Stories

1. Be a graduating senior from one of the area high schools
2. Provide acceptance letter and confirm your plans to attend accredited college or trade school.
3. Return completed application, available April 1, 2022, to Scholarship Committee by April 30, 2022 at 5 p.m.

1. Merit based on grades in high school, test scores, courses taken, etc.
2. Extracurricular activities as described on application;
3. Participation in Rotary projects such as speech contest, music contest, Rotary Business Achievements, Rotary Youth Leadership Award, Interact Club, Rotary Youth Exchange;
4. Personal statement of objectives and goals (not to exceed 400 words)

The purpose of the ABO program is to award scholarships to deserving high school seniors who have triumphed over hardships and demonstrated academic success, personal leadership and courage.  

We expect a full house, so please come early.  Lunch will be available starting at 11:15 am.

Alan Olive, MPH, MHA, is CEO of Northern Nevada Medical Center. Born and raised in Reno, Olive has more than 20 years of healthcare leadership experience, specializing in integrated health systems, population health, project management, health plan partnerships, hospital operations, and physician relations.a

He has served as an executive with health systems to include: Intermountain Health based in Utah, Renown Health, Providence Health and Services based in Portland Oregon, MountainViewHospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas Nevada and Northern Nevada Medical Center.

Under Alan’s leadership, his hospitals and health systems have achieved numerous awards in quality and patient experience. In 2017 alone, Northern Nevada Medical Center earned the following awards:  Business of the Year Award, Patient Safety Award and Patient Experience Award.

Alan earned a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Brigham Young University and a Master of Public Health - Hospital Administration and Master of Healthcare Administration from Loma Linda University.

Alan serves on a number of community and regulatory boards including: The American Heart Association, Truckee Meadows Community College Foundation and Past Chairman of the Nevada Hospital Association.

Alan is married to VaLynn Olive and they are proud parents of five children, two grandchildren and a dog.

Alan is an avid biker, hiker and learning how to be a grandfather.

Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Mad Money Raffle. The drawing was held yesterday evening during the City of Sparks, Nevada Government Hometowne Christmas Tree Lighting event. Proceeds from the raffle help fund various community projects each year, including dictionaries for every third-grader and Kids Free Fishing Day in June. 

Grand Prize ($10,000): Leila Groves

First Prize ($1,000): John Graham

Second Prize (Nugget Package 1): Andy Gephardt

Third Prize (Wine Wagon): Mark Stevenson

Fourth Prize (Nugget Package 2): Dick Loveall

Fifth Prize (Reno Phil Package): Paul Speakman

We thank our club members for their efforts to sell raffle tickets for our annual fundraiser. Thanks also to members that helped fill the Wine Wagon Prize.

Special thanks to our ticket and prize sponsors:

Thanks to Nevada Blue (www.nvblue.com) for design and printing of the raffle tickets. 

Thanks to the Nugget Casino Resort and Marnell Gaming for generously donating two gift packages including restaurant gift certificates and room nights. 

Thanks to the Reno Phil for generously donating a ticket package for the raffle. 

Thanks also to all who purchased tickets for this year’s fundraiser to help fund our various community projects.

Our program will be provided by Heidi Parker, MA. As Immunize Nevada's executive director, Heidi leads and engages a diverse and passionate coalition of staff, volunteers, partners, and funders across Nevada’s rural, urban, and frontier communities.

Bringing over two decades of experience in nonprofit program management, fundraising, and marketing; she has dedicated her career to being able to affect her community in a positive way, whether working with Head Start families, victims of violence, college students or Nevadans needing immunizations.

Under her leadership, Immunize Nevada is deeply involved in community outreach, collaborative projects, and fundraising efforts aimed at helping close the vaccination gap Nevada faces. Heidi lost her best friend to Hepatitis when she was in elementary school and her great-grandfather died in the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. These personal and family losses drive her motivation to ensure no one suffers from a vaccine-preventable disease, and vaccines continue to have an influential voice.

Heidi has earned numerous awards for her commitment to community involvement, including the Reno Gazette Journal’s Twenty under 40, Nevada Business Magazine Healthcare Hero, PRSA Sierra Nevada Mark Twain Community Service, Vegas Inc. Healthcare Headliner, and the CDC Childhood Immunization Champion; and has presented at a variety of regional and national conferences, including the CDC National Immunization Conference. Heidi is a 2nd generation DePaul Blue Demon and received her Master of Arts degree from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. She is also a graduate of Duke University’s Executive Nonprofit Leadership program.

Thank you to Marty Harsin and NNSCI for their generous donation to the Rotary Club of Sparks in support of Kids Free Fishing Day!  This will help to provide poles, fish, food, and fun at the Kids Free Fishing Day event coming up on June 9 at the Sparks Marina!

Mark McKinnon, President, Marked Studios

Tattooing is an art form like no other, and Mark is one of the most gifted artists in the field.  From the time he could recall real thought, any and all forms of art inspired him.  He loved art, painting and sculpting.

Fast forward many years, and it was tattooing that intrigued him and got his attention.  He saw artists producing pieces that looked like paintings on the skin…so after pursuing his studies, he mastered this passion.

Today he loves designing pieces for people who want to tell a story with their tattoos, or want to set a permanent love on their skin because of the passions they have in their lives.  Everyone has a unique story behind it, sometimes simple, and sometimes very heartfelt and complex.  He loves each and every one of the meanings behind his client’s pieces.

Tattoos and tattooing in general has taken a huge turn in society.  It has become a legitimate contributor to the economy and the business world.  High level professionals are wearing beautiful pieces of work underneath an exterior of their professional lives.  The concept is poetic on its own.  People are expressing themselves with tattoos because they feel comfortable with the acceptance in their lives.

Mark will share with us expressions tattoo artists today are taking with their work - realism, water color, pop art…a precision art that has been honed through years and years of dedicated passion.

Our program this week will be led by John Scire, MBA, Ph.D and former Nevada Assemblyman Pat Hickey.  Mr. Hickey will discuss diplomatic and foreign policy while Dr. Scire will discuss military options.

John Scire has a Ph.D. in International Relations and has taught U.S. Foreign Policy and other courses for over 20 years as an adjunct professor at UNR and elsewhere. He also has 30 years of military experience including 12 years in the Marine Corps as an active duty infantry officer, service in Vietnam and 15 years in the Army Reserve in Psychological Warfare units, with frequent deployments to South Korea. 

Pat Hickey is a former Nevada Assemblyman and serves as Honorary Counsel for the Republic of Korea.  He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science.  Mr. Hickey also led a group including Governor Sandoval on a Trade Mission to South Korea.

Morgan Nauman will present a recap of her year in Argentina as our Sparks Rotary outbound exchange student. Morgan, daughter of Sparks Rotarian Staci Nauman, had an eventful year and will fill us in on the ups, downs and adventures in Buenos Aires.

Terri Cooper is the Vice President of Sales at Switch.  Terri relocated to Reno, Nevada in 2016 to lead Sales for the Switch Citadel Campus. Terri leverages her background in application development, infrastructure and data center operations at multi-national corporations to help her clients develop their data center strategy and leverage the capabilities of the Switch ecosystem.   Her extensive experience in running data center migrations of all sizes enables her to assist her clients in the planning the move of their mission critical systems to Switch.  

Judge Scott Pearson will be introducing 11 of the 33 Washoe County High School students nominated to receive scholarships from the Rotary Achievement Beyond Obstacles Program.  The students will be telling their stories to the club members and guests.

The purpose of the ABO program is to award scholarships to deserving high school seniors who have triumphed over hardships and demonstrated academic success, personal leadership and courage.  During their senior year the students attend a 16-hour leadership workshop conducted by Dean and Rochelle Whellams. Although the workshop is based on the RYLA program, it is customized to address the challenges and hardships that these scholarship nominees have overcome. These students are offered opportunities through the ABO program such a Financial workshop, and Mentoring throughout the school year and continue that personal help even after they graduate High School and move on to College.  The ABO program offers scholarship money to previous winners that reapply and have met ABO criteria.

All 33 students will be judged by an ABO committee on their presentations and preparation for continuing their education.  This is a very difficult task but necessary since ABO is not financially able to award scholarships to all 33 students.

Scholarship recipients will be honored at an Awards Dinner held in April at the Atlantis where they will be celebrated for their achievements.

This week’s November 9th Sparks Rotary lunch meeting will be held in the Bonanza Room located on the second floor.  This meeting will be held in conjunction with our Career Coaching Day.  In addition, we will be hearing from our very own Christina Schlosser, who will be discussing the benefits of The Rotary Foundation.

The mission of The Rotary Foundation is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.

The Rotary Foundation helps fund our humanitarian activities, from local service projects to global initiatives. Your club or district can apply for grants from the Foundation to invest in projects and provide scholarships. The Foundation also leads the charge on worldwide Rotary campaigns such as eradicating polio and promoting peace. Rotarians and friends of Rotary support the Foundation’s work through voluntary contributions.

Steve Cerocke, President of IQ Technology Solutions, will discuss the challenges and opportunities for Reno/Sparks employers as new companies compete for talent and our area continues to grow economically.

IQ Technology Solutions is a Nevada based company with headquarters in Reno and a branch office in Las Vegas.  They focus on outsourced IT management and technology infrastructure services using a mature Managed Service Provider (MSP) model that provides organizations with increased reliability for critical IT resources, and increased productivity for staff.  They do this by positioning an industry standard IT service management framework coupled with the latest technology automation services and a dedicated team of industry professionals.

Steve founded IQ Technology Solutions in 1993 with the goal of providing professional technical services and IT resources to business, government and educational organizations. As a native Nevadan Steve grew up in Carson City, attended the University of Nevada Reno and is married to Diane, his wife of 35 years. Steve’s background includes 29 years in IT as well as founding and running 2 other businesses including a franchise IT training organization that was successfully started and sold. Steve is a regular contributor to the Reno Gazette Journal, donates time to several non-profit boards and committees and is on the Board of Directors for the Reno Chamber of Commerce.

For more than 25 years, CARE Chest has been re-using durable medical equipment, putting our community's resources into action. They have provided over 127,000 individual services in Northern Nevada and been a reliable resource for individuals who find themselves facing medical poverty.

CARE Chest is a  community-driven organization. Over 85% of  funding is private, and 100% of donations stay in Nevada. 

Learn more at www.carechest.org

O.C. Gillham is a corporate entertainer, motivational speaker and comedian. He has performed stand-up routines more than 200 times at Catch a Rising Star, the Silver Legacy, the Pioneer Underground and the Knitting Factory.  In addition to performing, O.C. is active in the local community, serving as a docent in the Nevada Museum of Art, volunteers for the Chamber of Commerce and hosting events for Reno's Breakthrough Network. Born and raised in in Arkansas, O.C. has lived in the Reno-Sparks area since the late 1960's

The Rotary District 5190 Annual Youth Instrumental Music Contest provides a chance for participants to win $1,000 for a 3-8 minute performance if they reach and win the district contest.  Participants begin at the club-level and winners advance to area contests before the district participants are chosen.

Sparks Rotary will hold its club-level music contest on April 20, 2016.  The final contest will be held at the District 5190 Conference in May.  Information regarding the music contest is available through the District website at www.rotarydistrict5190.org.

The contest is open to area high school students (including home schooled students) 14 to 18 years old. Area and District participants must be sponsored by a District 5190 Rotary Club.  Participants are judged based on musical ability, musical sound, stage presence, musical selection and musical empathy.

Youth Service has long held a high priority in Rotary, and by organizing club, area, and district music contests, we serve our young musical talent in this district! We provide the financial motivation of prize money and venues for musical competition.

“What it means to Be a Gift to the World, personally, and in my own words" is the theme for the 2016 District 5190 Speech Contest.

Sparks Rotary will host the Area 8 contest for participating students on April 13, 2016. The winner has the opportunity to advance to the  District level contest on May 14 . All speech documents and information are available through the District website at www.rotarydistrict5190.org.

The speech contest provides an exceptional opportunity for the young people in our community. Each year talented students demonstrate their speaking skills in front of Rotarians, guests and families …it is amazing to watch! Again, this year we will be providing students an opportunity to display their talent.

Each speaker will be introduced by number only with no mention of names or school affiliation until all contestants have given their speeches. Please hold your applause between speakers so that judges are not influenced by the audience, and that there will be silence between speakers to allow the judges an opportunity to rate the speakers.

• High ethical standards in business and professions

• The recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations

• The dignifying of each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society

“What it means to Be a Gift to the World, personally, and in my own words" is the theme for the 2016 District 5190 Speech Contest.

Sparks Rotary will host our club competition for participating students on March 9. The winner has the opportunity to advance to the Area and possibly District level contest on May 14. All speech documents and information are available through the District website at www.rotarydistrict5190.org.

The speech contest provides an exceptional opportunity for the young people in our community. Each year talented students demonstrate their speaking skills in front of Rotarians, guests and families …it is amazing to watch! Again, this year we will be providing students an opportunity to display their talent.

Each speaker will be introduced by number only with no mention of names or school affiliation until all contestants have given their speeches. Please hold your applause between speakers so that judges are not influenced by the audience, and that there will be silence between speakers to allow the judges an opportunity to rate the speakers.

Laura Jackson–in her seventh season as music director of the Reno Phil–continues to win praise for her inspiring leadership, innovative programming and passionate community engagement. With the help of first-rate musicians, choir, staff, board members, volunteers and community supporters, Laura captivates audiences and brings local and national recognition to Reno’s premier orchestra.

Carl has spent over 40 years in the healthcare industry as CEO, CFO, and consultant.  His expertise is business and strategic planning with the objective of improving financial performance of hospitals, clinics, and medical groups. He founded a website which provides access to publicly available data to support market analysis and financial performance benchmarking.  His recent clients have included Tahoe Forest Hospital (Truckee, California), Sonoma Valley Hospital (Sonoma, California), Marin General Hospital (Greenbrae, California), Sutter Health ,and California Department of Managed Health Care. He holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.A. magna cum laude from Occidental College, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.