Vineland Rotary Newsletter May 6, 2024 (May 06, 2024)

Highlights from our April 30th Meeting

President

Andy Browne welcomed everyone. Steve Plevins led us in the Pledge of Allegiance, Donna Bennett performed the 4 Way Test and Pastor Heather Sudgen gave the invocation. Alicia Fichera was our notetaker and photographer with photo assistance from Gus Foster and Cara Stanzione.

President Andy acknowledged Rotarian birthdays - Charles Parrish, May 1 and Brian Rehm, May 4. Guests included our speaker, Rylee Howerton, her mother, Julie Howerton and Josie Neill.

Announcements

Following the meeting, Rotary members stayed to stuff Mother's Day bags. Some of the bags will be presented to mothers at the Cumberland Family Shelter, some will go to St Vincent De Paul and others to a local church. The project was coordinated by Sherry Soutiere, Community Service Director (see pictures below).

Alicia Fichera mentioned she has been in communications with Dave Hanrahan and Alan Schultz and they are discussing dates with a possible tentative date of 10/12/2024 for this year’s Pedals for Progress event!

Karen Bauman mentioned the changeover dinner is scheduled for June 20th -- keep a look out

for your invitation to come!

Golf Outing May 15th: Josie Spinelli (right) showed off our volunteer t-shirts for the outing as she reminded everyone that our FIRST GOLF OUTING will be at White Oaks on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. We currently have 20 foursomes signed up! This is an important fundraiser for Vineland Rotary - it will help support many of our service projects and commitments. We are fortunate to have many sponsors but there is still time for more sponsors to commit! Make sure you share this information -- just follow this link:

https://vinelandrotary.org/sitepage/2024-vineland-rotary-golf-outing

The annual RYLA conference will take place Sunday, June 23- Thursday, June 27th! Our students are all selected and ready to go. For more information about RYLA, follow this link:

https://district7505.org/sitepage/youth-services/ryla

Our Program - Rylee Howerton

Steve Plevins told us about our speaker - Rylee Howerton

Here is what Steve shared: He explained her wonderful accomplishments, awards and volunteer work. She received a Lifetime Volunteer Award from President Obama. She mentioned one day to her mom that she wanted to play football. So she did! She went out to play in midget league and did great. She also started running cross country. When she moved on to high school she joined the track team. She received 10 Varsity Letters! She went to Vineland High and now goes to OLMA. Recently she came in second in a track meet against a major high school, he said "she’s strong, do not mess with her!!!"

Rylee has been accepted to the College of New Jersey. She wants to help deaf individuals. She will be majoring in Deaf Education. She was also just certified in sign language!

Rylee w

ent on to win Miss Cumberland County Pageant this year. She will go on in June to compete in the Miss New Jersey pageant!

Steve introduced Rylee. She mentioned how she has nothing left to say because Steve told her whole story! She told us that she was born with a chromosome disorder; it is called Edwards Syndrome. It affects her 18th pair of chromosomes (we have 46 which means 23 pairs) which have 3 instead of 2. That gave her a 5% chance to live through birth and if she did, she had a 1% chance to see her 10th birthday. She is now 18. When her mom and her dad heard about the disorder, the doctors pushed abortion on them. They told them “she would not amount to anything, she would be a burden to her family and her siblings would lack quality of life. She wouldn’t walk or talk and she would have no quality of life.”

They celebrated EVERY birthday because you never know if she would make it to the next one. She wanted to hit all milestones. She always stressed about not making it to her 10th birthday. But here she is today and she hit every milestone she put in place for herself. When she was 6 she was diagnosed with autism. With Edwards Syndrome she also had selective mutism. This inspired her Deaf Education path. She knew how to talk but she didn’t chose to. Her mom and dad utilized sign language to communicate with her when she was younger.

Her parents always taught her to take care of her community. She has always been involved in volunteering and is grateful to Steve for being a wonderful source in helping her find those opportunities. Recently she interviewed and applied for the Bonner Scholarship at TCNJ. If she was granted this, it would pay for 50%-100% of her tuition. There are 100’s of applicants and they narrowed it down to 60. 25 will be chosen. There is actually a school for the deaf near TCNJ and surprisingly, they do not have anyone that speaks sign language. She is hoping her ability to speak that language will help put her at the top of the list considering the cost to attend the college.

Q & A

Jay Einstein asked about the Master’s Program. She will be enrolled in an accelerated double master’s program studying deaf education and integrative STEM education with a focus on science specifically in Chemistry! Once she hits age 23, she will have her Masters two BS’s and three teaching degrees. OLMA already offered her a position there to teach. As she works there, she will be enrolled in a PhD program through Lamar University in Texas. By 27, she will have her Ed.D.

Donna Perez asked what her talent will be in the pageant. Rylee loved this question. She will be weight lifting as her talent. She showcases her mental and physical strength by lifting 118 pounds over her head on stage in front of the judges.

Steve Plevins asked her to talk about how she goes into elementary schools to

teach against bullying. She told us she is a published author and wrote her book at the age of 14. (see picture) She created this initiative when she was 9 it is called CHOOSE WISE WORDS. She goes around to educate children and adults the importance of the words that have been normalized in society that could potentially hurt or offend someone based on their sexual orientation, disability, or their ethnicity, etc. It is words that we do not realize could hurt someone, like the word “retarded” or “crazy” or “dumb” or “stupid”. This book puts that into perspective and utilizes an easier language for children to understand.

Cara Stanzione asked what her favorite lunch is at OLMA and mentioned that her mom is Mrs. Stanzione who works there. Rylee told us her favorite is General Tso’s Chicken, it is the best there and includes a fortune cookie. She mentioned how she was sad that yesterday was her last time having that in her high school career.

Rylee mentioned that she is the first contestant diagnosed on the Autism spectrum to compete on the Miss New Jersey stage.

Everyone in the room agreed that Rylee was truly inspiring. She impressed us with her well spoken words and focus. We are all so proud of what she has accomplished and cannot wait to see all of the amazing things she will do with her future.

Here is a link to purchase her book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/3tG74Zw