Inspiration: Ann Griffith inspired us with several quotes from Mother Teresa including “Peace begins with a smile.”
Curt Bear introduced Guests:
-Bill Brayden – Rotary Club of Foothills
-Ali Eccleston — guest of Molly Skold
-Karen Estlund - Dean of Libraries at CSU
-J-D Murphy – Rotary Club of Foothills
-Mario Simpson -Kira Taugney— guest of John Hintzman
IDEA (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Awareness) Quote: “When we listen and celebrate what is both common and different, we become a wiser, more inclusive, and better organization.” - Pat Wadors
Future Programs: Please see the side panel for upcoming speakers and be sure to invite your friends.
Rotary Cares: If you are aware of a fellow Rotarian who is going through a challenging time (i.e., personal or family health, family death, etc.) please let Sara Murphy know Sara.jane.murphy1@gmail.com so we can let them know we are thinking of them and provide whatever support we can.
Good News:
-Lieghanne Alford was pleased that her spouse, Wes was told by his oncologist that he did not need a check-up for another 6 months.
-Gary Turner’s 14-year-old granddaughter qualified for the International AAU 1- and 3-meter diving competition.
-Walt Grady is undertaking a 6,000-mile boat trip along the east coast with a friend for 5 to 6 weeks.
-Teres Lambert shared that the Field Of Honor and Becky de la Torre’s participation in the Field Of Honor as a Community Supporter and a person who purchased a medallion were featured in a two-page article in the latest edition of “Stroll”.
-John Shaw was proud that his former business Davinci Signs was awarded the BBB Torch Award for Ethics. He was happy that he spent three days canoeing with his brothers on a river.
-Bill Honn’s daughter-in-law’s brain cancer has been in remission for 6 months and his son, Travis, is taking six of his bosses from the fire department and their wives on a two-week catamaran trip in the Caribbean. Then Travis and his wife, Emma will be going to Europe for 22 days and will finish their trip at the Hotel Villa Austra, in Lovran Croatia, one of the premier historic hotels in Europe. Since the hotel was developed by one of Bill’s friends, they will be staying for free.
-Cindy Cloyd is thankful that her new hip is fine and that fellow Rotarians delivered many great meals.
-Ann Griffith was pleased when their daughter called that she was OK near a 7.7 magnitude earthquake.
-Bob Melrose is happy that our club is only $167 away from meeting our Rotary Foundation goal and very close to achieving the “Every Rotarian, Every Year” goal.
-Mark Campbell just returned from a trip from Miami thru the Panama Canal with 600 people on a cruise that cost $600/person to pass through the canal.
New member induction: -Leighanne Alford inducted new member Maria Elena Thomas into our club. We welcome Maria Elena with open arms.
Announcements:
-Mike Griffith needs one more person to help assemble bags for Honor Flight Veterans from Noon to 2:00 at the 4-H building on April 26.
Help is needed to coordinate the Rotary tent set up at the Field of Honor. Contact Mike Griffith at 970-402-9134.
-Mark Campbell announced that The Rendezvous Trail clean-up has been postponed until April 26 at 9:00 am.
Bill Brayden and JD Murphy from the Foothills Rotary Club would like to invite Rotarians to register for the Quad Club meeting at the Marriott on May 13 to hear Justin Reeves, CDR Navy and 3 crew members of the USS Colorado, the nuclear submarine.
-Teres Lambert introduced the 2025 Field of Honor medallion and explained the process for purchasing a medallion for $50 to honor a relative, friend, business associate or veteran (living or deceased).
- The website to order medallions will be available after April 20.
- Watch for emails to promote medallion sales via email, Nextdoor and sharing FaceBook posts
- Teres has post cards to give to businesses and friends
- Sell medallions at the Field of Honor from May 23 to 26
- Ask businesses to become Community Supporters of the Field of Honor
-Notify Diane Knight if you have a relationship with a business you would like to have someone contact about being a Community Supporter.
Program: Molly Skold introduced our speaker, Karen Estlund - Dean of Libraries at CSU
-Karen has been serving on national library efforts around Artificial Intelligence (AI) through the Association of Research Libraries and Coalition for Networked Information, and she co-led the Colorado State University System AI Task Force.
-Karen shared many AI tools for enhancing efficiency. -Karen uses AI to help her with administrative tasks i.e. create an executive summary of several emails and to revise her emails for clarity.
-There are many issue/concerns related to AI use:
- -Bias in AI – images for a librarian may be older
- -Copyright violations – NY times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft
- -Plagiarism – students must site AI when used in a paper but can’t have AI write the paper
- -Environmental impact – one query uses enough electricity to power a cell phone for a day
- -Colorado’s Consumer Protections for Artificial Intelligence Act (SB24-205 becomes effective February 1, 2026 and has some restrictions applied to AI.
-Students who received Chatbot texts about their assignment received final grades 11 points higher than students that did not.
Leighanne Alford inducted new member Maria Elena Thomas:
Karen Estlund - Dean of Libraries at CSU:
2025 Field of Honor Medallion:
