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President Benjamin Fisher presided over the in person meeting at Hillel UCLA by ringing the bell three times before the crowd took notice. He started by reminding us the 2024/2025 Rotary theme this year (which is in its last month) is “Magic of Rotary”, a theme we should remember every year going forward.
President Benjamin thanked PP Ed Jackson for leading the pledge, PP Mike Newman for greeting and Jane Schwartz for her Thought of the Day. Janet spoke on eradicating polio. This past April with the 70th anniversary of the announcement of the Salk vaccine against polio. She stated young people today don’t know much about the polio disease, that there remains work to be done to eliminate it or, about Rotary’s involvement in eradicating polio. A topic Club members should consider talking about to schools in the area. New project???
The announcements included information on the Demotion Party Sunday scheduled for July 13th at Hotel Angeleno beginning at 6 pm and the next weekly meeting will be held at the Collins & Katz YMCA. Pres.Ben finished by showing some slides from PPx2 Chris Gaynor’s current vacation in Italy (is there a fine there?) Speaking of fines, I do believe.
Today’s speaker, a craft talk by newest and youngest member Ethan Kim (the golfer extraordinaire) who was briefly introduced by President Benjamin.
Ethan started his talk by sharing a poem “First They Came” by Martin Niemoller in response to current events. It was very moving about what can happen if you stay silent. Ethan was born in Glendale, CA on October 18, 2001, the oldest of 3 boys of parents Gregory and Vivian Kim. He lived in South Korea for three years when he was a young boy before moving back to the United States. Most of his teen years and beyond he has lived mostly in southern CA. Currently he is living in the Culver City Palms area. He is an experienced golfer and in the past trained to be a professional golfer. He also has dual citizenship, South Korea and US and speaks fluent Korean.
At the age of 4 he suffered from leukemia and was expected to pass. He miraculously recovered with the help of the UCLA Health medical center. He never forgot the experience and treatment so when it became time to apply for college UCLA was on the top of his wish list. Lucky for UCLA was accepted in. Because of the wonderful medical treatment he received at UCLA, he developed a lifetime goal to help others. He also has a lifetime loyalty to UCLA as it healed and educated him. It is his second home.
While at UCLA he was fortunate during his sophomore year to be selected for an internship program working for Morgan Stanley and was hired their full time after he graduated from the university with a BA in Poli Sci. He is currently part of the Volpei Zimmerman Group at Morgan Stanley. Also, through a Morgan Stanley program (MHIP), Ethan provided counseling to students from underprivileged communities during his college years.
He is currently a Financial Advisor and Financial Planning Specialist with Morgan Stanley helping clients with their planning for future years.
Ethan has a strong desire to serve others and learned about the Rotary Club of Westwood Village through an internet search. After reading about the Club online he decided it fit with his values to always give back. He also set a goal to do good in and around the UCLA campus. So, the Rotary Club of Westwood Village struck gold in being selected by Ethan to become a member. Some of the other members, who think they are “good” golfers are also thrilled hoping Ethan will spend time helping them improve their game.
Ethan is currently unmarried but spoken for by a UCLA cheerleader (of course, staying with the UCLA theme) he met while attending the university. She is adorable (he showed us a picture) but he failed to mention her name or whether he was going to propose any time soon. Stay tuned……
Ethan finished by answering some question – mostly regarding golf! He is a lifetime supporter of the American Cancer Society and, a member of the Bruin Alumni Association. As always it was a very interesting and informative presentation.
PP Mark Rogo finished the meeting by sharing some historical events from the past from June 9 to the 13th. Included was June 14, 1777, during the American Revolution when the Continental Congress approved the Stars and Stripes as the official US flag.
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