Saturday, October 22, 2022
By: W Todd MillerOn October 19, 2022, the Rotary Club of Washington, DC, held its regular weekly meeting in person at the University Club of Washington, D.C. and via Zoom, and welcomed guest speaker Mrs. Beatriz Cejas-Williams, Director of the Hispanic-Serving Institutions Division in the Office of Post-Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education.On October 19, 2022, the Rotary Club of Washington, DC, held its regular weekly meeting in person at the University Club of Washington, D.C. and via Zoom.
President Marilyn Nevy Cruz called the meeting to order at 12:30 PM and lead everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Secretary Todd Miller led the introduction of guests and visiting Rotarians.
Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms Max Salas recognized birthdays and anniversaries for the week.
Monica Smith provided a History Moment. She discussed time zones, explaining that standardized time zones reflect a somewhat rare global agreement. Standard time originated in the late 1800s from the US railroads seeking standardization to operate across the country. This spread to global efforts shortly thereafter. But it was not until after World War I that the US Congress adopted standardized time.
Michael Skerritt shared a member moment. He explained that he grew up in the Caribbean and came to the United States in 2014. He joined Rotaract in 2015 and Rotary in 2021. He is trained as a civil engineer with a focus on water projects. He welcomed the opportunity to meet people and was attracted to the international dimensions of Rotary. He believed that Rotary provides a structure and framework “to give what you can, when you can.”
May O’Brien announced the recognition by the Co-Partners of Campesinas organization for the Club’s support in projects in Central America to support women and children. She detailed the projects supported by the Club in Guatemala and El Salvador.
Jenna Hampton reminded everyone of the Hike for World Polio Day sponsored by the Rotaractors on Saturday, October 22, 2022, in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Todd Miller reminded everyone of the October 23, 2022 meeting to review the Centennial Grant. He explained that everyone was welcome to participate and there was still time to review the applications in advance of the meeting.
President Marilyn introduced the speaker, Beatriz Ceja-Williams. Mrs. Ceja-Williams is the Director of the Hispanic-Serving Institutions Division (HSID) in the Office of Post-Secondary Education. The HSID is responsible for the administration of the Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Promoting Post Baccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans, and the HSI STEM and Articulation programs. Prior to this role, she served as a Program Manager for the Teacher Quality Programs in the Office of Innovation and Improvement.
As a Program Manager, she oversaw the administration of several discretionary programs including: Race to the Top District, Teacher Quality Partnership, School Leadership, Supporting Effective Educators, and Transition to Teaching. Mrs. Ceja-Williams has also served as the federal liaison to the states of Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for the U.S. Department of Education’s Migrant Education Program. Mrs. Ceja-Williams has presented at numerous education conferences on school leadership, teacher quality, migrant students, and cultural literacy. Fellowships include the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Fellowship Program, the Department’s Excellence is Government Fellows Program, and the Executive Leadership Program.
She earned her BA in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and her M.A. in Education and Human Development with an emphasis in Bilingual Education and Special Education from George Washington University.
Mrs. Ceja-Williams described her role overseeing grants to minority-serving institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Asian-American-serving, Native American-serving, and other institutions. These institutions are qualified based on enrollment and compete for funds. She also discussed the importance of education to the Latino community, noting that she was an example of that emphasis and was the first in her family to attend college. She was raised with the ideal that “once you have an education, no one can take that away.” She also explained how this educational focus will likely have greater impacts given the large percentage (25%) of current K-12 years who are Latino. After a question-and-answer period that included questions about bilingual education and equity, President Marilyn presented Mrs. Cera-Williams with a certificate for the planting of a tree under the Club’s Trees for the Capital program.
President Elect Lisa Cohen announced a Fall 5k Walk/Run sponsored by Rotarians for Equality for Black People on October 29, 2022, commencing at the Carter Barron Center at 16th Street and Kennedy Street NW.
President Marilyn participated in flag exchanges with the Rotary Club of Coimbatore Aakruthi (RI Dist. 3201) and with Khaled Sabah’s mother Mahael Messiri, who is a visiting Rotarian from Cairo, Egypt.
President Marilyn reminded everyone of the Club social at the REACH Kennedy Center on Friday, October 21.
The Raffle was won by Mahael Messiri but as a visitor, she could not participate in the large pot drawing.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 PM. Ken Brown was the Zoom producer and Steve Liston was the producer in the room.
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