“Making a difference” is the Rotary theme this year and it’s a phrase to which I relate, as it embodies the reason I am a Rotarian: to effect change.  As I reflect on this theme, the former schoolteacher in me springs forward, and as I exhorted my students to do, I wanted to be certain I understand the words and their meaning. 
 
Making: means creating, building, constructing, crafting, formulating, composing, fashioning. 
Difference: means change, alteration, variance, modification, transformation. 
 
Put some of those meanings together and it includes creating change, or constructing transformation.  Powerful terms that I see happening through our club.  Some changes are minor, like a meeting location or leadership positions.  Other, however, are more impactful, like providing funds to an organization like Boys & Girls Club, Camp Craig Allen, Frisco Family Services, YMCA to support their improvement in the lives of others. 
 
More visible changes I have witnessed include many of the youth we reach through programs like Interact, RYLA, Model UN and scholarships.  I’m deeply encouraged
(heartened, stimulated, inspired, boosted) by teens like Joyce (name changed for privacy), a RYLA applicant who doing her interview said, “I believe there is something in me this camp can unlock.”  Joyce has transformed from being invisible last year to becoming a confident leader and is reaching for the stars in her college career, to a level which a year ago she didn’t believe was possible.  Or David (name changed for privacy) who was forced to re-schedule his interview due to a job conflict.  Rather than blow off the interview or his job, he sought a solution (Facetime) to maintain his responsibility to his employer while seeking the opportunity RYLA provides.  This is the kind of young man we want to assist. 
 
The same is true of some of our scholarship applicants, young people who may not have the highest GPA in their class, nor be President of every organization on their resume, but teens who recognize the need for funds to fulfill their career aspirations with a college education.  As I read that desire in their essays and hear it expressed in their interviews, it boosts my motivation to provide for more.    
 
Rotary Club of Frisco is not about a lunch meeting once a week; it is about constructing transformation in individuals.  This should invigorate each of us as we participate in that process!