Victoria talked about Fred GrahamYooll’s book CLEOPTRA’S LOST TEASSURE, which he wrote after he retired in DC.  Fred dug out an old family trunk full of artifacts from Egypt.  With this start and his Latin and Greek from school days he researched the history of Cleopatra and after 8 years produced the Cleopatra book.  Cleopatra’s father was a big king of Macedonia and at age 18 Cleopatra became queen of Egypt over her 11 year old younger brother.  Cleopatra was well educated, spoke 9 languages, and at 11 studied trade of China and India.  She made Egypt rich and independent from the Roman Empire 2000 years ago.  She married ( and manipulated) Julius Caesar and later Mark Anthony to become the richest woman in the world.

A strong advocate of affordable and seamless transportation coupled with urban and rural growth, John Smith as co-chair of Transportation for America is promoting smart growth. John served is mayor of Meridian, Mississippi (population 40K) for 16 years,
and his signature project is recognized as one of the best multi-modal transportation centers in the US. The 20 to 35 year olds and the Baby Boomers are moving from the suburbs to the big cities and require less cars and different transportation. They walk and bike more, because downtowns are more walkable and interesting. Companies are moving back to the cities where the workers are. Forty percent of the
population will be obese by 2030 so walkable cities may help slow the trend.

Divya and her sister, Naina Wodon,, are rising Seniors at Washington International School in DC. They founded the Interact club of the school in 2012. In 2013-14 they conducted interviews of two dozen Rotarians from our district about their involvement in great service projects. The interviews were published in a monthly column for the District Newsletter and used in a book published jointly with their father on “Membership in Service Clubs: Rotary Experience”. Divya and Naina shared key messages from their book and a video about one of the District’s most impact full international projects to reduce child mortality in Mali.