Smoak new Rotary president
David Smoak was sworn in as president of Rotary Club of Farragut for its 2016-2017 year.
“I got involved in Rotary because I really wanted to serve the community,” Smoak, Farragut town administrator, said atter the ceremony Wednesday, June 28. “ … I get the unique opportunity to do that in my daily job, being the Town administrator of the town of Farragut, and you all have opportunities to serve the town of Farragut through your businesses and your citizens’ organizations, your church, whatever you may be involved in.
“But I thought Rotary was a really good opportunity for me to be able to serve more and touch different people that I wouldn’t necessarily be able to touch here in the town of Farragut,” Smoak said.
Other Rotarians taking an oath of service were Chris Camp, president-elect; Keith Bryson, vice president; Staci Wilkerson, secretary; Glenn Bates, treasurer; Jim Dodd, sergeant-at-arms, and Dale Read, past president.
“It’s been a privilege and an honor to be your president. In the next 12 months, I strongly urge each of you to be more involved in our club, whether it’s projects or it’s leadership. It takes some time and effort, but it’s extremely worthwhile,” Read said.
Camp and Chris Thomas took the oath for club administration, David Bluford and Ron Lawrence for Family of Rotary, Fred Martin and Nancy Bosson for membership, Brandon Hackett for public relations and Patty Daughtrey for Rotary Foundation,
Three Rotarians slated for a position who were not present were Keith Bryson, Service Projects committee; Betty Duncan, international and grants, and Tom King, public relations.
During the meeting, Smoak talked about the strengths of Rotary Club of Farragut and possible plans for the future. He said he would like to see the club do more service projects, possibly more than one per month, as suggested by Rotary’s District Governor Fred Heitman. He also suggested setting up a college scholarship fund for needy seniors in high school and working with Farragut Middle School principal Weston Edmonds to set up an Interact club.
“I think we can get that Interact program going at the middle school. Those kids will just be sponges and really help get involved in the community and help get involved hopefully in Rotary years and years down the road when they’re able to,” Smoak said.
