On September 29, 2023, we had our first Service Project for the Club year. It was a partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters in their first Career Night for their new class of freshman students and some sophomore students. It was held at Tucson High School. After the new Bigs and Littles met for the first time in person earlier in the afternoon, we kicked off the Career Event portion of the evening.Jim Murphy, RCOT Grants Chair, who worked with CEO Marie Logan to organize the event, talked briefly about Rotary: Rotary International, what it is and composed of, it’s goals, motto, and the 4 Way Test; Our Club: our international and local projects of service, the funding of local nonprofits, and fellowship, as well potential opportunities for the students such as, scholarships, RYLA and the student exchange program.
Rotarian Pat Zumbusch was the main motivator of the evening.
He started off by saying “Though I stand here with gray hair, in a tie and look like a nerd…I grew up in a pretty poor household in rural Minnesota. There was a lot of yelling in my house, a lot of mom and dad fighting, partly because we didn’t have any money and then partly because my dad was an alcoholic.” After he talked more about his early life, work and hardships, he noted his eventual successes and offered his advice: “1. Open a book and study. 2. Secondly, don’t be afraid to fail and 3. Lastly, learn to be good at something that you like…and then excel at it”, and he explained each recommendation with examples and testimony at a level the students could understand. Rotarian Jon Wang, one of the Table Professionals, commented regarding Pat’s comments: “Thank you Pat, for connecting yourself and us to these young people through your eloquent descriptions of your journey from a dysfunctional household to pooper scooper to super CEO, in multiple enterprises, by dint of conscientious attention to education and consistent effort.”
He started off by saying “Though I stand here with gray hair, in a tie and look like a nerd…I grew up in a pretty poor household in rural Minnesota. There was a lot of yelling in my house, a lot of mom and dad fighting, partly because we didn’t have any money and then partly because my dad was an alcoholic.” After he talked more about his early life, work and hardships, he noted his eventual successes and offered his advice: “1. Open a book and study. 2. Secondly, don’t be afraid to fail and 3. Lastly, learn to be good at something that you like…and then excel at it”, and he explained each recommendation with examples and testimony at a level the students could understand. Rotarian Jon Wang, one of the Table Professionals, commented regarding Pat’s comments: “Thank you Pat, for connecting yourself and us to these young people through your eloquent descriptions of your journey from a dysfunctional household to pooper scooper to super CEO, in multiple enterprises, by dint of conscientious attention to education and consistent effort.”
Bigs and Littles then moved from table to table to learn of the various careers from the professionals who were at the tables. Rotary was represented by Jon Wang, Joni Condit, Roger Harwell, Lea Marquez Peterson, and Pat Zumbusch. There were others at tables representing the Tucson Police Department, Pima Community College and South Tucson Fire Department, to name a few. 
It was so successful that Marie noted that they intended to continue with the Career Night event and will be giving us feedback after completing a survey of the Bigs and Littles who participated. Marie passed on initial comments from one of the Bigs “How are you feeling about your match, now that you’ve met? Why do you feel this way? I feel great. I even got choked up when the Rotary individual was speaking. I sat there and thought, gosh if I had just had something like this when I was in school. It’s so cliché but High School years fly by so fast and I wish I had done things differently. The impact I hope to have with Anaiya will make up for my regrets I feel now from when I was at her age.”
