SJ students honored at Voice of Democracy Awards Banquet
St. Johns students were honored at the 2016-17 Voice of Democracy Awards Banquet held at VFW Mint City Post 4113 in St. Johns. The annual event recognizes students in senior and junior divisions for their award-winning essays.
Post Commander Bob Etherton welcomed the students, their family members and guests. VOD chairman Hunter DeSander delivered the keynote address. Senior Vice Commander Larry Varney assisted with the presentation of awards to the students.
This year’s theme for the VOD senior division was “My Responsibility to America.” First place winner was Julia Fox; second place, Abby Murray; third place, Trevor Loznak.
The Patriot’s Pen junior division theme was “The America I Believe In.” First place winner was Oscar Ramirez; second place, Matthew Grzywacz; third place, Zachary Poff; honorable mention, Charlie St. George and Grace Moeggenborg.
First through third place winners in both divisions received VOD trophies and award certificates along with awards of $200, first; $100, second; $50, third; honorable mention, $25.
Junior Division winners for VFW Post 4113 are Charlie St. George, honorable mention; Zachary Poff, third; Matthew Grzywacz, second; Oscar Ramirez, first; (missing, Grace Moeggenborg, honorable mention.) Also pictured Larry Varney, Bob Etherton, Joe Martinez, Hunter DeSander.
And in weather news
Snow, rain, sleet, wind, ice, thunder and lightening – we have had it all; and sometimes all at once
New Toastmasters Club to form in St. Johns
You are cordially invited to attend a kick off meeting to form a new Toastmasters Club in the St. Johns area. The first meeting will be held at AgroLiquid Fertilizer, 3055 West M-21, St. Johns beginning at 6:00 pm. We are looking to charter a new club with at least 20 members to start. Come visit this new group – you won’t regret it.
What’s in it for you?
Toastmasters is a place where members develop communication and leadership skills personally and professionally. You join a community of world-wide learners, and in Toastmasters we learn by doing. Whether you are an executive, employee, stay-at-home parent or caretaker, a college student, or retiree, Toastmasters teaches members how to build skills to communicate in a variety of situations. A new world of possibilities may open up such as making an announcement in front of a group, speaking up in a staff meeting, improving interview skills, providing better presentations, and learning how to lead meetings. By participating in each club meeting and focusing on specific skills, members have improved confidence, learned to speak off-the-cuff and positively handling one-on-one interactions with family, friends, and colleagues.
Good leaders are good communicators. In Toastmasters, members hone speaking skills as they develop leadership abilities through evaluations, listening, mentoring, serving as club officers and filling roles in regular club meetings. Members take these skills beyond the club meeting by running businesses, joining non-profit organizations, improving interview and employment skills, mentoring youth, organizing fund-raisers, coaching teams, strengthening families and much more.
To find out more about Toastmasters International, its clubs, education programs and resources go to http://www.toastmasters.org/ and then attend our first meeting at 6:00 pm, Wednesday, January 18th at AgroLiquid Fertilizer.
For more questions or more information, please contact new club co-sponsors Jason Butler at 517-719-2797 or Lois Graham at 517-640-8603.
FOMR to meet January 18
The Friends of the Maple River (FOMR) will hold it’s Bi-Monthly meeting on Wednesday January 18th in the Commissioners Room at the Clinton County Court House in St Johns. The meeting will start at 7:00 PM. The Clinton County Courthouse is located on highway M-21(100 East State Street in downtown St Johns at the southern end of the central business district.
Anyone interested in the Maple River and it’s watershed is welcome to attend. This will be the Annual Board of Directors business meeting with the election of officers, committee reports, discussion and setting of the organizations 2017 calendar of meetings, projects and activities, and other business that is brought before the Board.
The Friends of the Maple River wants to say “Thank You” to the many donors, members and volunteers who graciously gave of their time and talents in 2016.
The Friends of the Maple River also ask that anyone living in the Maple River watershed make a New Years resolution to become more involved in the work of the FOMR. You can become involved in the organizations river “clean-up” program, participate in the river float trips, become a member of the FOMR and other organizations that are focused on protecting and restoring wetland and upland habitats within the watershed, and who are focused on the “Wise Use” of our natural resources including the Maple River and it’s watershed. We all need to be involved, so that we can pass on to the next generation the legacy of the wise use of our natural resources.
For additional information about the Friends of The Maple River and it’s programs, check out our website at friendsofthemapleriver.org, or like us on Facebook at Friends of The Maple River, or you can email us at FOMR_info@friendsofthemapleriver.org.
Early Valentine’s Day Concert – February 3
Are you looking for a wonderful early Valentine’s Day outing – a concert of love-songs from great jazz standards and musical theater? Then mark Friday, February 3 on your calendar.
The Wilson Collective is excited to announce its first concert of 2017, “Songs You’ll Love.” A wonderful vocal quartet, Romancing the Tone, will be giving a special concert in St. Johns on Friday, Feb. 3 starting at 7:30 p.m. in the Wilson Center Auditorium.
Romancing the Tone is made up of four talented singers, who have all sung with “Singers on the Grand” – Kelly Sandula-Gunner, St. Johns’ own Ellen Hoard, Dan Templin and Dave Sincox. They will be accompanied by an outstanding trio with St. Johns’ Jeff Richards on piano, Rick Peterson on bass and James Flanagan on drums.
There will be a $10 admission charge with all the proceeds going to the Wilson Center Auditorium project. The WC Auditorium is located at 101 W. Cass St. in downtown St. Johns, just south of the Courthouse.
Author, civil rights activist Myrlie Evers-Williams featured at Lansing event
The Greater Lansing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission will present its annual luncheon at 11 a.m., Monday, January 16, 2017 at The Lansing Center, 333 E. Michigan Ave.
Author and civil rights activist Myrlie Evers-Williams is the keynote speaker. She is the widow of Medgar Evers, a civil rights pioneer who was assassinated in 1963 in front of his family at their home in Jackson, Mississippi. Evers-Williams spent the next 31 years working for justice for her late husband, ultimately succeeding in 1994 when his killer was sentenced to life in prison. She is the first woman to head the NAACP (1995-1998), where she worked to set a new financial path and restore the image of the organization. She is also the founder of the Medgar Evers Institute. In 2013, she delivered the invocation at the second inauguration of President Barack Obama.