UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

Greetings Optimists,

Wow!!! What a great time this past Friday night at the 2^nd Annual Trivia Night. 24 teams from the campus, community, and surrounding area. 33 children who participated in the children’s activities, supervised by many of the UWW Student Optimists, while Mom and Dad participated in the trivia competition. Wonderful silent auction and live auction items. Check the Whitewater Banner web site for descriptions and pictures.

Kim has received some nice emails and face to face comments about the evening. We also had a good balance of Student Optimists, Community Optimists and other helpful volunteers at the event. Congratulations to Jan Olson and her team for winning the event this year! Kim Simes and her team are to be complimented again for their many creative answers to some of the difficult questions. Some of their answers were even correct!

There are many “Thanks Yous” to be shared but they need to start with Kim Adams. Kim once again took the lead on this event and started the planning and promotion last October. She and I have already discussed ideas for next year’s event, such as location, maximum number of teams, how to display team standings on the computer system in the venue, how to collect evaluations electronically, and on, and on. With Kim’s help, I hope to have a complete list of thank yous later this week.

Overall, a great success!! Preliminary numbers are: Gross income of approximately $8,900. Net income of approximately $7,100. More details regarding the split of proceeds between our club and the UWW Student Optimist Club will be discussed and shared with you.

This week’s meeting will be Wednesday evening, February 25 at 5pm at Jessica’s Restaurant. See our list of upcoming speakers below.

• Speaker for upcoming meetings are:
  • Wednesday, February 25 – Dr. John Chenoweth, new Dean of the College of Business and Economics at UW-W.
  • Tuesday, March 3, UW-W photographer Craig Schreiner
  • Tuesday, March 17, UW-W Provost, Dr. Beverly Kopper
  • Tuesday, March 31, Tom Grosinske, Washington Elementary School Principal and new Whitewater High School football coach
  • Tuesday, April 7, Kat Shanahan, UC Promotions Coordinator
  • Tuesday, April 21, Deb Weberpal, Senior Coordinator for the Seniors in the Park program in Whitewater.
  • Wednesday, April 29, – no speaker yet
  • Tuesday, May 5, –  no speaker yet
  • Tuesday, May 19, Tami McCullough, UW-W Campus Facilities Planner.
  • Wednesday, May 27, – Karen Wislocky, Director of the UW-W Intensive English Institute

• Other dates coming up for club events include:
  • Easter Egg Hunt, Saturday, April 4 at the Whitewater Middle School, pending approval from the school district.
  • City-Wide Rummage Sale, Saturday, May 16. (The one and only planning meeting will be Thursday, February 19.)
  • Gyro Stand at Whitewater 4^th of July Celebration, July 2-4, 2015 (based on calendar but still to be confirmed)
  • Jefferson County Fair ticket selling, Wednesday, July 8.

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749

Greetings Everyone,

After being very busy two weeks ago and out of state for a conference last week, I’m back and ready to get caught up on most/all things Optimist.

• A “shout-out” to club member Jim McLernon!!! Jim organized a “Super Bowl Squares” event for “The Big Game” this past February 1 and was able to make a $100 donation to the club at our Tuesday, February 3 meeting.
• Tuesday, February 17 (tomorrow) we’ll meet at 12 Noon in UC 259A for our Youth of the Month meeting. Lunch will be catered and cost is $7.00 each.
• Our speaker for tomorrow, February 17, will be Jan Bilgen, Associate Director, UW-W Career and Leadership Development. Jan will be speaking about the value of joining student organizations, how to find out about student organizations, general categories of student organizations at UWW, and (if time permits) basic overview of career development and those related services from C&LD.
• Friday, February 20 is the second annual Trivia Night. We presently have 23 paid teams for the evening with the possibility of one more team. Helpers are still needed for setup and cleanup on the 20^th. The team putting this together has been outstanding! Further updates will be provided at our Tuesday meeting.
• Speaker for upcoming meetings are:
  • Wednesday, February 25 – no speaker yet
  • Tuesday, March 3, UW-W photographer Craig Schreiner
  • Tuesday, March 17, UW-W Provost, Dr. Beverly Kopper
  • Tuesday, March 31, Tom Grosinske, Washington Elementary School Principal and new Whitewater High School football coach
  • Tuesday, April 7, Kat Shanahan, UC Promotions Coordinator
  • Tuesday, April 21, Deb Weberpal, Senior Coordinator for the Seniors in the Park program in Whitewater.
  • Wednesday, April 29, – no speaker yet
  • Tuesday, May 5, –  no speaker yet
  • Tuesday, May 19, Tami McCullough, UW-W Campus Facilities Planner.
  • Wednesday, May 27, – no speaker yet

• Other dates coming up for club events include:
  • Easter Egg Hunt, Saturday, April 4 at the Whitewater Middle School, pending approval from the school district.
  • City-Wide Rummage Sale, Saturday, May 16. (The one and only planning meeting will be Thursday, February 19.)
  • Gyro Stand at Whitewater 4^th of July Celebration, July 2-4, 2015 (based on calendar but still to be confirmed)
  • Jefferson County Fair ticket selling, Wednesday, July 8.

Share the Optimism,

Dave Halbach

UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

920-650-6089 or 262-472-5749