l-r: Sophia Floyed, Kim Varey, and Valerie Li

Kim Varey, vocational service co-chair introduced two Rotary Scholarship Award Winners at the July 19, 2016 Rotary Sunrise breakfast meeting, Sophia Floyd, an Abraxas High School graduate, and Valerie Li, originally from Taiwan, will be a senior in the fall at Rancho Bernardo High School.

 

Sophia spoke first, talking about her background of working full time since the age of 15 and becoming self-supporting at 17 years old.  She continued to support herself while going to school and applied for many different college scholarships, including a Rotary scholarship.

 

She is currently registered to take classes at Mesa College starting in August 2016.  She feels there is a wide array of different opportunities available to her and will not take any for granted.  She knows from experience what you can overcome to achieve success.  She sees school as a priority, like a job, and is excited for all the different possibilities that await her.  She was composed and gracious in thanking Rotary for her scholarship and was appreciative of all the possibilities that the scholarship money affords.

 

Valerie spoke next about being the president of her school’s Model UN club in her upcoming senior year and hopes to engage other students in international relations interests.  A Model UN program is a simulation of the UN General Assembly where students role play the ambassadors from different countries debating topics as diverse as maternal health and landmines to promoting literacy.  She also spoke about focusing on three areas in the Model UN club, including research, fundraising, and conferences.  She plans on participating with her club members in conferences locally and nationally, and go on to be in the Model UN in college as well.  Valerie was very appreciative of receiving a Rotary scholarship for her continuing college education.

 

At the July 19, 2016 meeting of RB Sunrise Rotary, Scott Peters, the United States Representative for California’s 52^nd congressional district, spoke about serving in the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C.  Representative Peters, a Democrat, in his third term in Congress, serves as a member of the House Armed Services Committee and sits on two subcommittees: Seapower & Projection Forces; and Intelligence, Emerging Threats, & Capabilities.  As a member of the Armed Services Committee, he is responsible for the oversight and legislation pertinent to our national defense.

 

Mr. Peters started out about talking about his focus in Congress was to get funding for scientific research, support for innovators in business, and everyone having access to education.

 

As a member of Congress, he worked to repeal the “Obamacare” 2.3% excise tax on medical devices that hurt small innovators.  It did not get repealed but was delayed by two years.  Mr. Peters supported a permanent R&D tax credit of $2,500 for students and succeeded in getting $2 billion in funding for the National Institute of Health, which in turn is $2 billion in funding for San Diego biotech businesses.  He also is dealing with the government’s wildfire funding program by getting additional funding to fight fires in the San Diego area.

 

As a member of the Armed Services Committee, he makes sure that the seven military installations in his district are being funding appropriately, including the Navy Seals of Coronado, Miramar Marine Corps Base jet hangars, and retrofitting of ship structures and building of new ships.