Tuesday, February 5, 2013
WE MEET RIVER CITY BREWING COMPANY
Lunch begins at noon - Meeting begins at 12:30 p.m.
Meet Matt Shirk
Chief Public Defender
Chief Public Defender
Matt Shirk is committed to providing the Fourth
Judicial Circuit with an efficient administration, effective legal
representation and engagement in the communities he serves.
Prior to becoming Public Defender, Matt spent time
as a sole practitioner, as an associate with a Jacksonville law firm and
five years as an Assistant Public Defender under the late Lou Frost. He
worked in the State Attorney’s office as a law student.
Matt earned his J.D. from Florida Coastal
School of Law in 1999. As a law student, he received various awards and
accolades for his academic accomplishments as well as his extra-curricular
involvement. Matt holds two Bachelor’s Degrees from Western Illinois
University; Law Enforcement Administration and Political Science.
Presently, Matt resides in Jacksonville with his
wife Michelle and their son Pierce. He is on the Board of Directors for
the Clara White Mission and the Northeast Florida Safety Council. He
serves as an Advisory Board Member for the Salvation Army and an Alumni Board
member at Florida Coastal School of Law. He is a member of the Southside
Business Men's Club and First Baptist Church downtown.
 | |
| President Jim Lanahan, Summer Cuevas, Nathan Rowicki & Event Chair Doug Matthews |
Nathan Rowicki Wins Speech Competition
The South Jacksonville Rotary Club hosted the a speech competition on January 29, 2013 during the club's weekly meeting. Participants in the contest were Summer Cuevas of Douglas
Anderson, George Abraham of Stanton, Alex Morrell of
Wolfson, Natalie Higdon of Bishop Kenny, Nathan Rowicki of Episcopal and Marijke Boers of Bolles. The topic of a 5-minute speech given by each participant was this year’s Rotary International theme, Peace
Through Service. Rotary members in attendance were the judges.
 |
| S. Cuevas, G. Abraham, A. Morrell, N. Higdon, N. Rowicki & M. Boers |
The
winner of the $2,000 Rotary Speech Competition Scholarship was Nathan Rowicki
of Episcopal.
The
runner-up, awarded a $1,000 Rotary Speech Competition Scholarship was Summer
Cuevas of Douglas Anderson.
Each
of the other four participating students won a $500 Scholarship in recognition
of their having won their school’s intramural speech competition.
Upcoming Club Event
The Rotary Club of South Jacksonville is presenting a
night at the Alhambra featuring the play “Driving Miss Daisy”. Proceeds will benefit the Episcopal
Children’s Services “Generations Start” Project. March
6, 2013 at The Alhambra Dinner theater, 12000 Beach Boulevard.
Our club has committed to buying the
entire show for the evening and we will have exclusive use of the
venue. Reception will begin at 5:30 PM with the bar being on the main floor. Dinner service will be 6:30 PM to
7:30 PM. Show begins at 8:00 PM.
Each club member is responsible for the sale of 4
tickets at $75.00 each for a total of $300.00.
Your account will be billed automatically February 6. *Sale or
purchase of a sponsorship at any of the levels below satisfies your ticket
responsibility.
There are sponsorship opportunities at the following premium levels: (See promotional sheet at the sign-in desk
for the complete benefits of each sponsorship level.)
*SPONSORSHIP LEVELS
Title Deed Package $7,500
Limo Package $5,000
Driver’s Package $2,500
Passenger’s Package $1,000
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Toula Wootan and Fred Haley on their engagement!
Recap of the January 29th Meeting
Greeters: PE Harlan Bost
The Prayer & Pledge: PP Barry Covington
Family of Rotary Update: Mary Alice Phelan
Introduction of Visitors & Guests: P Jim Lanahan
Introduction of Guests from Bolles: Rick Morales
Introduction of Guests from Stanton: Bill Jaycox
Introduction of Guests from Episcopal: Skip Booth
Introduction of Guests from Wolfson: Bill Langley
Introduction of Guests from Douglas Anderson: PP Barry Covington
Introduction of Guests from Bishop Kenny: Laura Hopkins
Speech Contest Master of Ceremony: Doug Mathews
Speech Contestants: Marijke Boers, Alex Morrell, Summer Cuevas,
Natalie Higdon, George Abraham & Nathan Rowicki
South Jacksonville Rotary Club hosted speech competition. The contestants were local high school students. Their biographies are below:
 |
| Marijke Boers |
Marijke
Boers is a Senior at The Bolles School. She is a member of National Honor Society, National Chinese Honor Society, and the Phoenix
Society (for students who are accomplished in more than one fine art). She was awarded Freeman Family Award for her
attributes of Character, Scholarship, Leadership and Service. She
has been a member of the Varsity Tennis team since the 8th grade. Last year, the Varsity team won the FHSAA
State Championship title for division 2A. This season, she will be Varsity team captain.
Marijke has also been involved in the Bolles Chorus since 6th grade
and has been a member of the Bolles Select Ensemble and Acapella Group since 9th
grade. She is currently the President of
the Advanced Women’s Chorus. She sang the National Anthem at the Citizen
Naturalization Ceremony at the Jacksonville Federal Court House two years in a
row and is scheduled to do so again this spring. She has also been a member of
Bolles Improv Theatre group since 10th grade. She is a member of the
Play for Change Club, Music for a Cause Club, Musicians with a
Message Club, Poetry Out Loud Club, Chinese Culture Club, Young Women of
America Club and
she is the treasurer of Bolles Young Democrats Club. She is a certified Quick
Start Tennis Coach, a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and Row for the Cure.
In the summer of 2011, she participated in a Summer Study abroad program sponsored
by the Chinese government to travel to Beijing, Xi’an, and then to study at a
Chinese high school in Qing Dao for a month.
She then later hosted two Chinese students in America for two and a half
weeks.
 |
| Alex Morrell |
Alex Morrell is a Junior in the International
Baccalaureate Programme at Wolfson High School. He is currently ranked 6th in
his graduating class, has maintained straight A's throughout high school,
accumulating a 4.6 GPA. Alex is the president of the Economics Club, a member
of National Honor Society and an honorary junior in Senior
Fellows, and on the varsity baseball team. In addition he devotes many
volunteer hours to Angel Aid and maintains a part time job. Alex's immediate
goals are achieving both the IB Diploma and acceptance to Brown University
 |
| Summer Cuevas |
Summer
Cuevas is a Junior at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts where she majors in
creative writing. She loves poetry and oral interpretation. Last year she
received a National Gold Key from The Scholastic Art and Writing Foundation for
a personal essay she wrote about a person who changed her life. She is the
president of Douglas Anderson’s Literary Arts Honor Society and next year will
be taking over the Spoken Word Society as well. Upon graduation from DA Summer
plans to study Broadcast Journalism and Communications and minor in Creative
Writing.
 |
| George Abraham |
George Abraham is a
Senior in the IB Programme at Stanton College Preparatory School. He
plans to pursue a degree in materials engineering with an undecided minor in
Chemistry, English, or Political Science. George was accepted by the
University of Chicago and Swarthmore College under their Early admissions
programs, and has chosen to attend Swarthmore College in the fall. George
is the president of Stanton's spoken word poetry society, “The Expressionists.”
He also co-founded a music community service club known as the “Ensemble
Club.” George is also involved in Stanton's step team, IB magazine,
Stanton's Literary magazine, varsity swimming and diving teams, the Stanton
Medical Society, National Honor Society, English Honor Society, Math Honor Society,
and the French Honor Society. He maintains a 4.7 GPA, and ranks within
the top 3% of his class at Stanton. George has played piano for 12 years,
and is currently enrolled in private lessons. He works at Publix as a
bagger and cashier on the weekends, and also works as a lifeguard for the City
of Jacksonville during the summer. George participates in the River City
Swim team each summer, and volunteers to coach children on that same team.
The awards he has received include numerous Poetry Slam victories, the
National AP Scholars with Distinction Award, first place in the regional
History Fair for two consecutive years, second place in the Science Fair for
Chemistry along with the Charles Biehler Memorial Award For Excellence And
Innovation In Science, and winner of the competitive 2012 Kids Who Care essay
contest, sponsored by First Coast Oncology.
 |
| Natalie Higdon |
Natalie Higdon is a Senior at Bishop
Kenny high school. She is the Co-Captain of the Forensics Team, competes in public forum debate, president
of the Anchor Club an all-girls service organization and a member of German
Honor Society. She will be attending the Ohio State University next year
majoring in aviation. She hopes to follow in the footsteps of her mother and
become a pilot at FedEx or delta and continue her charity work in India.
 |
| Nathan Rowicki |
Nathan Rowicki is a Senior at Episcopal School
of Jacksonville. He joined National Honor Society
in the 10th grade, and Cum Laude and Mu Alpha Theta in the 11th grade. His GPA
is 4.45, which currently ranks him number one of 135 in his graduating class.
In the 11th grade, Nathan received the Yale Book Award, and the Rensselaer
Medal Award, which is awarded to the student that excels in advanced math and
science courses. Nathan has also received the academic award (top 5% of
the class) in every class he has taken every year. He scored a 35 on his ACT
and 5’s on all six of his AP exams. His
interests include music and computer programming. He plays seven
instruments including the saxophone, piano, clarinet, bass clarinet, Irish
flute, recorder, and electric bass. He is a
student leader in ESJ’s chapel band. He is also a member of the concert band,
jazz band, student vestry, and youth group. He is an active member of his
church and sings bass in the choir. Nathan
is a National Merit Semifinalist, and will major in
business at college.
