Lewisville Noon Rotary last week honored LISD teacher Valerie Cooper with the July 2022 Vocational Service Award for her dedication to her students, and her leadership of the INCubatorEdu program at Lewisville High School.

 

Launched in 2018, INCubatorEdu prepares students for future success in the marketplace by teaching them the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. Students have the opportunity to develop and incubate their own product or service, and craft a pitch to qualify for seed money up to $300. After the initial launch of their venture, students then conduct more market research, iterate and modify their concept in the marketplace, and ultimately make a final Shark Tank-style pitch for the opportunity to receive $5000 to support the further growth of their business.

 

The INCubatorEdu program is funded by the Mary Kay Foundation, the Hudson Foundation, LEF, and the City of Lewisville. The program is always in need of coaches and mentors, who can share their insights and business expertise. Interested Rotarians can email LHSINCubator@lisd.net for more information.

 

LNR president Dennis Song last week honored three long-time Rotarians for their support of the Paul Harris Society, awarding each of them with an engraved lucite coaster. Club members Jugal "Jay" Agarwal, Alex "It's Always Shorts Season" Buck, and Rich Muller each donated at least $10,000 to the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International to help support local and global initiatives to improve peoples' lives and make the world a better place. We are grateful to have these three dedicated and generous men as members of the Lewisville Noon Rotary!

 

Featured speaker Dan Jaworski, mayor of Highland Village, provided an update on happenings in the local community at last week’s LNR club meeting, highlighting the city's rapid growth and strategic use of limited development space.

 

Jaworski grew up in Highland Village in the 1970s and ‘80s, and returned to the area after serving in the U.S. Navy from 1993-2000. He has been actively involved in city affairs for many years and was elected mayor in May 2022 after serving five years on the City Council.

 

City officials currently are working on various upgrades to the city infrastructure, Jaworski noted, including planned improvements to the intersection at 2499 and 407 to accommodate increased traffic as the population grows. The plans dovetail with the “Our Village, Our Vision” initiative, which aims to identify revitalization opportunities. “We want to encourage more business along 407,” with bigger, brighter, more attractive facilities, Jaworski said.

 

Highland Village also is working to improve parks and trails, making them safe and appealing for kids and teens. In addition, the city will be adding rental cabins at Pilot Knoll Park to add revenue to the city budget that doesn’t come from property taxes, Jaworski said. On a related note, the mayor has been working with leaders in the surrounding cities to address appraisal reform, given the loss of faith in the Central Appraisal District, and said Highland Village will be reducing the tax rate to provide a little relief to residents.

 

Starting in September, Jaworski will be hosting a monthly coffee with the mayor, to address questions from local residents and keep members of the community in the loop on what’s happening behind the scenes. Meetings will take place from 8:30am-9:30am the first Monday of each month, with the exception of the September meeting, which will be September 12th. For more details and additional updates on developments in the community, visit the city website at HighlandVillage.org.

If you want credit for a make-up, contact LNR Membership chair Terry Russell to let him know when and where you attended another Rotary club meeting, or the date and service activity that you participated in to count as a make up. You have two weeks before and two weeks after a missed meeting to make up for your absence. Make-ups are a great way to meet Rotarians from other clubs and become more engaged with the outreach activities we do in the local community!