President Elect Ed James led today’s meeting in President Dennis Connolly’s absence.
 
Exchange student Nanase celebrated her 17th birthday last Thursday and we couldn’t resist having her put on the birthday hat while we sang a rousing rendition of the birthday song (see photo below).
 
Nanase has joined the Irondale cross country ski team and just returned from a competition in Michigan.  She’ll be traveling to Duluth with her host family this weekend.
 
Ed will be gathering applications for our at-large high school senior scholarship to be presented in June.  Ed will likely need some help to evaluate the applications.
 
Our second half exchange host family will be unable to host Nanase, so we need someone to step up and host her from the end of February through July 7th.  Please contact Ed ASAP if you, or someone you know, might be willing to host. 
 
Ed noted that our Fourth Grade Foresters Arbor Day tree giveaway will happen on April 24th, starting at 11AM.  Mark your calendars now!  Jennifer Fink suggested that we might want to coordinate with the New Brighton City Forester on future events.
 
Jennifer also reported that the vacant City Manager position has been posted and it’s expected that the position will be filled by April.
 
The date for the Gold Plate Dinner Gala is Friday, April 17th.  The venue will be the revamped convention center at the Mermaid.
 
The New Brighton Community Center Fitness Open House is on Saturday, January 11th from 9AM to 1PM.  Join us for Discounts, Free Gifts, Personal Trainers, and More.
 
Our Speaker for today unfortunately had to cancel shortly before the meeting.  Hopefully we can reschedule the presentation.