Rotary Club of Encinitas

This is my 14th year in Rotary. I have been active since I started. Since the club is the basic building block of Rotary, I’ll start there. Our club sponsors a larger soccer tournament with over 200 youth teams each August and a Wine Festival in May. From this 90 member club, we raise and distribute in excess of $100,000 annually. I have been our club’s Rotarian of the Year, Secretary, Foundation Chair, and President (1999-2000). At the district level, I have been Assistant Governor twice, Membership Development Chair twice, and active in other district events. On the international front, I have been a Rotary Dist 5340 volunteer for two projects in Malawi. The first delivered orthopedic supplies to in-country hospitals, and the second assisted in delivering over 2000 wheelchairs. For the past two years, I have been involved with Incoming Ambassadorial Scholars. A year ago Lynn, my wife, and I hosted Yohane Masara, an Ambassadorial and Fullbright Scholar from Tanzania. Yohane and I are still in regular email contact even though he’s back home now. This year I have been Incoming Ambassadorial Scholars Chair.

Sponsor Club: El Centro

My innate internationalism can be attributed to my upbringing in the colorful border town of Calexico, California. By being exposed to two distinct ways of life, I learned at an early age the importance of respecting other’s cultural heritage and how to navigate seamlessly between two countries. In addition to the aforementioned, I realized that an open-minded encounter with another human being always leaves us with something valuable.

As a student of life, I am constantly seeking knowledge; whether I’m in a classroom teaching, or in one learning or on an airplane heading to a city of historical importance. I left the Imperial Valley to study theatre in Santa Barbara, California; I stayed in the area where I worked in human resources for a few years until I decided that I wanted to do something to create social change, with the hope of following in my mothers’ footsteps. In 1998, after completing my Bachelor of Science in Social Studies and History at San Diego State University, I began to teach at a continuation high school in El Centro. It was there that I found my true calling – teaching.

The opportunity arose for me to attend Stanford University to pursue a Master’s degree in Education with an emphasis on teaching history, I jumped at the chance. While at Stanford I participated in the founding an inner city college prep high school. This was the experience of a lifetime because it was confirmation to the fact that there is a lot of work to do in reforming our schools and that all students can learn and achieve if we expect them to. I graduated from Stanford in 2002, while there I was awarded the STEPPie of the Year Award, an Outstanding Student Teacher Award from the Santa Clara Council for the Social Studies and selected to present the Professor of the Year Award at commencement.

I had a long trajectory of volunteer work and a commitment to improve my community. I served on the board of The American Association of University Women, The Imperial Valley Arts Council and currently serve with the Literacy Volunteers of America. An advantage to being bilingual, bicultural and by the border is that I was able to provide my translation services to The Baja Project for Crippled Children.

Sponsor Club: Coronado

I was born and raised in Mexico City. I have an American mother and a Mexican father. I attended an American school where I learned how to read and write English. I spent most of my childhood drawing and painting on my own. When I turned 17 years old I moved to Massachusetts to get ready to apply to art school. I attended the Massachusetts College of Art where I majored in Fiber Art.

I began working at Program for the Developmental Disabled after graduation from art school. I realized I enjoyed teaching people to make art as much as I enjoyed making it myself. It was time to stabilize so I decided to become an Art Teacher rather than a struggling artist. Three years later I graduated with a Masters in Art Education.

The sun brought me to southern California. I landed a job at Coronado Middle School. Coronado is a beautiful island off of the San Diego Coast. I am in my third year of teaching art, I am also responsible for teaching students how to produce their school’s year book. People tell me I must be extremely brave to work at the middle school level. My response is "even though I have to be tough I enjoy every aspect of my job. It’s different and exciting each day".

Sponsor Club: Encinitas

I was born in Hollywood, California. I spent the first four years of my life in Granada Hills, California. After an earthquake ruined our home, my parents, brother, sister, and I moved to Thousand Oaks, Ca. in 1971. While I was growing up, I enjoyed playing softball, riding motorcycles and horses, reading, swimming, and water-skiing. My family never traveled much, so my big travel experiences were to Lake Millerton in Fresno, California each summer. In 1985, I graduated from Westlake Village High School, where I will return this July 9th to celebrate my 20th reunion.

As far as education goes, I wasn’t a promising candidate for college in my high school years. Neither my grandparents, my parents, nor my siblings went to college; therefore, no one pushed me to go. After graduating I worked in restaurants for five years and then became bored. A friend suggested college and I laughed! My grades from high school would not get me into any college! He explained the junior college system and I decided to give it a try. That was in 1990 and after attending Mira Costa Community College for four years, UCSD, and USUI, 11 years later I had earned a Bachelor’s in Political Science with a minor in Spanish Literature, a Master’s degree in Education, and my Secondary Teacher’s Credential in Spanish and ESL. I have additionally studied in Mexico, D.F. and San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and Salamanca, Spain.

Currently, I am teaching Spanish at the San Dieguito Academy in Encinitas. This year will be the start of my fifth year at the Academy and I have to say it is the best job I have ever had and the best gift I have ever contributed to my community. The kids make me get life just a little bit better and each day I am so excited to interact and learn with them. Some of my extra curricular activities at school are: Comedy Sportz Club advisor, Harry Potter Club Advisor, Building Union Rep., and I also take large groups of student travelers abroad. In 2003, I took 47 students to Spain for a study/homestay program. In 2004, I took fifteen students to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands and 15 students to England and Scotland. This summer I am taking 26 students to Spain. Traveling and education are my passions and I also enjoy doing yoga, cooking, going to concerts and plays, reading, and of course eating all that good food I make!

Sponsor Club: Chula Vista

I am a sixth grade Bilingual teacher and I have a story to tell you, well more like my testimony why teaching has been my destiny. I came to the United States from the civil war torn country of El Salvador at the age of 12, not knowing any English. My first experiences of school here in the United States were not pleasant, I experienced culture shock, and confusion in this new world and language that I was facing. By the time I was in 9th grade English I was only being taught at a 3rd grade level. Fortunately I had a strong academic foundation in my primary language, to pull me through in spite of how I was taught.

Growing up in a low socio-economic Latino community I experienced the disparity in public education. I saw how the lack of role models and the non-involvement of parents affect the education of students of lower socio-economic status. I have experienced inequitable treatment that is commonly attached to minority students seeking all levels of education. Having experienced all of this I told myself, that I will do something in my life to provide opportunities for both parents and students to appreciate and value education. Realizing what I had to do I devote myself to do everything possible to go to college. I sought a degree in education because it was the most reasonable field to major in. I graduated from San Diego State with a B.A. in Liberal Arts and a Masters degree in Latin American Studies, this gave me all the necessary tools to go back into my community and become what I had envisioned.

As an advocate of social justice I envision public education as the best avenue for positive change. I see the teaching profession as being the most empowering of disciplines. Currently in my tenth year of teaching I feel more enthusiastic about this career than I did as a first year teacher. I have become aware over these ten years that teaching provides abundant opportunities for the improvement of me as a teacher, a community member of my school, and as a person.

Sponsor Club: Lemon Grove

Lisa Dunitz was born in Queens, New York. After spending a few months in the city, her family moved to Connecticut for a few years. The big change occurred, however, when her father relocated the family out to Overland Park, Kansas. Lisa would definitely define herself as a mid-western girl.

After graduating high school in 1987, Lisa attended Kansas State University to pursue a degree in Psychology. Upon graduation, Lisa returned to Kansas City to work in the Human Resources department of Coca-Cola Bottling. One year later, Lisa moved to the farming community of Anthony, Kansas where she taught at class for a local community college and worked as a substitute teacher K-8. This peek into the educational field motivated Lisa to return to Kansas State University to receive a degree in Elementary Education.

Lisa began her teaching career at Central Junior High in Lawrence, Kansas where she taught 7th/8th grade science for four years. Her next position was in Kansas City, Missouri at Center Middle School also teaching science for 7th grade students. In August of 2000, Lisa relocated herself to sunny San Diego. She joined the staff of Palm Middle School in the Lemon Grove School District and has been teaching both 7th/8th grade science since then.