Once again the Speaker's Committee, headed by Faith Williams, has given Rotarians great reasons to get out of bed early, even on the coldest of winter days.

Celeste Carano presented on More Than Me, an organization that helps girls in Liberia, Africa. They work with community leaders to identify girls at risk of being forced into sexual or domestic slavery in one of the world's poorest slums. The girls are given an education and support to ensure that their lives become about opportunity and achievement rather than exploitation and misery. It's at tough fight: the opportunities in a country disrupted by civil war and cultural divisions are often all too few. Still, More Than Me has success stories and is providing hope where there would otherwise be none. You can find out more about More Than Me here, including how to give to the foundation.

In this video, Celeste talks about how the organization was started and introduces us to some of the young women it has helped.

We also heard from Dublin City Schools Superintendant Dr. Todd Hoadley. Todd is working to to take an already great school district, and make it even more excellent.  He presented some biographical information and then discussed some of the challenges that he and our teachers face with new state-wide curricula in a time of increasing student diversity in Dublin.

In this video, Todd discusses the "whirlwind of changes in public education" clearly but compellingly. His energy and passion are clear; Dublin AM members  have reason to be pleased that, even though we miss David Axner as a member our schools continue to be in excellent hands and will become even better as our educators and student prepare to provide and receive the best of 21st-Century educations.

Don't forget you can see our speaker's presentations in their entirety on our Youtube Channel.