Speakers

Speaker	Date	Topic
Rachel Chu of Lake Washington High School	May 06, 2024 6:30 PM	Rotary Student of the Month Rachel Chu describes herself as empathetic, driven, and open-minded. She has already accomplished major benchmarks in her high school career, some of which include being HOSA's secretary and the Symphony Club's conductor, playing in Honors Orchestra, earning the Presidential Service Award in FASCA, and improving Lake Washington High School's environment through clubs such as Green Team and Multicultural Club. Rachel’s most important community involvement is in FASCA, where she’s served in countless events for cultural awareness and education, such as parades, festivals, performances, diplomatic gatherings, summer camps, and overseas programs. Ultimately, Rachel hopes to grow even more in the coming years of high school and grow her community at the same time.
Dr. Wen Chen of Caltech	May 06, 2024 6:40 PM	Human rights movement in China Since 2012, Dr. Wen Chen has given hundreds of presentations to community organizations about Chinese culture, history, and human rights. In this presntation, she'll tell the story of Chinese authorities arresting millions of citizens for their spiritual beliefs or political views. These prisoners of conscience have been tortured, forced into slave labor, and killed for their organs. While it takes several years in the U.S. to wait for matching organs, most Chinese hospitals promise to find donors within weeks. The Chinese police, legal, and military system collaborated to perform the state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting. Rotarians will also learn about the Chinese Communist Party’s infiltration into the U.S., the human rights movement in China, an innovation that allows people to bypass China's Internet blockade, and the trend of quitting the Chinese Communist Party. Dr. Chen was born in China at the end of the Great Cultural Revolution. Being victims of the horrific atrocity that killed two million intellectuals and destroyed traditional Chinese culture, Wen's parents had mixed feelings about her education. Despite their discouragement, Wen eventually won a national prize at a science competition when she was 16. She was accepted into a top university for undergraduate study. In 1994, Wen came to the U.S. for graduate school and received a doctorate in Biology at the California Institute of Technology in 2000. Dr. Chen has been working for Caltech since 2000 as a biologist and information scientist on genomics and biological research. Part of her everyday work is to speak at scientific conferences and seminars in universities like U.C. San Diego and Harvard Medical School. She is an active member of the Amnesty International Chapter at Pasadena, a board member for Caltech Women in Biology and Biological Engineering, and a special event host for the Caltech Alumni Association. She lives in Pasadena with her husband and two daughters.
Nan Su of SOH International Chinese Radio Network	May 13, 2024 6:40 PM	Wisdom and humanity from ancient Chinese culture With millions of people infected, COVID-19 has brought the world’s attention to Chinese regime’s cover up of the pandemic information. China’s ethical standards and moral values once again have become a hot issue. Traditional Chinse culture has lasted for more than 5,000 years. No civilization without ethical standards and moral values can endure such a long history. But what are those values from China’s tradition, and where are they now? For Americans to understand and to face the challenges brought to the free world by the current Chinese regime, the discussion about the traditional Chinese culture is more important than ever before. Born and raised in China, Mr. Nan Su came to the U.S. in 1989. Mr. Su has been serving as a news commentator for SOH International Chinese Radio Network and NTD International TV network since 2003, and has made many speeches at public events in the past decade on China-related topics. In addition to his media work, Mr. Su has also been an activist for China’s human rights. He was one of the coordinators of Human Rights Torch Relay in 2008 prior to Beijing Olympics Game. The Relay spanned from July 2007 to July 2008, with stops at more than 140 cities around the world in order to raise international awareness of China’s human rights situation. Mr. Su has been married for more than 30 years, and currently lives with his wife and two daughters in San Jose, California.
Outstanding Educator Awards	May 20, 2024 6:40 PM	Honoring middle school educators for outstanding service The Rotary Club of Kirkland very much appreciates the work local educators are doing to offer quality instructional and support programs during the most challenging of times. Despite the challenges presented to our community today, we continue to recognize outstanding educators within our region. While it’s likely there are several examples of “outstanding Service Above Self” among the staff at each school in our community, each year one or more schools nominate one educator who best represents characteristics drawn from the “Object of Rotary”: Capitalizing on his or her relationships as an opportunity for service; Exhibiting high ethical standards in the conduct of his or her professional activities, the recognition of the worthiness of all occupations contributing to quality education, and the dignifying of each educator’s contribution as an opportunity to serve society; Demonstrating the ideal of service in his or her personal, professional, and community life; Contributing to the advancement of understanding and goodwill through an attitude of fellowship among professional allied in the ideal of service. The Rotary Club of Kirkland is pleased to honor staff of the Lake Washington School District in the Kirkland area who best represent these high ideals.
Memorial Day (No Meeting)	May 27, 2024
Scholarship Night	Jun 03, 2024 6:40 PM	Rotary Club of Kirkland Scholarship Presentations
Matthew Gardner, Real Estate Economist	Jun 10, 2024 6:40 PM	Real Estate Outlook