Ride to speak at Rotary fund-raiser

The Spokane Valley Rotary Club will host a fund-raiser at The Davenport Hotel next Thursday to raise money for the organization’s college scholarship program.

The guest speaker at the luncheon will be Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.

Ride, a former NASA astronaut, is now a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego, and is the co-founder and CEO of Imaginary Lines, a company dedicated to encouraging girls of middle school age to pursue math and science.

She is also a former member of the president’s committee of advisers on science and technology, has received the Jefferson Award for Public Service, and has twice been awarded the National Space Flight Medal.

Ride has been in space twice, once on board the space shuttle Challenger in 1983, and again in 1984. In June 1985 Ride was assigned to a third space shuttle flight on the Challenger, but that flight was canceled after the shuttle exploded in 1986. She then served on the presidential commission investigating the accident.

The Rotary’s scholarship program, called “Upward Bound,” began last year, and provides mentorships to low-income Spokane Valley middle school students who may be at risk of dropping out of school. Each year school officials select three students, and club members become their mentors.

They meet with the students regularly to track their progress through the 12th grade. If the students stay out of trouble, the club will offer them a full college scholarship upon graduation from high school.

The luncheon at The Davenport will be at 11:30 a.m., and is open to the public. The cost for a single plate at the luncheon is $95. To reserve a table for 10 people, the cost is $925.

Sponsors will be invited to a private reception with Ride after the luncheon.

For reservations and sponsorship information, contact Jerry Haupt at 448-8118 or by e-mail at hauptjl@mindspring.com.