Great Art Matters - Laguna College of Art & Design

by Gillian Bradshaw

We were delighted to have three guests from the Laguna College of Art & Design (LCAD) to tell us about the programs they offer and how students benefit from the scholarships they receive, including the one from the Irvine Rotary club.

Tracy Hartman (Associate Director of Development) and James Miller (LCAD alumni, professional artist, and Admissions Counselor) gave us an overview of the college, courses offered, the student population, and the type of career these artists pursue.

The college, which is located in Laguna Canyon, was founded in 1961, and has a total of 420 students from many countries. A fully accredited, private, non-profit college, LCAD grants Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in Drawing & Painting, Graphic Design, Illustration, Animation, and Game art, as well as a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting & Drawing.

Our scholarship recipient, Gemma Magdaluyo, a Senior majoring in Illustration and minoring in Drawing & Painting, shared some of her artwork, including an oil painting "La Boccaria" (butcher's shop), a pencil drawing "Monkey Man" (made up of jungle animals), and an wood panel painting illustration for a book she is writing "Girl with Antlers". Gemma plans to pursue a career in the publishing industry, focusing on book illustrations.

LCAD alumni have gone on to develop film featurettes, video games, cartoon animations for Disney, 3D computer modeling, comic books, websites and much more. The school participates in many exhibits and has a studio on site which can be visited any day except Sunday (in fact, tours are offered at 2 pm daily). In November every year Irvine Rotary club member Marla Noel hosts a candlelight exhibit at the Fairhaven Mausoleum where students' art is auctioned off partly as a fundraiser for LCAD (80% of students receive financial aid).

Learn more about LCAD at their website: www.lagunacollege.edu

Irvine Rotary Celebrates 20th Anniversary

By Gillian Bradshaw


DG Johrita Solari presents President Mody Gorsky with a 20-year rosette.

On Saturday, February 19, the Irvine Rotary Club became 20 years old! We celebrated in grand style at the classy Bistango restaurant in Irvine.

The event was well attended, with many people bringing their spouses/significant others, and also some guests/prospective members, and visitors from other Rotary clubs.

Our newest member Ken Carrell (and his wife Christin Anzell) was there, and it was great to see former members Dan Eisenbeicz and Julie O'Brien (with her daughter Erin), as well as charter (now honorary) members Warren Willard and Cap Peaslee (and his wife Gina). It was also nice that Mark Roy, President of the Anaheim Hills Rotary Club, and his friend Rhonda were able to join us too.

We were honored to have our District Governor, Johrita Solari (and her husband Bruce) in attendance - and were proud to receive a 20 Years of Service Rotary emblem for our club banner. Several Past District Governors came, including our founding DG George Grossman (and his wife Carlene), Price Shapiro (and his wife Debbie), who attends our meetings so often we think of him as a member, and of course Immediate Past DG, our very own Bret Gerdes (and his wife Natalie). We were also delighted to have our District Governor Elect, Greg Owen (and his wife Val). Thanks to all of them for helping to make this such a special event!

We were entertained by Rick Topping - with hair (in case any of the former members didn't recognize him), Woody Jones in his Steelers jacket (apparently hoping they'll win the Superbowl next year?!), and Julie Obrien's 3-year old daughter who asked Mody for a play date!

Thanks to Cisca Stellhorn and Mary Mar for the wonderful job they did arranging this fantastic evening! Also to Ray Sanford who ran our video program including the great videos that Randy Woods made for Gillian Bradshaw's demotion party, and our new club video orchestrated by our President Mody Gorsky.

Here's to the next 20 years for the Irvine Rotary Club and the wonderful "Service Above Self" that we provide!


Irvine Rotary Club Charter Members with Founding District Governor George Grossman and his wife Carlene.

2012-2013 Club President Selected

In true Rotary style, our club has selected Lucy Walther to be our President Elect Nominee, taking over the reins July 1st, 2012. We do this so that there is plenty of time to prepare and be able to hit the ground running!

Lucy is a Financial Advisor and partner in the firm Edward Jones Investments and has been a member of Rotary for a number of years.

She has enthusiastically encouraged us to give as much as we can in fundraisers (once raising $5,000 in 10 minutes for The Rotary Foundation), and always brings several guests to our events. She has also helped us renew our partnership with the City of Irvine and the Irvine Police Department — and we were delighted to host their first Public Safety Award at our February 2nd meeting.

Lucy is a member and past Chair of the City of Irvine’s Investments Advisory Committee, and has been the President of the Orange County Chapter of the National Association Investors Corporation, (NAIC). She has been a long-time member of the American Business Women’s Association, and served for six years on the boards of the Irvine Chamber of Commerce and the Irvine Senior Foundation. She has held several board positions with both her Rotary clubs, and is currently our Community Services director. As a member of Saddleback Church, Lucy has taught bible-based financial classes as part of Crown Ministry.

In July 2003, the City of Irvine and the Irvine Chamber of Commerce honored Lucy as the 2002 Irvine Citizen of the Year. This award served to highlight Lucy’s extensive volunteer efforts in support of her community.

Lucy has been a keynote and guest speaker on financial and motivational topics to numerous professional and business organizations, including American Business Women’s Association, the Orange County Administrators of Special Education, Rotary International and the Association of Convention Operations Management. She has appeared in many publications, including the Seniors Today News, Irvine World News, Orange County Register, Christian Science Monitor and American Careers Magazine.

Lucy was born in Evanston, Illinois, received her Bachelors in Business from Elmhurst College and her Masters in Management from Northwestern University. She obtained her CFP and AAMS from the College for Financial Planning in Denver. She considers herself blessed with a wonderful husband, Peter, and four children: Christopher, Philip, Katherine, and Natalie.

Lawrence White receives first Public Safety Award

We were honored to have the Chief of the Irvine Police Department, David Maggard, and several of his staff attend our meeting this week as part of a new partnership with the Irvine Rotary Club.

Today's award was presented to Lawrence White, a security officer at the Irvine Spectrum who helped to solve a well-publicized crime. He noticed an individual who looked "out of place" one night as the stores were closing. Upon questioning him he found he was the Assistant Manager of a store that engraved IPhones and other Apple equipment. Just to be certain, he followed him into the store, where the man clearly knew his way around - it seemed he was telling the truth. However, when hundreds of these devices were stolen a few days later, Mr. White immediately suspected this individual and called the police - sure enough he was the thief and they caught him red-handed!

Congratulations to Mr White, and thanks to his wife, the Irvine Police Safety Director, and the other member of the Police Department for attending and making this award so special.

Thanks to Lucy Walther for initiating this partnership as part of our commitment to help keep Irvine safe. A quarterly award will be given to individuals within the community who have helped prevent or solve a crime.