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On July 25, Downtown Rotarians had a very special opportunity to learn about this fascinating project from the James Webb Space Telescope Project Manager, Bill Ochs. Bill is a friend and former colleague of Raven Aerostar President Jim Nelson, and graciously agreed to come present to our club in person. Bill shared an overview of the Webb Telescope, engineering challenges, the Webb Telescope launch, verifying Webb in space, and early science observations. In case you missed it, wanted to share it with others, or just wanted to watch the fascinating information again, here is the link: https://youtu.be/84AtKlW1qBE
You can also find ongoing published images here: https://webbtelescope.org/
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), released its first full-color images and spectroscopic data on July 12, 2022. You can view the images at: https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages/
As the largest and most complex observatory ever launched into space, Webb has been going through a six-month period of preparation before it can begin science work, calibrating its instruments to its space environment and aligning its mirrors. This careful process, not to mention years of new technology development and mission planning, has built up to the first images and data: a demonstration of Webb at its full power, ready to begin its science mission and unfold the infrared universe.
Congratulations to the 2020-21 Ritz Rotarian of the Year Joel Dykstra! Joel epitomizes the Rotary motto of Service Above Self. He led the club as president, helped establish the Centennial Fund, led the club’s sponsorship of the Arc of Dreams, has mentored many leaders in the community and served in numerous other capacities throughout the community including as a representative in the SD legislature. We couldn’t be more pleased to announce Joel Dykstra as Ritz Rotarian of the Year!
On January 27th, Mayor Paul TenHaken announced a new mentoring initiative to a over-capacity crowd at the Washington Pavilion Belbas Theater. Nearly 350 business and non-profit leaders were in attendance. The Sioux 52 Mentoring Initiative seeks to unify Sioux Falls area non-profit, business, and faith communities in order to create a universal, significant and long-lasting commitment to mentoring in our city. The goal is to recruit 5,200 mentors by 2026 and for the City of Sioux Falls to become known as the City of Mentoring. Mentoring in our community truly makes a difference and changes lives for the better. Sioux 52 is a collaboration between the City of Sioux Falls, Helpline Center, the Rotary Club of Downtown Sioux Falls, Lawrence & Schiller as well as business leaders and mentoring organizations in the Sioux Falls region. For more information to to become a mentor or business visit Sioux52.org.
In January, we received the results of our RFP with the Augustana Research Institute (ARI). The report in its entirety is available for download using this link: Rotary Mentoring Report. ARI 's Principal Investigator, Dr. Suzanne Smith, and her team created an extremely well executed report allowing us to put our club's next steps together. Here is an Executive Summary of the information.
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