Rotarians are people of action! And never was this so clear as last week, when the government “shutdown” was in full force with no clear end in sight, and the personnel at our own Coast Guard base were bearing the brunt of Washington’s inability to forge a deal. Rotarians rose to the occasion: we raised $2,500, invited all local affected federal employees to be our guests at weekly Rotary dinners, and invited Coasties to our homes for dinner. Way to go, Rotarians!

Our recent guest speaker for the evening was Glenn Kapiloff, director of adult education at Mt Blue High School in Farmington and immediate past president of the Farmington Rotary Club, as well as a veteran who spent a year in Baghdad teaching trades to Iraqi citizens. Glenn and his wife Sheri drove through nasty weather to speak to us, and we thank them for that as well as for a marvelous presentation.

There’s a perception among young people that they can’t get good jobs in Maine, Glenn pointed out. And there’s also a perception by employers that there are few young people with the skills to do the job. “Our goal is to give potential employees the skills they need and let employers know that they are available for hire,” he explained.

Glenn told us about a $64-million upgrade that has transformed career-technical education at Mt. Blue. It used to be, he said, that the tech ed classes took place in the back of the school (“literally at the back door”); now the classes are intermixed with those of more academic subjects. As a result, many traditionally academic students are finding that they are interested in taking a technical class or two, and vice-versa. With low employment throughout the state, Glenn has found that students are increasingly interested in the assurance of a career in the trades rather than a more academic course of study with more uncertain job prospects.

Glenn stressed that career-tech education cannot be successful without the buy-in of the Chamber of Commerce and local employers. The point is to build students who are equipped to fill jobs – as a result all courses at the center offer college credits and meet industry standards. He schedules an open house and tour each month and frequently finds himself joined by a business person planning to start or expand a business who is eager to find employees. Glenn also pointed out that career-tech ed students frequently are given more responsibility than takes place in a more traditional setting. “In a typical school, a student might need a hall pass just to go the bathroom. I’ll give an auto repair student the keys to my car to drive it around from the parking lot to get the oil changed, if that’s what needs to be done. So there’s a lot more trust and expectation of maturity in career-tech ed,” Glenn said.

Courses available at the facility include plumbing, medical, composites, firefighting, forestry, welding, early childhood development and more. “Whatever jobs need to be filled, we try to develop a program for students to fill them,” Glenn said. He mentioned the CMP proposal to build a power line across Maine. “Whatever you think of the politics,” he said, “the project, if it comes through, will involve lots of jobs. We’d rather those jobs were filled by our own young people than people from out-of-state. So we’re looking to start electrical classes.”

With the current concerns about population size in our own school system, it was great to hear from a community that has created an attractive program that is both building job skills and keeping its young people employed in state. And this presentation also was in harmony with our club’s own ongoing interest in vocation training, which includes a new $1000 scholarship for a local tech-ed student and the vocational night we held last fall. Thank you, Glenn, for opening our eyes to what is possible in career-technical education!

But that was just one of many activities announced at last week’s busy meeting.

John Welch reported that a half-dozen Rotarians had volunteered to co-host the community lunch on the fifth Thursday of the month (January 31) – local churches take care of the first four Thursdays of each month but the occasional fifth Thursday is not currently hosted. Further, he said, the group will come back with a proposal to cover the fifth Thursday on an ongoing basis. Rotary rocks!

Vic Taylor explained that the ongoing work to combat food insecurity in the region has received new impetus thanks to a proposal by the BRCRC. The suggestion is that we engage in a process of “appreciative inquiry” with recipients to find out what works and what they need before we jump to any conclusions. Vic, John Welsh, and Fleet Davies are spearheading Rotary’s involvement in this effort, and are currently fundraising to raise the $10,000 needed to get this underway. Our club has agreed to help with the financing; The threesome are looking for other funding from interested parties in the area. Rotary responds!

Prospective members, visiting Rotarians and guests are always welcome to join the Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club at our weekly meetings, held Thursday nights 6-8 p.m. at the Rotary Clubhouse, 66 Montgomery Road in Boothbay Harbor. If interested contact Alice Neily Mutch 410-353-3861. Conviviality at 6 p.m., dinner at 6:30, followed by a short business meeting and  a special speaker. To learn more about Rotary and our Club and all the good things we do, visit our website www.boothbayharborrotary.org or "friend" us on Facebook.