It was a busy summer for the Sedona youth who stopped by the Community Library Sedona Village of Oak Creek branch on Thursday, Aug. 21 to share with the Rotary Club of Sedona Village how the club’s distribution of $4,630 shaped their leadership and the development of their abilities over the last few months.
Sedona Red Rock High School student Khrystian Cordova recently returned from the Sister Cities International Youth Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., that was held June 15 through 21, after being sponsored by the Sedona Sister Cities Association and Rotary. Cordova joined 50 students from across the nation in a week of leadership workshops, diplomacy discussions and a State Department negotiation simulation while staying at American University.
Local student Lotus Flores shared her experience in June of attending the Northern Arizona University Curry Summer Music Camp taken place annually since 1950 giving high schoolers performance experience on the campus. Also attending the NAU music camp through Rotary support was fellow violinist Elisabeth Kraus.
“It was my first sleep away camp, and it was such an amazing experience,” Kraus said. “I got to meet musicians from all over including my new friend and roommate, Brooke from New Mexico. In just four and a half days, our orchestra learned and performed four songs, which felt impossible at first, but with the help of the incredible teachers and conductors, we made it happen. Their support and passion for music inspired me. … Thank you again for your generosity. This experience meant so much to me, and I’ll never forget it.”
The club welcomed their inbound exchange student Samuel Callau-Knigge from Norway.
“I arrived about three weeks ago, and I had a really good, warm welcome and I started school two and a half weeks ago [at Sedona Red Rock High], and I started the football team the second day of school,” Callau-Knigge said. “I play as a wide receiver. … It’s a very big thing for our school, because it’s the first year we played football in [six] years.”
Rotary this summer also once again sponsored the Missoula Children’s Theatre that had 21 kids from Sedona, 12 from the VOC, eight from Cottonwood, four from Rimrock/Cornville, four from Flagstaff and two from out of state draw a total audience of 269 across
both of its performances. Additionally food for the Sedona Community Food Bank was collected and $970 in ticket sales was collected alongside $525 in sponsorships with a grant from Rotary District 5495 and another from the city of Sedona’s Small Grant Program. Additionally Rotary sponsored two children to attend a martial arts camp, one to attend Sedona Dance Academy and another to attend parks and recreations summer soccer camp.
Rotary sponsored Phoebe Jones to attend the School of Ballet Arizona in Phoenix’s Summer Intensive and Sophia Wolfe to attend the Joffrey Ballet School for three weeks in New York City; Wolfe also spent summer 2024 studying in Russia and with Ballet Arizona.
“I trained from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. five days a week,” Wolfe wrote. “On my weekends I would explore the city. I spent this summer strengthening my ballet training to become a professional. I am so thankful for the Rotary Club and their donation towards helping me have these amazing opportunities.”
Logan Jankowski, who is also Sedona Red Rock High School’s first National Merit Scholarship Qualifier since 2019 presented on the exchange trip he did through Rotary allowing him to spend July in Lozinghem France — Jankowski will be profiled in a future story.
Rotary member Tracey Thie during the meeting was also presented a Paul Harris Fellowship for her contributions to the club and had a $1,000 honorarium given in her name to the Rotary Foundation.
For more information about the Rotary Club of Sedona Village visit Sedonavillagerotary.org.
