. We did have one graduate of the program speak to us, Naomi Porter who will be attending Peninsula High in the Fall who spoke to her experience in the program and oh yes the second business she has now started. Lastly and quickly was Derek Gable who in his own right is an inventor and entrepreneur about the importance of this program and how it is helping our young people progress in the world of the entrepreneur. He has been the lead instructor for the past few years and no doubt has a great passion for the program. We can all feel proud this is a program our Rotary Club has supported the last 4 years and as well know we are in good hands for the future with such an impressive group.
ROTARIANS AT WORK!
A team of our Rotarians purchased $1000 worth of books donated by our Club for the LA Port Boys and Girls Club and the San Pedro YMCA and read to each group.
Perhaps you have never heard of the Wiseburn Unified School District. Yet it is the second oldest in the South Bay. The district, which encompasses parts of western Hawthorne, Del Aire and eastern El Segundo, officially formed on March 5, 1896, after a group of area parents successfully petitioned the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to form their own district. Only Redondo Beach USD is older. In the years since its establishment its boundaries have waxed and waned, but the success of its recent graduates under the leadership of recently retired Superintendent Tom Johnstone--once named Superintendent of the Year by Pepperdine University--has been turning heads in California. Five public charter schools feed the admissions office of the district's new tri-institutional Da Vinci High Schools of Design, Communications and Science. Housed in a gleaming $160 million structure transformed from a four-story science lab once owned by Northrop Grumman, the high schools' 72 classrooms are home to 1,350 students. Dr. Johnstone (Ed.D., Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education, master's degrees from both UCLA and LMU), will explain the district's amazing transformation from being "the little district that could" to an innovative leader in secondary education. Our speaker, incidentally, is the 2019-20 president of the Rotary Club of Westchester, so you may call him Tom. Bring a guest. Tom will be introduced by PDG Greg O'Brien.
