Bridgewater Rotary Club

06/03/2026

At our June 2, 2026 club meeting we were pleased to have Padmakshi (Paddy) O'Neil as our guest speaker. Her topic was the "Neuroscience of Decision-Making" and this was a very informative as well as entertaining program. Paddy is a partner and co-founder of Elev8worx LLC and she has over 25 years experience in human performance and safety consulting, facilitation and training. Did you know that the human brain can make up to 35,000 decisions every day but only 5-10% of these are made consciously? Decisions may be "fast" (prone to bias, based on gut feelings and intuitive) or "slow (deliberate, analytical or data-driven). We tend to judge ourselves by our intentions but others tend to judge us by our decisions so we need to try to align these two principles and practice our decision making. We were also glad to have as additional guests, Jon O'Neil, Doug Goodell and Amanda Miller Garber.

06/01/2026

And, making new friends and having fun while doing it. Come join us - the only requirement is a genuine interest in serving our neighbors in the community and around the world.

06/01/2026

It is the Club's tradition to honor our outstanding local Vocational/Technical teachers and at our May 19, 2026 meeting it was our privilege to welcome our guests from Turner Ashby High School, Wilbur Pence Middle School and Massanutten Technical Center. Club President Johna McFarland described Rotary’s history in valuing the importance of each type of vocation. The local school administrators described the recipients and their deserving work in their respective vocational or technical fields. Mindy Shifflett, Assistant Principal at Turner Ashby High School, described the work of their recipient, Kendall Simmons, in the Agriculture Department. Kendall has 170 students in FFA and said she has fun each day. Teresa Shank, Principal of Wilbur Pence Middle School, described the work of their recipient, Alvin Alexander, in Career and Technical Education. Alvin is retiring after this year and always told his students to "never say never." Bethany Cubbage, Assistant Director of Massanutten Technical Center, described the work of their recipient, Kim Capasso, in Architecture and Interior Design. Kim is also retiring this year and said she loved teaching and will miss it. She will also be greatly missed by MTC. Each recipient received a certificate of appreciation for their contributions and a $400.00 honorarium to purchase supplies for their classes and/or programs.

05/14/2026

05/06/2026

Also, at our May 5, 2026 club meeting, Club Administration Chair, Charlette McQuilkin, recognized Safalta (Safi) Shrestha as this year's recipient of the Carlyle Whitelow award. The Club is honored to work with the Town of Bridgewater to present this fifth annual Carlyle Whitelow prize in his memory. The award is given to a Bridgewater College student that exemplifies Carlyle's kindness, love of community, generosity of spirit and dedication to the Rotary motto of "Service above Self". The recipient receives a $1,000.00 award. Safi came to Bridgewater College from Nepal and is studying Psychology and English and plans to go on to graduate school to become a licensed professional counselor. She stated that she was very nervous about traveling across the world to attend college in Bridgewater but that she had found a "home" here.
We congratulate Safi on this well-deserved award.

05/06/2026

At our May 5, 2026 club meeting we welcomed Heather Cole as our guest speaker. Heather Cole is a writer, editor, publisher, archivist and public historian living in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and also an editor and media relations director at Bridgewater College. She has written books on the immigrants of Norwood, Massachusetts and the seven U.S. Presidents from Ohio. Her focus for her presentation to our club was on the eight U.S. Presidents from Virginia. Her presentation was both informative and entertaining as we learned more about George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Zachary Taylor, John Tyler, William Henry Harrison and Woodrow Wilson. William Henry Harrison was President for only one month after catching pneumonia during his long inauguration speech, John Tyler had 17 children and Woodrow Wilson was our only President after the 19th century. For more about Heather and her work, please email
[email protected]

04/30/2026

From the 2022 District Conference - original song about one of the foundations of Rotary - The 4-Way Test

Is it the Truth?
Is it Fair to all Concerned?
Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

04/30/2026

This year's Rotary District 7570 (stretching from Wi******er to Kingsport, TN) Conference was held right here in Harrisonburg at JMU's Atlantic Union Bank Center with our District Governor Andy Vanhook and other area Rotarians presiding. Each area club presented a short video describing the focus areas of their club and we thank Nadia Dames for doing her normal outstanding job describing our club and activities. For those of us fortunate to be able to attend, we were able to attend several workshops on how to grow and better our clubs, hear inspiring speeches from Ramesh Ferris, a polio survivor, and from David Beasley, former governor of South Carolina, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program. There were also club and individual awards, the Four-Way Test Speech Contest Winner, TED talks and an informative panel on human trafficking. There was also plenty of time for fellowship, catching up with old friends and making new ones. We strongly encourage everyone to attend a District Conference (held in March or April each year) as this is a great way to learn about how Rotary helps people all across the world in so many ways. One speaker described Rotary as "friends working together to change the world" and it is truly amazing to see how our monetary and personal contributions to Rotary and the Rotary Foundation really do help "...people unite and take action to create lasting change across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves".

04/28/2026

It’s Superhero Day! 🦸‍♂️🦸‍♀️
April 28th isn’t just another day, it’s a full-on celebration of superheroes, both the ones in comic books and the ones walking among us!
Sure, when you hear "superhero," you might picture someone in bright tights and a cape (maybe even underwear on the outside, we’re not judging). But real superheroes come in all forms: they wear police badges, nurse uniforms, Rotary pins, or maybe just a big, kind smile.
Superhero Day reminds us that true heroism isn’t about flying or laser eyes, it’s about heart. It’s the courage to step up when someone needs help: feeding the hungry, comforting a stranger, changing a flat tire on a lonely road.
Today (and every day), let’s keep our eyes open for moments where we can be the hero someone’s hoping for. Don’t wait for "someone" else to do it, be the someone!

04/24/2026

Inspiring talk from a polio survivor.