Rotarian Bethany Douglas, right, honors Los Alamos High School student Becky Cai as Rotary Student of the Month Tuesday at the Manhattan Project restaurant. Photo by Kirsten Laskey
ROTARY News:
Rotarian Bethany Douglas described the standards the Rotary Club of Los Alamos uses to select its students of the month as “pretty steep.” However, the criteria was not an obstacle for Los Alamos High School student Becky Cai; in fact, she was honored as the newest Rotary Student of the Month Tuesday at the Manhattan Project restaurant.
Cai maintains an impressive amount of civic services. She serves meals at the Hummingbird Music Camp and assists her peers in Teen Court. Additionally, Cai is a member of the National Honor Society, serves as speech captain on the Hilltalkers Speech and Debate Team and is co-president of the Science Olympiad. On top of all this, Cai is a dancer, a violinist and a tennis player on the high school’s varsity tennis team.
She also maintains a 4.21 GPA.
Cai said she credits Hilltalkers Coach Margo Batha for getting her involved in public speaking.
“Margo Batha is the one who (gave) me a passion for public speaking,” she said. Cai added it is funny because although she has a passion for talking, her other significant interest, ballet, involves not speaking at all.
She also recognized her parents for instilling her with strong, positive values. “I appreciate them so much,” Cai said.
Finally, Cai showed her appreciation to Rotary. “Thank you so much for this honor,” she said.
Rotary’s motto is “Service above Self” and the organization looks for young people who reflect this motto when choosing its student of the month.
To receive this recognition, students are first nominated by their teachers who are asked to select students who:
- Have given positive contributions to their high school and the community,
- Have a good attitude about learning,
- Are good citizens and respectful of their teachers and peers
- And have good grades, attendance, and classroom participation.
Rotary also considers whether or not students meet the criteria of the organization’s four way test. The test asks, is it the truth, is it fair to all concerned, will it build goodwill and better friendships and will it be beneficial to all concerned.
