DATELINE: Tuesday, September 16, 2003. Lloyd Phillips gave the invocation and led us in the pledge of allegiance.

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: David VanStrien introduced his guest Tom Rasler a sales agent from AAA Michigan. President Kirtdoll introduced Paul Wolf who is a member of the Muskegon/Mona Shores Optimist Club and is visiting our area. Paul is also a member of the Elks and will be visiting their facilities today also. Maurice Nelson introduced his younger brother Bill Nelson. Welcome to the Niles Noon Optimist Club folks! Please visit us again.

BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES: Dana Trowbridge will celebrate his birthday on September 22^nd. Happy Birthday Again Dana!

BRAGS: Rick Schpok bragged that his son Joshua appeared on the front page of the Purdue University newsletter. Young Mr. Schpok is very into computer research and doing well at the university. Congratulations Joshua! President Kirtdoll bragged that she had enough quarters this week to pay all her fines from last week. She also bragged that her varsity tennis team tied 4 to 4 with Dowagiac and that her junior varsity team is doing well this year also. Robert Todd bragged that Notre Dame was crucified this past weekend by Michigan. He only wished Past President Tom Majerek was at today’s meeting so he could really rub it in. Other Michigan State fans were also hoping for Tom to walk through the door so that they could harass him, which is probably why he skipped today’s meeting. Diane Bass bragged that she had heard that MikeFest went well this year although a slight rain in the morning made the crowd a little smaller than last year. John Armitage bragged that his daughter-in-law and other nurses from the Family Partnership program and the Health Department will be in Washington D.C. this weekend in front of Senate Committees. They will be promoting the Family Partnership program in hopes of getting more funding. Lloyd Phillips bragged on his friends who are Chinese Christians and whom he got to spend some time with over the Labor Day weekend. One of his friends is a graduate of Michigan State University and Lloyd said that it is so wonderful to know there are people like his friend who strive to make a difference in the world.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Jack Arbana bragged that his wife Jeanne’s planning and efforts for the Cystic Fibrosis Fun Run is really coming together. The fun run will be held on October 18^th in Buchanan. Niles Optimists will time the event. Robert Todd announced that we need at guest speaker for October 21^st and beyond. Please contact him to schedule your guest. Robert Rhynard announced that the Optimists will be timing races on October 11^th at Edison Lakes for the Montessori School Run and again on October 18^th at the Cystic Fibrosis Fun Run in Buchanan. President Kirtdoll announced that the annual Banquet will be held on Tuesday, October 7^th. There will be no lunch meeting on that day. There will be a buffet dinner of beef tips over noodles or lemon pepper fish. Please plan on attending and bring the family out too. Tickets for the dinner are $16. She also announced that we would have Ron Taylor with us on September 30^th to complete his program on the historic City of David. President Kirtdoll also announced that we will have an induction ceremony for Nancy Kulesia and Tosca Rifenberg soon so that they can become official members of our club.

50/50 RAFFLE DRAWING: Dana Trowbridge conducted the 50/50 raffle. Don Boyer took home the $16 pot! Congratulations Don!

GUEST SPEAKER: President Kirtdoll introduced our guest speaker today as Doug Law, Superintendent of the Niles School system. Doug first thanked the Optimists for their work and efforts to support the kids in our community. He said that it is organizations like the Optimist, Rotary, etc. that help to make our city a good place to raise children. Doug said that he has been employed in the Niles School system since 1971 when he started out as a Howard Elementary school teacher. He has served as Niles High School principal and then as Asst. Superintendent. Doug talked about the many state and national awards that our school system has received. In fact we get about 300 visitors a year from all over the country who come to see what we are doing right to achieve such successful accomplishments. Doug talked about the increased emphasis that is being placed on the high school student to get more than just a high school diploma. Students are instilled with the knowledge that their career goals in life can only be achieved through some college or vocational higher level of learning. Niles High School provides many college preparatory classes. In fact, in our high school system children must choose their "major" and take at least five classes in their field of study before graduation. For example; students who say they want to be a doctor are required to take calculus, advanced anatomy and biology and so forth. Students who say they want to be engineers will be taking preparatory courses for that field in addition to the regular high school subjects. Doug said that he always tell students that their high school diploma, although a great start, will not be enough for them have a career that will buy them the car they want to drive or the home they want to have. Niles High School offers students this more career focused approach to technical and professional careers. There are 34 majors that can be chosen at the high school. School councilors explain to the students that a technical career will require at least 2 years of vocational training while professional careers will require a minimum of 4 years of college training. Since the inception of this new program a few years back many changes can be seen. Whereas in 1993 our drop out rate was 11.7%, today it is only 3.8%. He believes part of this is because early in their high school experience students learn that they must have a plan to reach their goals and this planning helps to keep them on track. They stay more interested and focused as they see themselves complete one step after another with success. Doug also explained how the alternative schools and the schools of choice system are also helping to improve our graduation success and college entrance percentage for our children. By allowing students to choose a major we also save the parents lots of money. Once they begin taking classes in their major, students determine very quickly if that subject matter is what they really want to do. This allows them to make choices before their parents spend money on one or two years of college just to see their son or daughter change majors and start all over again. Doug also said that 70% of Niles students are taking the ACT for college admission compared to only 50% within the state. He also explained how our school system gets its funding and how the community can help in this endeavor. Our thanks to Doug Law for being with us today to explain some of the success stories of our Niles School System.

CLOSING CREED: Don Boyer led the group in reciting the Closing Creed at the end of the meeting.

"More important than the quest for certainty is the quest for clarity." Frances Gautier, Journalist

"Always expect the best and you’ll see that the outcome is spontaneously contained in the expectation." Deepak Chopra, Physician and Writer

"Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They’re just braver five minutes longer." Ronald Reagan, 40^th U.S. President

TODAY IN HISTORY: September 16th

1620: A group of 102 Pilgrims, most of them religious dissenters known as Separatists, depart for North America from Plymouth, England, in the Mayflower.
1804: French physicist Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac ascends to a record height of 7,016 m (23,018 ft) in a hydrogen balloon. He measures of the earth's magnetism, temperature, air pressure, and chemical composition.
1810: Father Miguel Hidalgo y Castilla begins a revolt for Mexican independence from Spain, which will be formally granted ten years later after a long revolutionary war.
1940: Texas congressman Sam Rayburn is elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, a position he will hold during Democratic majorities in the House until his death in 1961.
1966: The new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in New York opens, with the debut performance of Samuel Barber's Antony and Cleopatra, starring Leontyne Price.
1976: The Episcopal Church allows the ordination of women as priests and bishops.

Karen Horney, psychiatrist (1885)
B. B. King, blues guitarist and singer (1925)
Francis Parkman, historian (1823)
James Alan McPherson, writer (1943)
Lauren Bacall, film actor (1924)
Robin Yount, baseball player (1955)

Two retired professors were vacationing with their wives at a hotel in the Catskills. They were sitting on the veranda one summer evening, watching the sun set.

The history professor asked the psychology professor, "Have you read Marx?"

To which the professor of psychology replied, "Yes and I think it's these pesky wicker chairs."

Born on this day in 1923, I led the strict regime in Singapore from its founding in 1959 to 1990.

Lee Kuan Yew, 1923 - first prime minister of Singapore (1959-1990). Born to a wealthy Chinese family, he studied at Cambridge, England, and was admitted to the English bar in 1950. After his return he became a popular nationalist leader, and in 1954 he formed the People's Action Party. Lee was a member of the delegation that negotiated Singapore's independence from the British in 1956-58. After his party's victory in the subsequent elections, he became prime minister in 1959. Lee brought Singapore into the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, but Malay fear of Chinese domination forced Singapore to withdraw in 1965. Under his increasingly restrictive rule, the city-state became a center of international trade and relative prosperity in Asia. He resigned as prime minister in November 1990, but retained his leadership of the ruling People's Action Party.