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Rotary Club of Madison, Wisconsin Rotary Roundtable — News from Downtown Madison Rotary Skip to content Website Facebook LinkedIn ← Older posts The Wisconsin Civics Games: An Important Competition Posted on March 4, 2020 by jaynecoster | Leave a comment submitted by Larry Larrabee; photo by Mark Moody Eve Galanter (right) pictured here with Club President Andrea Kaminski Eve Galanter told of why and how she founded The Civics Games, an annual competition among high school students from all regions of Wisconsin. A few years ago, she became concerned when learning that research demonstrated the profound lack of knowledge of civics and the very poor level of participation in civic affairs among citizens of America. Thirty-two percent of Americans cannot name the three branches of government. A high percentage of elected offices at the local level are either uncontested or lack any candidate at all. Because teens like competition and “to know more than their parents,” Ms. Galanter developed a contest similar to the old College Bowl television series. Her approach to the Wisconsin Newpapers Association Foundation for sponsorship was met with enthusiastic approval. For the first time, last February, students at all Wisconsin high schools were invited to form teams and compete at regional contests held at state universities throughout the state followed by the championship round at the State Capitol. Each round consisted of teams competing to answer 100 questions. To demonstrate, she provided Rotarians the opportunity to answer five questions from last year’s championship round. If you were with us, you would know how we fared. Let’s just say, it was not a slam dunk. So as to include our honored ten spelling winners, she asked them to spell “emoluments,” a topic that will be addressed at this year’s Civics Games in April. Most Rotarians were surprised to learn that civics is not required for graduation in Wisconsin, also true of most states. However, Wisconsin does require all graduates to pass the naturalized citizenship test with a score of at least 60%. For more information about the games, please go to www.wisconsincivicsgames.com . If you missed our meeting this week, you can watch the video here . Leave a comment Posted in Rotary Club of Madison , Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker Tagged Eve Galanter , Madison WI , Rotary Club of Madison , Wisconsin Civics Games , Wisconsin Newspaper Association HAMILTON: An American Musical Posted on February 26, 2020 by jaynecoster | Leave a comment “Hamilton: The Musical is the biggest tour of a Broadway show to hit the road in years, maybe decades,” Sarah Marty , Producing Artistic Director of Four Seasons Theatre in Madison, told Rotarians on Wednesday, February 26. “Hamilton represents an entire industry, with ripple effects that go far beyond the lights of Broadway,” she said, adding that it had surpassed the reach of any other Broadway musical, including the phenomenal popularity of Oklahoma following its 1943 debut. Locally, Madison’s Overture Center sold over 53,000 tickets to Hamilton, and Marty cited an estimated additional economic impact of $37.36 per person beyond the ticket price. Both nationally and locally, Hamilton was hugely popular, inspiring people to stand in line for hours for tickets. There are currently six productions of Hamilton touring all around the country, bringing in millions of dollars every week. Beyond the economic impact of its huge success, though, Marty points to Hamilton’s other ripple effects, including increases in actors, producers and audiences of color. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton was inspired by Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton. When Miranda picked up the hefty Chernow book in an airport and then read it, he immediately thought, “This is a hip-hop story,” calling an early version of the piece The Hamilton Mix Tape. The elaborate musical production that eventually resulted is so complex that fans have put together a website at Genius.com to provide footnotes and links to all the many facts alluded to in the musical. Marty cited the end of Hamilton as pointing to the importance of the work: It causes us to think about “who lives, who dies, and who tells your story.” If you missed our meeting this week, you can watch the video on our club’s YouTube Channel here . Leave a comment Posted in Rotary Club of Madison , Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker , Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker Tagged Hamilton: An American Musical , Madison WI , Rotary Club of Madison , Sarah Marty Taking the 2020 Census Posted on February 19, 2020 by jaynecoster | Leave a comment submitted by Jessika Kasten; photo by Mary Ellen O’Brien On February 19, 2020, Becky Schigiel , Sr. Partnership Specialist with the U.S. Census Bureau, spoke to Downtown Rotarians about the upcoming 2020 United States Census. Becky spoke to us about the three top reasons that the Census is so important: 1) It’s the basis of our democracy. The Constitution specifically calls out that everyone in the United States will be counted every ten years so that we can determine representation, 2) It the basis by which $675 billion dollars are distributed by the Government annually. Census data is used to determine the amount of funding for important things such as roads, school lunches, foster care, special education and much more. It’s estimated that for every person missed in Dane County, we lose about $2,000 annually for each of the next 10 years, and 3) Census data is heavily relied upon by leaders (community, faith, business) when making decisions that impact our local communities. The three takeaways that Becky wanted us to take with us are that the Census is safe, easy and important. All household data is confidential, and the government has been working for years to ensure that the data gathered through the online process is secure and encrypted. In terms of being easy, the survey is available online, by phone, by mail – or in person once the door knocking campaign begins in May. The survey is also available in 13 languages and there are guides for many additional languages. Mailings will begin in mid-March, encouraging people to start taking the census. Paper forms will arrive in April, and in-person door-to-door outreach will begin in May for anyone who has not responded. In 2010, Wisconsin had the highest response rate (83%), which we are looking to repeat in 2020. Becky asked the group to help share census information with our connections/groups, especially those groups most likely to not self-report (children under the age of 5 were the most under-reported group in 2010), as well as to spread the message regarding employment opportunities. Dane County needs to recruit about 4,000 additional census takers over the next two months – a position which pays $22/hour. For additional resources, or to apply for position, please visit 2020census.gov. Leave a comment Posted in Rotary Club of Madison , Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker , Uncategorized Tagged 2020 Census , Becky Schigiel , Madison WI , Rotary Club of Madison Rotary Friendship Exchange February 2020 Posted on February 18, 2020 by jaynecoster | Leave a comment submitted by Dick Fayram and Mark Moody Eleven people have returned from a two-week Rotary Friendship Exchange with Rotary District 4340 in Central Chile. The group included Madison Rotarians Ted (& Joan) Ballweg , Dick (& Liz) Fayram , and Mark (& Candace) Moody , David & Inger Clemens from the Wisconsin Dells, former District 6250 Governor Chuck Hansen from La Crosse Downtown, Mark Etrheim from La Crosse Valley View, and Darla Leick from Marshfield Sunrise. The group visited seven clubs in Santiago, Rancagua, and Santa Cruz. We learned about the wonderful service projects sponsored and supported by each of the clubs. The clubs are small, ranging from 10 to 30 members. We were all inspired by the efforts of each club in their respective communities. Santiago is a beautiful city of 8 million people w...