Friday Apr 13, 2018

"International Friends School coming to Bellevue in September, 2018"

Sue Brooks

Co-Founder & Head of School International Friends School, Bellevue

Scribe: Kaj Pedersen Introduced by: Rourke O'Brien

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We kicked off the meeting with Ann Norman’s invocation that enlightened our membership about the end of tax season and its importance to the community as whole, before leading us into the pledge of allegiance.  Colleen Turner introduced our guests attending the meeting, which is always a pleasure.

John Martinka tells us his vocational story

We kicked off the agenda with our vocational minute led by John Martinka, who reminded us about the importance of Rotary and its connections to support business.  He recounted his own story of how Rotary connections helped him successfully develop business opportunities.  A useful reminder of the value of our vocations, while still being focused on Service Above Self.

Randi Brazen addresses our club members

Chris Boland took the opportunity to rally us around the support our Race sponsors have provided this year.  We had the opportunity to hear from one of our sponsors, Randi Brazen, who introduced us to the new Central Bar in Bellevue that the Brazen family are opening.  The Brazen family have been long time supporters of the run, for which the BBRC are truly appreciative of over the many years that they have been involved with the event – thank you!

Welcoming our new member, Caitlin Devaney

We had the pleasure of inducting a new member into the club – Caitlin Devaney.  Caitlin was joined by her fiancee, Nick Odeh.  Caitlin was a prior member of Eastside Rotaractors, and we have been impressed with her involvement and commitment to the Rotary cause through this group.  We look forward to seeing Caitlin become active with us at the BBRC, where she has already signed up to join the Preserve Planet Earth, Youth Services and World Community Service committees. These committees also seem to align well with Caitlin’s enthusiasm for the outdoors (skiing, hiking, biking, camping and CrossFit) and her work at as a youth minister at the Holy Family Parish.

Sue Brooks and Alli Frank, co-founders of IFS in Bellevue

Finally, our program was kicked off with Sue Brooks and Alli Frank who are co-founding the International Friends School in Bellevue.  We learned about Quaker Education, the critical role that bi-literacy has in preparing students for their futures and a new way to implement the school calendar to minimize summer learning loss was thought provoking and makes a lot of sense.

We certainly wish them the best of luck in growing their attendance the first few years while IFS grows their class mix and reputation.  At this time, we concluded our meeting with a quote from Nelson Mandela: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

About the Speaker

In early 2016, Sue Brooks arrived in Seattle determined to bring a Quaker Friends School to students and families in the Pacific Northwest. A native of Wyoming, Sue first moved to China in 1975 with her parents in the diplomatic corps and siblings in tow. She has also lived in Nepal, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Prague and Mexico City. After a first career in media and television, education and children grew into her professional passion that has spanned three continents and three languages. In 2006, Sue founded a premier early childhood center in Shanghai, but after a decade with her school and her parents and two grown daughters resettled in the United States, a move to the West Coast came calling. In her free time, Sue is pursuing an EdD in Educational Leadership and enjoys escaping to the mountains for a hike when time and weather allow.

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