Muse Machine

Phather Phil’s Prayer

Heavenly Father we have called upon You many times to help us slow down in our run thru life. Yet, we continue to keep our shoulder to the wheel and do our best to be the early bird that gets the worm. The beauty You have created for us goes largely unnoticed. We need to remember also, that it’s the second mouse that gets the cheese. We need to realize that all of Jesus’s accomplishments were done at about 3 mph. Thank You for all our blessings and let us follow You Son’s example on getting er done by not putting the pedal to the metal. Amen!

Today’s Guests

All Photos from the Meeting are Here

Special Announcement

Donna Huss announced that the next NOW event will by Tuesday, March 26th at St. Leonard’s Station House. This event will be held from 5-6:30 pm for the residents of St. Leonard. NOW is an acronym for “New Optimists Welcome”. Read more about it here.

Upcoming Social Events

4/1/2019, 6 PM Trivia party run by Scott Hall of @HallAroundTown at Chappy’s Social House

5/4/2019, Kentucky Derby Party at Remodeling Designs in Miamisburg

5/11/2019, Dayton Dragons game in a luxury box

Happy Birthday to Morgan Schiffhauer

Today was Morgan Schiffhauer’s Birthday! We gave her the honor of singing her “Happy Birthday”! She was very enthusiastic about the notably horrible rendition of the classic tune. She even gave two happy bucks! She said, “The singing of ‘Happy Birthday’ was horrible, but it’s the thought that counts.”

Committee Announcements

Jerry Stahley is selling raffle tickets for the OI Junior Golf Championship. The price is 6 Tickets for $5 and the prize is a case of wine. Tickets will be available for the next couple of months.

Stan Franzaglia, Childhood Cancer Committee, said the next Build-A-Bear will be early May, 2019.

Greg Fay stated that the next Optimist 2.0 meeting is March 21, 2019, 4 PM, at Heavier Than Air Brewing Company. It starts earlier than normal so you can enjoy the basketball tournament.

Mike Bevis, Golf Committee, said the golf tournament will be Monday, July 15, 2019. The next meeting will be March 20, 2019 at Buckeye Home Health Care.

Rosalie Catalano from the Muse Machine

Mike Bevis introduced Rosalie Catalano, the Director of Development of Muse Machine. The mission of the Muse Machine is to, “Change the lives of young people through the arts.” On their website the About page states, “Muse Machine is a nationally celebrated arts education organization serving more than 76,800 students and their teachers each year throughout central and southwestern Ohio and Kentucky since 1982. For most students, Muse will create “a-ha!” moments by suggesting imaginative bridges to curriculum. Many will use Muse to discover culture that may have seemed out of reach. Still others will explore their own creative paths through Muse. And all will benefit by the presence of enthusiastic, innovative teachers in their classrooms.”

Rosalie Catalano showed and discussed a slide show that you can view here.

Muse Machine was founded by Suzy Bassani. The Suzy Bassani Theater Off Third is still open, and she is still active in an unofficial capacity.

Students served are from Pre-K through 12. They believe the arts should be available to all children. They help 76000+ students in 108 schools in 13 counties in Ohio and Kentucky. They target Title 1 schools. A Title 1 school is one where at least 40% of students receive free or reduced-price lunches. There has been a dramatic increase in recent years of students receiving these benefits. They serve nearly all the Title 1 schools in the area.

The Six Focus Areas of Muse are:

  • In-School Performances
  • Out-of-School Performances
  • Workshops and Road Trips
  • Muse Machine Productions
  • Elementary Residencies
  • Teacher Development

In-School performances include performances by Dayton Opera, The Human Race Theatre Company, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and more.

Out-of-School performances provide opportunities to attend shows from Broadway tours and other top-level performances at a discounted rate. Venues include Schuster Center, Victoria Theatre and the Loft Theatre.

If a child’s school does not participate in Muse, any child can apply online including home schooled children.

Recently children had an opportunity to take a bus to Chicago to see the play “Hamilton”.

They have expanded the pre-school and elementary offerings to include activities in the summer in addition to the regular school year. A recent workshop for 1st graders was called, “It is all about the money honey.” They learned basic economics, the purpose of money, manufacturing and more.

Kids learn self-confidence and inclusion. As many as 300 kids try out for the annual musical. They learn accountability and time management because they must show up for rehearsals for 3 months. Last January they performed the play, “Hello Dolly.”

Every year there is a week-long seminar in New York. Teachers attend a diverse array of performances and arts events. They meet with producers and actors and brainstorm ways to integrate new ideas into their own classrooms. Each teacher is required to create a lesson plan from their experience. Muse for educators helped teacher earn 2000 hours of continuing education credits.

Over $700,000 of Muse’s $1.3 Million annual budget comes from: individuals, corporations and small businesses, civic groups, foundations and foundation grants, and government grants.

The Muse Machine website has a lot of information about what they do, including calendars and a bunch of lesson plans for teachers to use whenever they want. Donations can be made here.

A recent grant from the National Endowment for the Arts will allow them to put on a multi-cultural show at the Loft in downtown Dayton.

Rosalie Catalano invited any of us to come see an in-school performance. She said to just give her a call, her contact information is on the website. Thank you, Rosalie, for the uplifting and informational presentation.

Birthdays

Member Birthday
Morgan Schiffhauer March 12
Gareth Dickey March 14
Vida McDowell March 15
Bob Foster March 16
Brian Nolan March 16
David Brookman March 18

Membership Anniversaries

Member Month Day Joined # Years
Bob Glavin March 12 3/12/1993 26
Shane Wilken March 14 3/14/2003 16
Steve Kohls March 14 3/14/2003 16

New Member Readings and Inductions

Name Sponsor 1st 2nd 3rd Reading or Induction
Brandon Barrett Jesse Gaither 3rd Reading
Bob Crawford Nick Tarkany 2nd Reading
Amy Blakeman Ron Tinnerman 2nd Reading

Sergeants at Arms

Member Infraction
Greg Fay For back talking the Sergeant John Thompson
Judy DeMarco Took all Sergeant’s change for 50/50 tickets
Joe Madden Wearing same sweatshirt as Ronald Kuker
Ronald Kuker Wearing same sweatshirt as Joe Madden
Pete Rife Late to meeting
Renee Glenn Late to meeting
Greg Fay Introducing Scott Langer’s guest
Scott Langer Not introducing his guest
Charlie Goodwin Phone rang during meeting
Paulette Novak Here today, but not showing up often enough at CNO lunch meetings

 Happy Bucks! 

Member Reason
Donna Huss Thanks for the appreciative comments about the meals and the job she is doing as president.
Melissa DeShurko First grandchild was just born.
Nick Tarkany Second grandchild is on the way, a girl.
Morgan Schiffhauer Thanks for everyone wishing her a happy birthday at today’s meeting.
Morgan Schiffhauer The singing of “Happy Birthday” was horrible, but it’s the thought that counts.
Art Hung Ed Case is in the house.
Joan Cordonnier Middle of track season and she needs temp and permanent employees.
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